What software should I use for texturing?

Shtreimel · May 2014

Hello, I'm new with the whole textureing thing, so I'm now picking a software to learn.

Should I start learning learn 3D Coat and use it with xNormal, HandPlane and Photoshop?

Or should I be looking to work with these: http://dev.quixel.se/ + (xNormal and Handplane together) + Photoshop?

Or any other combination?

Thanks for answering and have a great weekend

Torch · May 2014

MS Paint ftw!

3D Coat is pretty good, seems to be what a lot of people are using right now, if you're rolling in money you could also try Mari

Shtreimel · May 2014

Torch wrote: »

MS Paint ftw!

3D Coat is pretty good, seems to be what a lot of people are using right now, if you're rolling in money you could also try Mari

Can I find everything that I could do with 3DCoat that is useful for making items for dota in all of those applications? -> http://dev.quixel.se/

Xoliul · May 2014

If you're completely new you should probably just learn Photoshop by itself. every artist should be a pro with that.

Also 3Dcoat does 3D painting. The quixel stuff is an extension for photoshop that doesn't do 3D-painting, only 2D.

Shtreimel · May 2014

yea I know.. what do you mean by wrtiing "Photoshop by itself"?

You mean like, I should first learn to texture with only Photoshop?

And any other suggestions/tips/anything that could help guys?

Eric Chadwick · May 2014

http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryConceptFundamentals
Photoshop. Learn how to paint first. The foundation of all texturing skills.

JedTheKrampus · May 2014

I like Krita for texturing. (Full disclosure: I'm working for them right now.)

It's free, will never lock you out because Adobe can't keep their website up, doesn't have Photoshop's nonsensical undo commands, has a very configurable and flexible brush engine, has a wraparound mode (if you enable OpenGL in the preferences) which makes painting seamlessly tiling textures a lot easier, and I really like the Shift+stylus drag shortcut for changing brush size.

By the same token, though, there are still a lot of reasons to use Photoshop. Krita doesn't currently support OS X very well, so if you use OS X or plan to you should undoubtedly pick Photoshop instead. And some people prefer Photoshop's method of drawing straight lines to having the brush size bound to Shift+LMB. (This will be rectified when I get around to it, which will probably be quite a while.) Photoshop's filters are also a lot more robust and predictable, and notably Krita doesn't have a normal map filter, so if you want to be able to make normal maps from heightmaps you have to use GIMP and its free plugin, or get Mindtex, Substance Designer, Knald, or Crazybump to supplement it. Additionally, Krita doesn't have an answer for the Quixel tools either, so if you want to use those you'll have to switch to Photoshop (which isn't too hard, painting-wise they're rather similar and a lot of the shortcuts are the same.) Photoshop also tends to be used a lot more in studios as far as I know, so if you're one of those people who only ever bothers with industry-standard software you probably won't even give Krita the time of day.

Jeff Parrott · May 2014

+1 Photoshop

Use that for 10 years then start getting fancy.

Spoon · May 2014

We are also talking about it HERE

PolyHertz · May 2014

Do you eventually want to do 3D art for a living? If so, Photoshop is required by 99% of all studios. 3D painting software is something you learn in addition, they're not a replacement (unless you're just a hobbyist, then use whatever you want).

Also atm there's no real standard 3D painting app;
3DCoat is what I use, but it certainly has its fair share of shortcomings that force me into Photoshop more often then I'd like.
Mari is the feature king atm, absolutely nothing comes close in terms of raw capabilities, however it doesn't allow for true 3D painting (just projection) and priced absurdly high compared to its competition.
Substance Painter is the newest 3D painting app, and its got some really unique and amazing features, but because its so new a lot of basic things are also missing.

Having said that, you should learn:
1. Photoshop (minimum requirement for texturing)
2. an app for normals from textures (CrazyBump/nDo/etc.)
3. a 3D painting app (3DCoat/Mari/Substance Painter/etc.)

Zack Maxwell · May 2014

For the record, the Substance pack handles both 3D painting and all forms of map baking, from both 3D and 2D.
I'm pretty sure they added 2D painting as well.
I strongly recommend it once you're good with Photoshop.

Mask_Salesman · May 2014

Print out your UVs, pin it to a canvas and break out the watercolours. Then simply scan it back in :thumbup:

Seriously tho I cannot even fathom a place that doesn't use photoshop.

JedTheKrampus · May 2014

Mask_Salesman wrote: »

Print out your UVs, pin it to a canvas and break out the watercolours. Then simply scan it back in :thumbup:

Seriously tho I cannot even fathom a place that doesn't use photoshop.

I bet you could actually get some pretty rad-looking hand-painted textures that way.

Dataday · May 2014

This is tough, since there are so many ways to texture these days.

2d applications like Krita and Photoshop are a pretty standard approach, and still very useful when creating alphas and other textures which can be used in 3d texture painting/sculpting.

3d Coat is awesome because it offers a lot of functionality for a low price point, the texture painting skills will transfer over to most projection based painting applications.

I have a feeling we will see a boost in the usage of apps like substance painter and mari, possibly zbrush depending on where they end up going with the next major version.

Another big texturing tool that is constantly on the rise is Substance Designer as well, which doesnt necessarily fall into any category but its own.

I would recommend picking one or two from those categories and just get good at them, the skills will transfer over in the end.

Shtreimel · May 2014

Dataday wrote: »

This is tough, since there are so many ways to texture these days.

2d applications like Krita and Photoshop are a pretty standard approach, and still very useful when creating alphas and other textures which can be used in 3d texture painting/sculpting.

3d Coat is awesome because it offers a lot of functionality for a low price point, the texture painting skills will transfer over to most projection based painting applications.

I have a feeling we will see a boost in the usage of apps like substance painter and mari, possibly zbrush depending on where they end up going with the next major version.

Another big texturing tool that is constantly on the rise is Substance Designer as well, which doesnt necessarily fall into any category but its own.

I would recommend picking one or two from those categories and just get good at them, the skills will transfer over in the end.

ok..
And about Photoshop, won't the texture be like kind of not smeared good even if I use it with low opacity on some baked map?

Torch · May 2014

Shtreimel wrote: »

ok..
And about Photoshop, won't the texture be like kind of not smeared good even if I use it with low opacity on some baked map?

Eh?

RobeOmega · May 2014

Personally I use paint (the default windows one) and paint the pixels one by one

In all seriousness I use Photoshop CC

PolyHertz · May 2014

Shtreimel wrote: »

ok..
And about Photoshop, won't the texture be like kind of not smeared good even if I use it with low opacity on some baked map?

Are you talking about texture stretching issues? If so, then yes that can be a problem when painting in 2D but as long as you have well thought out UVs it's normally not that big of a deal.

Shtreimel · May 2014

PolyHertz wrote: »

Are you talking about texture stretching issues? If so, then yes that can be a problem when painting in 2D but as long as you have well thought out UVs it's normally not that big of a deal.

What exactly are you talking about and how can I avoid it?

What more problems should I try to avoid while using:
Photoshop/xNormal/Handplane/3Dcoat ?

Eric Chadwick · May 2014

Texture stretching = If the UVs are distorted, the texture pixels will be distorted, they will not be square pixels. This looks like stretching, because the pixels are thin and long, and look blurry. This makes it very hard to paint good textures.

Shtreimel · May 2014

How do I avoid from getting into this problem?

Eric Chadwick · May 2014

Create UVs with the least stretching possible. Have you created UVs before?

NegevPro · May 2014

Definitely focus on the foundational programs first (Photoshop). You might not see good results initially when using only Photoshop, but that should be expected. I love dDo a lot, but it is kind of a skill crutch I think, since it is pretty easy to get high quality results.

From the sound of it, you could benefit a lot by using a basic software workflow to get the hang of everything (model and UV in regular 3D package, bake with xNormal, texture in Photoshop, etc.) If you try expanding your software selection early on, then you won't have a good idea of how to properly do any of the tasks needed of you, and it will ultimately hurt your work in the end.

What software should I use for texturing?

Replies