Making a proper request for texture art for an existing model...

die_Kröte

Short introduction... I'm 32, been married 7 years and have 2 lovely kids... I live in the US, Anaheim CA to be exact. My pretty much one and only hobby for the last 2+ years has been NDS homebrew development. I'm a pretty decent C coder at this point, but I'm an absolutely awful 2D artist.

I've recently begun a journey into the world of 3D programming and modeling for a game idea that is taking shape. I have been trying my hand at Blender and absolutely loving it. I even came across a great converter that takes the ply export from Blender and converts to a packed list for loading on the DS... quite convenient. I've seen a post on it here so I suppose people are aware of the rather low poly limit the DS is stricken with. Still, I've managed some decent models and I'm ready to get working on the texturing... but it brings me right back to the start... I'm a terrible 2D artist!

So... I know that there is a request forum here, but before I go making requests... I'd like to know what is the usual procedure with something like this i.e I've already got the model and just need freelance art for the textures. I would like to be able to do the UV Mapping myself (I'm quite fascinated by it), or perhaps lay out the UV Map, export it and present that along with different angled shots of the models... but is that asking too much? Would it be more appropriate to offer up the model and let the texture artist have at it?

I should say... I'm not keen on the idea of googling for free textures... I've tried a bit and I can't see how photographs count as textures...

Thanks everyone in advance.

TheWinterLord

Welcome to polycount! well for ds specs im pretty sure artists never use photografs and do it all from scratch, as the specs are so low it will never get ''that realistic'' look anyway. Im pretty sure most artist would enjoy your uv maps and if they need to change something later they can right?

Yes photographs need to be worked with before they can be called textures but for a DS game with so low texture budget its better to skip photos.

check out the lowpoly thread http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=41232&page=128

Sry i have no experience with developing for handheld devices but good luck. no experience requesting artwork to be done for me either.

Calabi

I'm sort of in the same boat having done a few models and reticient, not knowing how to approaching texturing(colouring them in).

If its on the DS it shouldnt be too hard to paint it yourself. You can only do it wrong. One step in being wrong is one closer step to being right(or something to that effect:)).

Start with some base colours. Then look at objects your trying to emulate then fill the objects with rough patterns similar to them.

3D DS graphics are going to look rough anyway. It should be easier as you have fewer pixels to work with. No need to worry much about shading etc, at least to start with.

Japhir

If your really sneaky you just release it as an SDK (polycountish for skin development kit) and see if someone thinks the models are interesting enough to spend some time on during lunch or so.

maybe you could just post some shots of it (i probably woulnd't mind UV'ing and texturing it for you).

But obviously it's more fun to learn how to do it yourself.

Disco Stu

If the models real cool it gets a lot easier post some screens

System

What kind of specs and models are you talking about? Unless they are very simple, painting a model that has been unwrapped by someone else before getting a feel for textures seems counterintuitive.

die_Kröte

Okay folks, what I think I'll do is (once I can convince my 4 year old that this is my computer and not hers...) polish the model a bit and then post some shots in the request thread to see if anyone may be interested. Thanks for the initial feedback. I suppose I may have to pitch the whole game idea and what all would be needed as I'd like to work with one person if at all possible.

EDIT - As usual I'm getting ahead of myself... I really do have some coding and things I need to work on, but I'll be back around to make a pitch before too long.

Calabi

Actually forget what I said earlier, you make a good point. I'm trying to learn an engine, program a game, create all the assets, ideas, learn to model and then on top of that try and learn how to paint the textures, normal maps, specular defuse. I'm never gonna get anywhere if I continue trying to do everything.

As an aside a good place to try might be the Deviant art forums not sure if you'll find many people who do textures, but I did manage to get conventional requests for art there.

AlanSMitchell

currently I am freelancing. again seeing the model always helps. ^^;;

danshewan

Calabi wrote: »

As an aside a good place to try might be the Deviant art forums not sure if you'll find many people who do textures, but I did manage to get conventional requests for art there.

I'd suggest trying CGTalk's collaborative forum as a real place to start, as opposed to DeviantArt. You're more likely to end up working with someone that knows what they're doing, or is at least a little more professional than the tortured, emo teenagers that seem to frequent DA regularly.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=73

die_Kröte

Thanks for the extra advice. What I might do is post the model to get some feedback as apposed to seeking an artist just yet. The more I step back and think rationally (as much as I'd LOVE to see the model textured) I've got several game design and coding hurdles to overcome and if those things make modifications to the model necessary, it'd be best to get them out of the way first.