5 Tips on Creating your Texture Photoshop
Once all the unwrapping is done, you are left with a file containing the pieces that you will have to then colour in. There are lots of things that can help you do this. In this section of the course notes, I will list some of the features that can help you this process and what you should watch for and the things that don't really matter.
5.1 Gathering textures
As stated earlier, textures are more than just colour. Its the patterns and change in the colour as well. There are 3 basic methods of creating textures:
· paint it, using the drawing/painting tools in Photoshop, paint the texture you want
· take a digital photo of the texture. If you like the surface of the table you are sitting at and you want to use it as a texture for your object, take a digital photo of it (use a high quality setting when doing this)
· Use online resources. Do a search for textures and you will find lots a great deal on the internet.
5.2 Layers in Photoshop
A file that you are editing in Photoshop consists on multiple layers. Think of each layer as a transparency that you will paint on. When you put the transparencies on top of each other the higher up layers (that are set up to the default settings) cover the layers below it. Therefore, when painting your object, if you colour a little outside the lines it may be possible to hide it under another layer. When you save your file in dds format (preferred format for unreal) or jpeg format, you will lose the layer information so make sure that you have a working copy of your texture in Photoshop format if you plan to continue editing it.
5.2.1 Layers Stack.
Below is a picture showing the stack of layers in a drawing. This window is typically found on the right side of your Photoshop work area. If you don't see it there, hit F7 or go to the menu item Windows-> Layers. There are several things to note in this window
5.2.2 Preparing Your Dump Map in Photoshop
When you open up the unwrap file that you generate from 3ds max, your picture will have only one layer and it will be locked. First thing you should do is unlock that layer, and change it to a multiply layer. To do this:
· double click on the lock icon . This will bring up the following
· change the Mode to Multiply
A mulitply layer will allow this layer containing all the lines to be visible on all the other layers that you will be painting on. You should not modify this layer where your dump map is. Any painting should be done on other layers.
5.2.3 Using Layers when editing
There are many ways that you can edit your drawing to prepare your texture. Layering is very useful when you are preparing your texture. For each component in your unwrap you can use a new layer. To create a layer, Choose from menu: Layer -> New ->Layer... It will bring up that new layer dialog box. Just choose the default settings. Drag the new layer under the dump map layer (dump map layer should be top layer)
Once you have the new layer you can start editing the piece you wish to colour. If you colour outside the lines of the piece into unused texture space you do not have to fix it as it won't affect anything. If you colour into a piece that has been painted on a layer that is higher in the stack (further up in the list of layers) you will have to fix it as this will cover the old texture. You can fix it by erasing the things that have been painted into the other piece or you may also be able to simply move your layer down the stack below the layer for the piece that you had accidentally drawn into. In some cases, moving may not work as it may affect other layers (if you make several mistakes that you have fixed by moving layers, then moving it may make errors show up in other layers).
5.2.4 Saving your files
The preferred format for unreal is dds files. In order for you to save a file in dds format you need to install the plug-in that you can get from nvidia's web page. Go to http://www.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html and download the plug in that will allow you to save files as dds files.
Before you save your file into dds format, make sure that you make the layer containing the unwrap lines not visible first (click the eye icon on that layer). If you don't do this, you will have a bunch of black lines showing on your model.
NOTE: Once you save a file in dds (or jpeg) form, you will lose all the layering information. It is probably a good idea to save your file in photoshop's psd format as well so that you can go back and make changes if you make a mistake.
5.3 Editing textures
Any image can be used for creating textures. It is better to have a high resolution texture to start with. Scaling down a high resolution texture is better than scaling up a low resolution texture. One way that you can apply a texture to your drawing is to cut and paste the texture (or a portion of your texture into a new layer. These steps describe how to do this:
· Select a section of the texture you wish to apply from your texture picture
· copy it
· go to your unwrap picture, create a new layer and paste the drawing in.
· Hit ctrl-t or choose from menu Edit->Free Transform
o This will allow you to edit the image that you pasted on.
o You can scale it to fit the area (remember it is better to scale down than up). Remember you can erase parts of it if you can't fit it exactly.
o You can rotate the image (for example, wood grain doesn't look good if it is the wrong way)
· You can use the erase tool to erase the parts that are outside the border of your drawing
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