Trying to learn 'Next Gen' texturing

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Hello everyone!

First of all I'm new here. I browsed the forums past few months and decided to register

Past week I've been watching some tutorials on next gen texturing, which I found very interesting. I tried to create a basic floor tile texture with mainly only photoshop. I think I'm going in the right direction for now, but maybe you guys have some crits or tips what could make it a little better.

So enough talking, here are the images:

I'm not so sure what the 'glossiness' map does, so I haven't put that much effort in that map. I assume it has something to do with the 'scale' or 'size' of the specular highlight or something? The only thing I tried was to highlight the edges a bit more, felt like they were getting a sharper highlight that way. But I'm not sure about this. I also think my diffuse is lacking something.

Then I looked at some floor meshes from other people and some things in UDK. I noticed many make some stones/tiles pop out using some simple geometry. This is my attempt:

Very fast and very fun to do in my opinion

!

Thanks for reading!

-Fiz

PolyHertz · Jan 2011

Fizzly wrote: »

I'm not so sure what the 'glossiness' map does, so I haven't put that much effort in that map. I assume it has something to do with the 'scale' or 'size' of the specular highlight or something? The only thing I tried was to highlight the edges a bit more, felt like they were getting a sharper highlight that way. But I'm not sure about this.

Yep, that's exactly what it is. Gloss maps determine the speculars rate of falloff. White = sharp, black = gradual.

Super Happy Cow wrote: »

What are the textures in the lower left and lower right?

Gloss map.

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Oh sorry I forgot to mention that. The lower left is the spec map and the lower right a gloss map. I'm not so sure how to create these though, and how they work exactly. What also confuses me are the values I can set within the shader I use. I use the Xoliul shader in max. Where I can change the global spec level for example. Leaving that on 1 gave me I think good results, but with the gloss settings I'm not sure what to do. Isn't that something the gloss map takes care of?

PolyHertz · Jan 2011

As long as you keep your diffuse/color map organized spec normally doesn't take much time at all. It also helps to know what colors+spec go together for specific materials, like brown color + yellow spec for gold, or blue/purple for skin.

For tutorials, maybe try the ones PhilipK did: http://www.philipk.net/tutorials.html

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Thanks for the tutorial link. From what I've read about specular maps, does it work like this?

When you want a white highlight you use the inverse color there is on the diffuse map. When you want a burning/additive highlight you use a color you want to burn it with.

I decided not to use color in my spec map for the tile texture I made, just to keep it a bit more simple for now to learn

eyo · Jan 2011

nice start! I like how you made the ao pass on the diff uneven to give height variation, you can take this further by starting to paint fine irregularities and chips into the seams between the tiles themselves. Of course it all depends on how worn you want to make them. Also I agree that the PhilipK tutorials are gold :-)

Uly · Jan 2011

hey fizzly, looking good. one easy tweak to better sell tiles better is to break the continuity in the texture. each tile's detail flows near flawlessly into the next one, taking the diffuse, and rotating every other tile by 90 or 180 degrees can help this stuff out a lot.

What you've got there is a pretty solid texture already, though.

keres · Jan 2011

Usually you can just plug in a single number for gloss maps (or rather the specular exponent) instead of using an entire texture for one.

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Thanks for all the replies, I think I'm done with this one for now:

Changed it just slightly.. Made it a little bit less 'clean'. Next I want to try some metalish kind of texture.. Let's see how that turns out

PogoP · Jan 2011

Looks great!

You are also correct about colour speculars needing inverse to create white, to counteract the diffuse colour. This is because the specular is usually added to the diffuse rather than multiplied, overlaid or whatever.

Check out this tutorial:

http://www.manufato.com/?p=902

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Glad you like it. Oh man.. that is a really nice article.. must keep reading.. learning.. oh well..

I want to create something with a bit of geo for 'metal bars'. Just uhh some concrete block reinforced by metal bars in front of it or something. What would you guys suggest on how to create the normals for the metal bars? Creating the normals entirely in photoshop? ..Or using some highpoly surfaces to get the basic, or 'clean' normal information from?

I mainly want to practice the texturing part. Baking the normals is not the issue, have done that before, but never got into the texturing part that much..

LMP · Jan 2011

as far as colored spec, I found this tutorial very informative about that.

Oniram · Jan 2011

one thing you may want to do is make a specular that is 8x8 tiles, as opposed to your 4x4. just by taking your current diffuse, and tiling it 4 times in the same canvas size, doing the specular map from that, and then in whatever application you choose (udk, max, etc), you can tile the specular by .5. this will help break up the tiling from far away.

take a look at that method in action here:
http://www.chrisalbeluhn.com/UT3_Add_variation_to_repeating_textures_Tutorial.html

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Thanks again for all the comments.

I tried to make some metal bars. Which was harder than I thought it would be. I tried to get some 'welds' in by painting on the normal map. It didn't work out that well.. hmm..

Feel free to crit and comment

!

Thanks,
Fiz

Mir · Jan 2011

Love it! Do you have any tip on how you did the height variation?
And nice job on the floor tile i'm gonna try making a floor piece using this method.

dekorkh · Jan 2011

Awesome! Maybe the scratches on the paint should also show metal? you seem to have wear correctly on the edges but towards the center all the dings and scratches don't seem to effect the paint at all. Also, totally nitpicky - the dings and scratches don't feel sharp enough... if only you could tighten the normal map detail on where those happen, i think they would read much better.

almighty_gir · Jan 2011

use the gloss map to true effect on the girder. areas where the paint is chipped off and the metal is "raw" will be far more shiny than the painted sections.

LMP · Jan 2011

The top and bottom of the I-Beams would not be welded onto the middle, I beams are cast as a single piece, 2 I-beams could be welded together however.

Fizzly · Jan 2011

Thanks for the quick replies!

@LMP.. Oh yeah... forgot about that.. When I was making the texture I thought about adding welds in the normal map. I was curious what it was going to look like, instead of keeping my eye on the subject itself.

@Almighty, Added a very quick gloss map. Difference is hard to spot, but I think the edges do pop a bit more and the paint is a bit duller now.

But it seems to lack some detail now. Maybe I should add some dirt, or some more (sharp) scratches?

-Fiz

Oniram · Jan 2011

it seems to be looking a bit "toony" to me. try adding in some more dirt in the cornered areas (of the inside extrusion). the welding in the normal map to me also just looks like lines as opposed to weld marks.

marq4porsche · Jan 2011

I think it's starting to get there. The wear is looking good, just sharpen the edges of paint a bit. Right now the textures feel way too soft. The metal, especially the edges can have some sharper spec.

Trying to learn 'Next Gen' texturing

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