Easy to follow texturing workflow
Hi everyone hope you all had a great bank holiday!
Thought I'd start this thread to help me better understand good texturing workflows and hopefully your knowledge and advice will help others too.
I've done my research, Google, digital tutors, poly count wiki etc... Yes there are posts out there but they really go off tangent at times. I'd love if someone with experience could be clear and concise without sarcasm and realise others want to learn!
I come from an archvis background so obviously texturing there is a lot different.
So here's where I stand. If I was to texture a gun for example I would model and unwrap in 3ds max and then texture using 3d coat or Mari (this is what I feel comfortable with so far). If you can provide a better approach please share.
When it comes to texturing buildings, I'm somewhat lost, maybe I'm over thinking it but what approach would you take? Yes I could easily slap a tileable texture over it but what about the detail? Dirt etc to make it unique.
Hope I haven't rambled on too much and I look forward to hearing from everyone
Thought I'd start this thread to help me better understand good texturing workflows and hopefully your knowledge and advice will help others too.
I've done my research, Google, digital tutors, poly count wiki etc... Yes there are posts out there but they really go off tangent at times. I'd love if someone with experience could be clear and concise without sarcasm and realise others want to learn!
I come from an archvis background so obviously texturing there is a lot different.
So here's where I stand. If I was to texture a gun for example I would model and unwrap in 3ds max and then texture using 3d coat or Mari (this is what I feel comfortable with so far). If you can provide a better approach please share.
When it comes to texturing buildings, I'm somewhat lost, maybe I'm over thinking it but what approach would you take? Yes I could easily slap a tileable texture over it but what about the detail? Dirt etc to make it unique.
Hope I haven't rambled on too much and I look forward to hearing from everyone
Replies
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but maybe it can help you:
https://vimeo.com/mistry
Hey thanks for sharing! Wasn't 100% what I was looking for but I still learnt something from it and the textools look like an awesome add on to have.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/TexturingTutorials
till then, just to give you an idea....lets say you were interested in doing archvis and wanted to know some pro workflows/tips etc.. id be able to help seeing as ive been in the field for a few years. Thats the kind of advise/help im seeking.
Thanks
I highly recommend Xuan Prada course if you're into more VFX/realistic texturing. His newest course can be found at TDU. He has a few tutorial with Digital Tutor which are excellent as well.
http://td-u.com/texture_painting_look_dev/
That looks like such a great course to take, unfortunately i wont be able to take it as i just got married recently so if i spend that kind of money i might be alone again haha but substance painter looks really good, something to learn for sure!
I think my main concern is with texturing buildings. like i said earlier, ill post more info today (images explaining what im stuck with) and hopefully someone can clarify it for me.
In the image you can see three things, building i quickly modeled for this query and two options. A&B...
Option A = use multi-sub material and apply to object. use uvmap to tile textures then apply unwrap for renderTotexture on seperate uv channel.
Option B = Use single texture sheet + unwrap then apply second unwrap for lightmapping in game engine.
which of these options is the best way to proceed with? and if option B....how would you go about tiling the textures?
Hope this makes sense :poly142:
How building textures work:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Modular_environments
How to add wear and tear:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/MultiTexture
Multiple tiling bitmaps is usually the best bet.
But it depends on where the performance bottleneck is. If draw calls are too high, then you want to reduce the number of individual bitmaps, so then you need to understand texture atlases.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Texture_atlas
But going too far with packing can cause the shader to get expensive, for example if you need to extract the tiles and fix tile seams. Like the first tutorial on that page (How to create UE3/UDK Texture Atlases). So you have to figure out if a slower shader is worth reducing draw calls.
I'd say just try one of those modular tutorials, and not worry too much about all the variations. You'll learn those on the job, specific to whatever your particular game's needs are.
I'll be sure to try out these tutorials and report back with how i get on. most likely using the building i already started.
Another question..
So lets say all goes well and i apply my tileable textures to the building in all the different areas. How would you go about adding in (for this sake) the dirt detail after overlayed on the tiled texture...
http://eat3d.com/free/vertex_painting
this really shows it perfectly! thank you for sharing.
also incase anyone else is keeping an eye on this thread...i found this http://www.hourences.com/tutorials-vtx-blending/ for 3ds max users.
Tor Frick's Eat3D video shows how to use a mask with vertex paint, for more detail in the blends. Really cool! There are many approaches for this, see http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/MultiTexture#Modulation_Blending
I have worked out how to do the tiling textures using uvwunwrap. image attached of tiling brick on object (not perfectly square). if you have any comments regarding the way i accomplished this please do share as im still not 100% im doing things right.
Thanks
So for example if you go to Box and change the # of segments, UVW Unwrap will reset itself. You lose all your work.
Better workflow is to collapse the stack into an Editable Poly once you're done with a bunch of UV editing. You can always add another Unwrap to edit them later, if needed. The edited UVs are saved down in the Editable Poly.
Thank you for the advice regarding the modifier stack, ill be sure to keep that part of my workflow.
This video by Future Poly explains texture planning really well. Highly recommend.
[ame]
and thats why you're called direwolf! beast of a video thanks for sharing, been going through his entire series and the tips/tricks you pick up are brilliant.
This is for sure the video ive been looking for!
What do you suggest I show in my portfolio? Would I need to create full on environments? Or just a bunch of assets loaded into a game engine?
Perhaps you could show some examples of what and how to present your work?
My thoughts so far (so you don't think I'm not thinking about it)...
Create 4 assets...building, environment prop, weapon and something else (not sure yet).
Show renders of models using marmoset toolbag. Show texture sheets along with spec and normal maps. Prove the models work in a ranger engine such as udk or cryengine.
Thoughts?
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/buildings-for-social-game-zombie-island
There are some really creative ones where the artist cut just a corner of a room and show it like that with a few props too, showing broken bricks and wires around the edge as if the pieces had been ripped from a building.