How to learn to really Texture properly?
I've been using substance painter for awhile now but mostly depending on premade materials and smart materials, and alpha stamping. I'm really looking to improve and get into hand texturing my own assets and not depending on drag and drop with heavy filter and generator usage and masks.
What steps would I need to be able to really texture properly? I've heard the phrase "Painter doesn't teach you to texture properly, but it might make you think you are." I really feel this is true and I've limited my growth by depending on premade materials.
I have a good understanding of color theory, and working from references, but I'm not sure what else I need or if there a good break down? Do I need to go and follow along with the digital artist approach you see in many courses where artists render realistic art in photoshop with brushes? Digital painting in photoshop then transfer that over on the 3D side?
I'm also looking to move from painter to mari, but I am thinking about 3d coat as I heard the brush engine is more like photoshop.
Thanks for any advice! :)
Replies
One thing that really helps me is to examine real-world surfaces around me, break them down into PBR properties (albedo, roughness, etc.) and try to replicate them in 3d.
Developing an eye for how to see surfaces in regards to the constituent layers that would make them render effectively.
Then dive into renderer documentation, research presentations from SIGGRAPH, GDC, etc. to learn more about each specific layer.
As an example, recently I've been a part of the specification for a new material extension in glTF, for thin film interference (soap bubbles, oil slicks, gunmetal) and that meant reading a lot of technical papers & slides to try to understand the visual effects, and how to exploit them as an artist. A lot of gibberish (to me) but eventually it starts to gel.
Great suggestions! I'll start looking for some resources now and also work on replicating what I see, but breaking them down as you suggested! :) Thanks!
Another thing that can be instructive is to look for well-surfaced 3d models that are shown in a live 3d viewer.
Like Marmoset Toolbag, or Sketchfab.
These have material layer inspection tools that illustrate how each contributes to the whole.
I'll search for some, thank you. I've also been looking at breakdowns on Art Station too.
This is a timely post made by @FrankPolygon that will be of interest to you :)
Thank you! I'll go over this throughout the week.
my view - as someone who deals daily with people getting materials wrong
learn what dielectric and conductive actually mean in the context of a physical substance
learn what index of refraction means and the effect it has on light
learn how subsurface scattering, transmittance and absorption happen in the real world
research materials - not CG bullshit, the actual things, find out what they're made of, what happens to them when they oxidise, react with other materials etc. connect that with what you learned about conductive vs dielectric properties.
learn what happens inside a shader when we approximate all the things - you don't have to understand the maths, you just need to understand what goes in and what comes out
understand how bright lights are
understand that the disney/ggx brdf is basically just a very flexible way to represent plastic
having looked into all that stuff you will have a very good idea of what values you need to put where in a material to get the sort of effect you're looking for, you'll also be very aware of how poorly calibrated lighting in certain popular applications results in all your shit looking wrong.
obviously you can just eyeball it like most people but the more accurate our shaders and lighting get, the worse the eyeballing will look
Thank you. I have a big list now of a bunch of topics to research. 😁