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Starting with hand painted textures

polycounter lvl 6
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chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
Hi Hi,

So i recently put a post in general asking for advice as to how to go about starting to learn about hand painted textures. The advice that was given was pretty much to just get started and post the results on the P&P page for feedback. Well, here is my very first result.

handpainted2.jpg

It's still nothing like some of the other work that ive seen around here but its a start.. The main roadblock im running into at the moment is adding detail..i can get through defining my raw shapes and then adding the bevels. but then i get stuck and just start fiddling around without it going anywhere.

if anyone can point me in the right direction i would be very appreciative.

P.S.

Is it worth simply using hand painted textures from other games and trying to directly copy them? or will this result in me not learning anything?

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  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    copying is always helpful while learning, since you'll get some understand of why a special texture looks great... like the range of values, the use of light and shadow and so on.

    I think your stones could use more work on the bevels, they are a little undefined. At some places they aren't even readable as bevels. You've got some highlights that are from a lightsource somewhere from the upper left, so the lower right should be with shadow (and a little bouncelight maybe)... And the sides of the stones (that are not facing direct light or shadow) could use a blend between light and shadow to support the bevel.
  • PixelSuit
    Hey Chrisjuuuh,

    Did anyone point you in the direction of any tutorials or helpful threads on here? I've saved a few for when I finally take a shot at this sort of texture so hopefully these will help:

    Here are some threads which have nice tutorials saved as images within the posts:
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68601&page=2
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75700&page=3

    Definitely worth checking out this thread, its long but Jessica's work is fantastic: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87797&highlight=wells

    Here is a link I noticed in a few of those threads:
    http://www.anticz.com/drawing1.htm

    And here is a YouTube video (I haven't had a chance to watch through though):
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKxFO4292LI&feature=related"]Painting stone texture - YouTube[/ame]

    Hope this helps, good luck!
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    This could also be helpful:
    Texturing Workshop with Jamin Shoulet part 1 + 2



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_GWVez_UHM
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSFKEvH6ZJA
  • Torch
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    Torch polycounter
    Fenyce those are gold, cheers!
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    a new day, a new attempt. watched the workshop by jamin shoulet first and it helped me so much. heres todays result.

    handpainted4.jpg

    not quite happy with the damage but will continue to work on something new tomorrow.

    I hada further question. The reason i have been obsessed with stylised textures lately is that i have always had a passion for WoWs art and now that wildstar is getting some attention seeing another game use that stylised artstyle just made me want to be able to do it. However, i read the behind the scenes @ wildstar piece on the frontpage and it looks like they're mostly using Zbrush to make these kind of textures these days. So my question is should i stick with learning in photoshop or should i be looking into Zbrush too?
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    Zbrush doesn't exclude photoshop as far as I know, zbrush is mostly used to sculpt out a high poly (like a really complex tree, or stones with damage, or whatever...)
    You still can push that a lot with great texturing skills (in photoshop).

    So I'd recommend you to try both... do some oldschool textures, and some with only spec and some stuff with normals baked from a highpoly. You'll learn a lot that way. (And like Jamin Shoulet is saying in the tutorial... that way you'll not need highend tech to do something beautiful!)

    Btw. I really love going in part of your newest attempt, but I think the cracks are to small and the damage could use work (there's no light information in there, no dimensionality...)
  • Spug
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    Spug polycounter lvl 12
    chrisjuuuh wrote: »
    a new day, a new attempt. watched the workshop by jamin shoulet first and it helped me so much. heres todays result.

    handpainted4.jpg

    not quite happy with the damage but will continue to work on something new tomorrow.

    I hada further question. The reason i have been obsessed with stylised textures lately is that i have always had a passion for WoWs art and now that wildstar is getting some attention seeing another game use that stylised artstyle just made me want to be able to do it. However, i read the behind the scenes @ wildstar piece on the frontpage and it looks like they're mostly using Zbrush to make these kind of textures these days. So my question is should i stick with learning in photoshop or should i be looking into Zbrush too?

    If you would like, I would be willing to show you some tricks we have developed over here to help you with your texturing overall. There quite a few ways of going about creating the hand painted feel, hence why all our sculpts are hand painted lol. I am leaving for out of town this weekend, but when I get back, I can hop in a google hangout to show you some stuff :)
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    Spug wrote: »
    If you would like, I would be willing to show you some tricks we have developed over here to help you with your texturing overall. There quite a few ways of going about creating the hand painted feel, hence why all our sculpts are hand painted lol. I am leaving for out of town this weekend, but when I get back, I can hop in a google hangout to show you some stuff :)

    I would love to do that, if possible to. Just saw that you worked on Wildstar. (And i've seen your blog before) Great ARtwork in both! And im attempting to try to achieve a HP look in my textures now! =)
  • Torch
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    Torch polycounter
    Not to hijack the thread but if you're offering Tutelage Spug I would be happy to partake :D
  • Jakob Gavelli
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    Jakob Gavelli interpolator
    Woah, I think alot of people would love to see those tricks, Spug. ^^

    I know atleast I'd love to watch!
  • Fenyce
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    Fenyce polycounter lvl 11
    I'd love to hear some tricks, too... a tutorial would be awesome or at least a recorded version (for yt or vimeo) of the handout or something like that. That would be superduper nice, since wildstar is really looking way to awesome! I'd love to know how to get such beautiful results! (Beside practice, a lot of practice)
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    haha wow, wildstar dev offers tutelage and my thread explodes xD. It would be amazing to hear about exactly the work is done to recreate that kind of art style. let me know where and when.
  • beezul
  • Spug
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    Spug polycounter lvl 12
    Agreed with Beezul, I would highly recommend that tut. I have neve seen it before, but it gives you a good idea how to get simple lighting down. Simple shapes, that read from afar are good.

    I will be back next week after e3, Friday June 14th.

    I will make a google hangout and we will all jam :)

    Edit: I think your textures are close, and just a need a little love to get them just right :)
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    spug: Oh snap i wont be home! Any possibilites that you can record some of your hangouts :$.
  • Jarvgrimr
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    Jarvgrimr polycounter lvl 10
    I am really trying to push my hand painting skills as well, if at all possible, I would love to be a part of that Google Hangout too! :poly003:

    I just started my own thread on P&P about some hand-painted textures I'm doing, the tuts in this thread are very helpful. Looking forward to seeing how you get on chrisjuuuh!
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    did another quick study today.. need to review the part in the tutorial about making the cracks.

    handpainted5e.jpg
  • Clark Coots
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    Clark Coots polycounter lvl 13
    Spug wrote: »
    I will be back next week after e3, Friday June 14th.
    I will make a google hangout and we will all jam :)

    aw i would love to join in on this, but I won't be home either. Would be awesome if it gets recorded. You folks at Carbine do amazing hand painted work, would love to learn from you.
  • switz
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    switz polycounter lvl 10
    Looks like you need to spend more time on the the bigger and medium details before starting on the finer ones like the knicks and cracks.
  • Jakob Gavelli
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    Jakob Gavelli interpolator
    I think it would help you to tone down the clouds, alot. I'm not too fond of the whole multiply technique myself.

    Try following the wood tutorial beezul linked. I use layers just for safety if I'm about to make a radical change to the texture and want a easy way to cop-out if it doesn't turn out well.

    I know it's hard starting out and you're doing great!

    switz has a very good point on the wall texture. It's lacking medium details. If I were you, I'd look at Jessica Dihn's brick texture to get some inspiration.

    Then take one of your bricks and keep at it until you're satisfied and use that as a guide for the rest of the bricks.
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    First attempt at wood today. Little disapointed with the result. Have to try again soon.

    handpainted6.jpg
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    It doesnt reed as wood. Use references it helps alot.
    Here's a good example of what you can do.

    1. Find a wood refrence.
    2. put it in photoshop.
    3. Turn down the Opacity
    4. Make a new empty layer.
    5. Start following the lines.

    You'll notice that the Grains are small and Difference from eachother.

    If you want lighting information. Take the Wood reference and Desaturate the Picture. Play around with the Level values, to see lighting information.
    And basically before applying color. See where the darks and lights are. And imagine where the sun is coming from.
  • Xelioth
    chrisjuuuh wrote: »
    First attempt at wood today. Little disapointed with the result. Have to try again soon.

    handpainted6.jpg
    I'd say the simple reason that it doesn't read as wood is because the most notable property of wood is missing: the grains. Wood is made up of a ton of lines all going in the same direction in a somewhat random pattern. Without those tiny lines, there's no way the texture can be read as wood.
  • Spug
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    Spug polycounter lvl 12
    Hey all, I spoke with Chris via GChat, and he is ready to do a google hangout and mess around with some texturing. I am planning on starting the hangout at 11 A.M. PST

    Anyone is welcome to join. I Will go over a few techniques from basic, to more advanced stuff. :)
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    oh Spug: care to capture everything for us who aint available
  • Spug
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    Spug polycounter lvl 12
    Most def, I will capture the session and host it :)
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    revisited the wood using jamins method. god bless that fibers filter.

    vl46.jpg

    one more hour till the hangout!
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    wirrexx wrote: »
    oh Spug: care to capture everything for us who aint available
    You‘re the best. Cheers!!!


    And about the new wood. thats acctually better. However it reads more realisticly then stylized. Atleast for me. But its tons better than the old one. Keep on going!!! good job
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    5:03 PM Most def, I will capture the session and host it :) <--- YOURE THE BEST SPUG!! THANKS



    And about the new wood. thats acctually better. However it reads more realisticly then stylized. Atleast for me. But its tons better than the old one. Keep on going!!! good job
  • Spug
  • Andy H
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    Andy H polycounter lvl 8
    Spug wrote: »
    Most def, I will capture the session and host it :)

    Thank you!!
  • wirrexx
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    wirrexx quad damage
    any updates on the Vid :D *questionmark. because my cousins keyboard is broken*
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    SO...Necroing my own thread. but decided to try my hand at handpainted again after a little break. here is todays effort.

    bt3t.jpg



    any pointers are always appreciated.
  • Shuaws
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    Shuaws polycounter lvl 5
    damn missed it!!!
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    n0zo.jpg



    Did another one today. starting to get the hang of the cracks but still cant quite get them to pop
  • Selrahc
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    Selrahc polycounter lvl 8
    Did Spug ever get a capture for this hangout?
  • Orb
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    Orb polycounter lvl 13
    chrisjuuuh wrote: »
    I hada further question. The reason i have been obsessed with stylised textures lately is that i have always had a passion for WoWs art and now that wildstar is getting some attention seeing another game use that stylised artstyle just made me want to be able to do it. However, i read the behind the scenes @ wildstar piece on the frontpage and it looks like they're mostly using Zbrush to make these kind of textures these days. So my question is should i stick with learning in photoshop or should i be looking into Zbrush too?

    Wildstar uses Zbrush, wow uses it (not all, but more and more), Riot uses it. That's 3 big companies (and many more) using Zbrush for handpaint. Why? because once you get it to work, it's freaking fast. You get your AO, heightmap, highlights, cavities, a shit ton of maps from the sculpt. You can even bake your matcaps like they do on some Dota2 characters. Not to mention the more sculpts you do, the more library re-usabilty you get. All these people using it should be an alarm signal for you to be interested by it. It doesnt mean you can't use photoshop to fix stuff on top of it, you actually need it but it's just a different way to get things clean and fast.

    You have to embrace the technology and the tools available for you today because this is the freaking present. People have to stop living in the past at some point, and kick their own asses to learn something new.

    So yes I recommend you to learn photoshop and start to handpaint fully 2D because that's a good starting point. But when I see some replies giving you only the oldschool option I can't help myself to warn you to also look for yourself at how people work nowadays, people still working in the actual industry. This is where you'll learn the most...

    Also don't forget that everything changes, having a nextgen background will create you a bridge for future projects as well.

    ---

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135619&highlight=wildstar
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL75R0K_j7g
    http://missmaddytaylor.deviantart.com/gallery/
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125737&page=5
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNaxMpDpOiw
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    So...Been away for a while working on my textures and I needed a bit of advice. Im currently working on a tree for a little scene im building and ive run into some trouble.

    J3SeJXc.jpg

    lniDqS6.jpg

    Now I am super happy with the quality of the texture but I can not for the life of me get it to look nice on the model. Do in game trees require more than one alpha plane to make them look good or is there a trick I am missing? Help would be great!
  • Youngy798
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    Youngy798 polycounter lvl 4
    You should copy the plane lots of times, move it around, rotate it a bit. Maybe adds some loops to the plane and move some of the vertices. Just add a bit more shape and randomness to it :)

    You are definitely getting better at hand painted textures.
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    another day another post.

    mcXjp4w.jpg

    Im having difficulty with rock. i just dont seem to be able to get it quite right.

    improvements or paintovers would be great!
  • chrisjuuuh
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    chrisjuuuh polycounter lvl 6
    today a little bit of hearthstone fanart. tried to learn about bainting metal by taking inspiration from the new card back.

    DyihIho.jpg
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