Tutorial:Hard Surface Texture Painting

[Stefan-Morrell]

.....Bump & Spec



http://stefan-morrell.com/Part4_Bumps.jpg






http://stefan-morrell.com/Part5_Spec.jpg




http://stefan-morrell.com/Part7_Tips.jpg

____________________________________

scratch brush,basic example:

http://stefan-morrell.com/Tut_Brushes.jpg

Step by Step Tutorial published in 3DWorld Magazine issue #88

for a step by step look at how I texture hard surface objects,please Click the image below to access the .pdf version of the article

http://www.stefan-morrell.com/imagesnews/3dw88_cover.jpg (http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/3dworld/TDW88_t_cyborg.pdf)

____________________________________________________________________

here are some examples where I've used this texture technique:

http://stefan-morrell.com/SC_floorpanelHipolyTex.jpg


http://stefan-morrell.com/cratesancontainres2.jpg



http://www.stefan-morrell.com/DA_tile_textures2.jpg

[Vimmy]

Yeah great tutorial , and good explain. thank you Stefan-Morrell :thumbsup: great

[Segmoria]

What a great tutorial! I really envy your eye for detail, those industrial-enviroment artworks are really something!
Many thanks Stefan for this workaround and the tips as well!

[Snikske]

exellent work, thx for the effort for writing this tutorial!!!
:thumbsup:

[francescom]

great work thanks for sharing your knowledge, very helpful:applause:

[webhead]

Very nice. Great work and great tutorial -Thanks!

[EquiNOX]

Excellent tutorial :thumbsup: One thing, I wish you could also include making the red light lens texture.

[xenic101]

Outstanding. Wow. And Thanks.

[PhilOsirus]

Hey very nice presentation, good tutorials and tips, but I HAVE to mention this:

Use layer masks.

I noticed you actually use the eraser on the textures. This means you actually destroy the original texture. Instead, you should use layer masks (Layer/Add Layer Mask). This is basically a black and white alpha map linked to your texture. Paint white and the texture is revealed, paint black and it is hidden. This means your original texture is never affected, it remains as it was when you imported it. If you end up not liking that yellow and black stripe pattern you just replace the texture, the layer mask will still be there. Hence you don't have to redo it all, it's just a question of a few clicks and the change is done:) You could only do this with your current method by first selecting your texture and then reapply that selection on your new texture but it would require clean up and wouldn't be as fast (the results would not be very good because PS's selection methods are not perfect).

Also, you can apply layer effects on layer masks by double clicking it. This can be good to make the edges of a rusty texture (using outer glow functions, etc). No need for an additional texture, and this can help save ressources/memory.

Give it a try, let me know what you think:)

Other than that great tutorial, thanks for sharing!

[Stefan-Morrell]

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the lack of layer masks :D
very good points Phil

I started using them more recently as Photoshop has an unpredictable crash bug when using the eraser,but for the majority of my textures I'm fairly sure of what the final thing will look like..so it's just a case of going through all the above motions..it's a very rare ocassion when I need to redo any layers

but again..very good points about using layer masks:thumbsup: ..I'm slowly getting used to them


EquiNOX...the red lens is a very simple grayscale texture that sits in the self illumination shader,set to a bright color & anything on the texture that's white will show through as the color you've chosen..anything black will be masked out.
great for scifi consoles & faking 'glowing' lights.

at final rendertime I render a self illumination pass(this will render an image containing only the self illuminated materials),that pass is then given some subtle blur in photoshop & set to screen to give the illusion of a glow

Cheers
Stefan

[Liquid Monkey Brain]

Wonderful job. I can't wait to try out some of these techniques.

[dragonfly2004]

Wow! Great tute, Stefan!:thumbsup:
And thanks, Phil, for the additional hints:)

[deekpyro]

Awesome tutorial! Knowing photoshop is only half the battle. Tutorials to help with all the little tricks to make these specific effects is always very much appreciated!

[Zethriel]

Thanks for the good tutorial Stefan.

[vampeta]

Hi Stefan,

It is a real pleasure to watch your painting & texturing skills. absolute awesome and a fantastic tutorial. Reminds me about one thing... i have much to learn ;) :D

Keep going this way.. i will watching you. ;) :beer:

[Rawnrr]

Thank You Stefan....you know I was looking forward to this ;)


Rawn

[MT-Cup]

Thanks for sharing this great information. The end results of your technique are always amazing. I think you make a good point in your reply to Phil_Osirus; knowing what you want for an end state before you begin is probably as important as knowing the tool(s) you are using.

[FlaminGlow]

great tutorial Steffan, very clear and pictures are self explainatory very good job you did with this one thank you and looking forward to see more of these.

[Gareee]

Very good and clear tutorial, SM! I haven't seen anything on how Max's auto uv creation option works. is there a simple explanation of that anywhere?

Seeing your latest wip images makes me wonder how the hell (and how long) doing the uv mapping for it would take?

Lightwave's UV mapping tools are archaic, and I'm looking elsewhere for uv mapping solutions.

[MooseDog]

wow! fantastic work combined with a clear presentation makes for a winner:thumbsup:.

thx for sharing!

[giraffe3d]

hi:)
thx a lot for sharing ur knowledge. this is very nice tutorial for us.

[scottsch]

Thanks for the really clear, easy to follow tutorial! :)

Here is a PDF of it (Created with permission). I hope the link works for everyone.

http://files.filefront.com/Painting_Hard_Surface_Textures/;5181268;;/fileinfo.html

[JHaywood]

Thanks for the tutorial, it's extremely informative. But I was wondering if you could expand on the custom brush creation. I'm assuming you adjust the jitter amount and some of the other dynamic settings, but it would be really cool if you could go into more detail on that.

Also, I've been doing a lot of Ambient Occlusion passes in Max lately using the Ambient Occlusion (MR) setting, but I notice that no matter how much I increase the sample settings I always get ugly jagged edges in the render. So I've been rendering at double the size I need and then scaling down in Photoshop to get more anti-aliased edges. Have you run into this problem or do your AO renders look okay?

[clodhopper]

is there a way to render an AO pass of the UV templet in Maya/ mental ray?
I guess I could import it into zbrush and pull a cavity map out of zmapper for the same effect...but should be a way inside maya

thanks for the info, good stuff.

[Stefan-Morrell]

cool..good to see this well received:thumbsup:
,& big thanks to scottsch for making a .pdf


Thanks for the tutorial, it's extremely informative. But I was wondering if you could expand on the custom brush creation. I'm assuming you adjust the jitter amount and some of the other dynamic settings, but it would be really cool if you could go into more detail on that.

Also, I've been doing a lot of Ambient Occlusion passes in Max lately using the Ambient Occlusion (MR) setting, but I notice that no matter how much I increase the sample settings I always get ugly jagged edges in the render. So I've been rendering at double the size I need and then scaling down in Photoshop to get more anti-aliased edges. Have you run into this problem or do your AO renders look okay?

hi j

I think the baking render settings are tied to you general render settings..so it might be as simple as switching AA on.or try a different filtering method.
also while I'm using the mr option I'm usualy rendering it with Final Render Stage 1,
...& as your already doing, rendering at double size & scaling down is a good way to avoid using any AA

I didn't go too indepth with the baking as every app uses different terminology & methods for baking.


for custom brushes,check out this tut:
http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_7brushes1.htm
& do a google for more,that's a pretty indepth subject..& something I've only ever crashed my way through :)
there is a tonne of options for customising brushes in photoshop


clodhopper...sorry I dont use Maya,you'd probably need to ask in a maya specific forum about 'texture baking'..I'm fairly sure maya,xsi,c4d,lightwave etc all offer texture baking,but my knowledge of it starts & stops with 3dsmax :)


Cheers
Stefan

[mdavid]

Hey Stefan, that's one fantastic tutorial. I'm a big admirer of your work and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Many thanks!

[scrimski]

Nice one. Thanks for sharing.

[weasel.acuh5o]

thanks for the tutorial, very much appreciated.

[BrokenWindow]

Awesome tut man...Just the kinda thing i was looking for. I never rendered a AO pass with the uvw template. How do u go about this?...

[kary]

Great tutorial Stefan, and really nice presentation it :thumbsup:

[Pixelgen]

I can get the UV map out and into PS7 using texporter but how the hell do I do a AMBIENT OCCLUSION (MR). I'm using max7. I can do texture well, but the way you done this is a far simplar way and would help loads...

I'm using max7...

PS

Thanks for the great TuTs

[Stefan-Morrell]

I can get the UV map out and into PS7 using texporter but how the hell do I do a AMBIENT OCCLUSION (MR). I'm using max7. I can do texture well, but the way you done this is a far simplar way and would help loads...
I'm using max7...


the first thing is to change renderer from scanline to mental ray(or final render if you have it,)..that way the occlusion element becomes visible.
I'm fairly sure the render to texture settings are tied to your general render settings so set them up as you normally would..then open the 'render to texture' dialog.
most of the settings are self explanatory...usually the only adjustments I make are to the size of the render.

rendering uv templates is an option that came with 3dsMax8,found in the uvw editor

Cheers


http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/polycount3d/CGTalk/Tut_Baking.jpg

[Pixelgen]

O boy.

Had a look at "Add texture element" AMBIENT OCCLUSION is missing,Nooooooooooooooooo. I does'nt seem to come with max 7.Is there anther way around this or a plugin, hell max 7 cost an arm and a leg, and I have no plans on updating right now. Also when I render to texture a complete map it the UV layout I'd done for the model gets a new UV layout. How can I render to txture and keep the sam UV layout...

Thanks for any advice

[Squirmy]

Stefan-Morrell, thanks for sharing your knnowledge and techniques. Im gonna read over this tutorial agian when I get a chance. Your willingness to give insight into your workflow is what makes this forum such a valuable tool for everyone, Thanks agian.

Pixelgen heres a tutorial demonstrating AO with max 7, and I think there is a option in the render to texture dialog that will fix your uv issue. Its use automatic unwrapping or use existing uvs, or something to that effect
http://www.everflow.com/support/tutorials/AO/Everflow_AmbientOcclusion1.html

[BrokenWindow]

Thanks for the link Squirmy. A good tut on AO, but it doesn't go into rendering a uvw template with AO. I tried render to texture...but it automatically unwraps all the sides to different planes. It doesn't keep the shape of the geometry. I know there's just 1 lil step i'm missing, but can't figure it out. Thanks..

[Pixelgen]

Squirmy thanks on the UV issue, it was right in front of me...

BrokenWindow
All you have to do to use your UV unwrap is as follows

1 Open Render to Texture.
2 Simple scroll down to mapping coordinates and under objects, mark use existing channel.
3 Then simply setup the rest and Render to Texture... done

But I get a fine black line where's the odd seem is:
bummer...

[cgoz]

Many thanks to The Master of Textures!:thumbsup:
this is the coolest
cheers

[cgg]

Thank you for this great tutorial stefan :thumbsup:

[MrBrick]

Awsome Tutorial! Its been a huge help in my work flow. Texturing is something I love doing- and you've helped stream line my efforts into a lean, mean hard texturing machine.

Your head is juicy egg full of knowledge! Thanks for crackin' it open for us.

Id love to see some more texturing tutorials from you maybe on other subjects like making realistic lights (i.e. Headlights or floodlights) ect.

You rock!

[Stefan-Morrell]

Id love to see some more texturing tutorials from you maybe on other subjects like making realistic lights (i.e. Headlights or floodlights) ect.


this one might help,
http://www.danielbuck.net/index.php?page=headlight_tut/headlighttut

or this one from a 3dsmax forum post(specificaly mahmoudcg's reply):
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=343661&highlight=headlights

Squirmy...thanks for that link,there's some great info in there:thumbsup:

Cheers

[yann22]

very nice tut, thx - but I have to be a nuisance and reiterate the importance of using masks/mattes/channels :)

the main point for me in using them wouldn't be so much the fear of destroying the original texture, but rather the endless flexibility they provide, e.g.: copy a channel so you get a new alpha, adjust levels/curves, paint with b/w, blur, dodge, burn your new alpha, apply as a layer mask, view the RGB channel while having the mask selected, so that you have an instant preview while you paint away with b/w or use any other operation mentioned above, apply a channel from a different image to your mask, apply it to a different texture etc. etc.

[kingmango]

Is this even possible with a mouse? lol

I'm just guessing you rely heavily on pressure. I'm trying to use some grunge brushes to achieve the rough looking scrapes, but it seems like I have to change brushes every 8 pixels to make anything even remotely not suck.

Still though, thanks for the tips. Time to start in depth browsing of this forum for mousing tips :cool:

[Agent J]

This is just what I needed! I'm taking a texturing class this quarter and is tut will help me out a lot. Thanks Stefan!

[waldomac]

I have learned a lot as a result of this tutorial.

I am ashamed to admit it, but I did not even grasp the concept of ambient occlusion until today.

I'm rendering an occlusion layer right now via Entropy. We'll see how it works, but I'm excited to be able to do some terrific textures as a result of your generosity in sharing this tutorial.

Thank you.

[Mars3d]

Excellent tutorial!

[Nysuatro]

Brilliant tutorial

[BadgerSundae]

Many thanks to you Stefan. This will help out immensely when it comes to texturing my current model.

[TheCheshireCat]

Awesome tutorial, pity its not dealing with anything fantasy-related, hehe.

[EricLyman]

Thanks for posting that, you've got some great tips and tricks in there that I hadn't thought about before... such as using an occlusion pass in your workflow. Cool stuff.

[everlite]

Hey, nice tutorial, i have one question, how do you render an ambient occulsion pass in max? is this just an area light pass? this always confuses me, if you could explain this that would be really great.

- Dave.

[Panupat]

one of the best texturing tutorial. Thanks for sharing your view!

Still trying to make a brush similar to yours without success... Can you go more in details about your brush specificly?

[BOA2107]

Wonderful job
thank

[Bleen]

Awesome tutorial! I've gotten into hard surfaces texture painting just this year, and your tutorial is really helping me!
Thanks a bunch! :love:

[Stefan-Morrell]

Photoshop Brushes:
first off..use a tablet!...if you have any interest in working in CG then a mouse just wont cut it,& once you use a tablet you'll know why ;)
The dynamics options I use with Photoshop brushes are only available if your using a tablet.

if you select the 'Brush' tool,then hit F5 the brush pallete will open,this is more indepth than just selecting brushes as it will allow you to modify the shape,flow,scattering etc

I've started with a default 'chalk' brush & adjusted the scattering,you have a real time view of the brush shape,just play with those dials & you'll see how easy it is to modify the brushes into something unique.





http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/polycount3d/Tut_Brushes.jpg



Everlite..the occlusion pass is explained on page 3 of this thread,it requires 3dmax that has mental ray installed(which I think came in at version 7?)

PixelGen,you mention getting a fine black line..I guess that comes from the uv seams,overlapping uv's would cause it to look black(you can check for overlapping uv's in the uvw window)

[Santin]

Great job!!! All for the community:thumbsup:

[aqua9]

THX alot was very helpful :)


:D

[Squirmy]

Sweet, I was trying to get the same effect using the dual brush option without much sucess. Thanks this clears it up.

[dougie0047]

Excellent! Just what I have been looking for!:applause: Thanks

Dougie

[efx1138]

I'm not sure my problem with this needs its own thread but I could really use some help here.
Following this most excellent tutorial I've managed to create and apply the occlusion material to my model and if I use render scene it works well.

However, I can't seem to get it to work with the render to texture function. The uv's are all layed out. The render settings in "Render to texture" are set to the mental ray. The element is an Ambient Occlusion. I haven't specified a target map slot for it but maybe I don't need to. However, when I render it out it all appears as a black image. I've messed around with alot of different permutations but to no avail. I can't seem to get anything going with this when I use the render to texture.

Hopefully this would be enough info for someone to maybe guide me in the right direction as I could really use some help.

Thanks again and kudos on a great tutorial :)

Thanks in advance:

Viktor

[Stefan-Morrell]

However, I can't seem to get it to work with the render to texture function. The uv's are all layed out.
Viktor

I think that might be better asked in the 3dmax forum,I can't think of any reason for it not to work.
I usually use the final Render engine to bake my textures,but using mentral ray 'should' work just fine.

you will get black areas wherever your uv's are overlaid,also if the model has multiple uv sheets then I'd guess each set will need to be rendered seperate to avoid the overlaying of uv's

but again..I'd shoot this over to the max forum where more 3dMax users will see it,I'd be curious to see what others say about it too.

[kornholio]

for posting this great tutorial, i have searched all over and finally come to the right place!

i know this probably is too much to ask but i was hoping you could send me the photoshop file of this tutorial so i could do it step by step and try to paint like you did. i only ask because i am very new to PS and some of the material covered on your tutorial i just simply didn't understand.

if u can't i'd understand too,

thank you either way for giving such great tutorial!

my email is
southern_cal_96@yahoo.com (http://forums.cgsociety.org/southern_cal_96@yahoo.com)

happy painting!

[leau2001]

Hi, very good tuto for a 3d Noob like me ;) .. but a question, when u made the UVlayer, what happen with the verticaly face of your object ? because your uvmap don't show this verticaly face don't they ?

I notice, may be your object have no really vertical ?

[Stefan-Morrell]

Hi, very good tuto for a 3d Noob like me ;) .. but a question, when u made the UVlayer, what happen with the verticaly face of your object ? because your uvmap don't show this verticaly face don't they ?

I notice, may be your object have no really vertical ?

hi Leau
the vertical sides you mention are so small & barely noticeable that I could easily get away with a simple planar map over the whole object.
if I had mapped the edges then the same rules apply about keeping all the uv's from overlapping eachother(this causes major trouble when you do the AO texture baking)

Cheers
Stefan

[duke]

Thanks for the tutorial! Here's my try:

http://www.dukecg.net/testPanel.jpg

It has 2 additional things - a specular pass (as its for a game), set to screen, 80% - and duplicated AO and tinted it a rusty colour to get some more rust/dirt in the crevices. It was only a 5-minute test to see how it turned out, and seeing the results I think I'm going to stick to it :P

[Stefan-Morrell]

looks great Duke...nice work!

[leau2001]

Hi, just to show my 1st result with blender and Gimp... appologize for my little lightning expérience...

Thx fot this tuto how learn me more ;)

lo

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/130/rendu8qm0.jpg

[tom1218]

Thanks for the good tutorial Stefan,so great!

[watermage]

Thanks for the tutorial, man. Its loaded with much needed information.

[benjerman]

i must say this i concur with everyone in that this tuturial rules. i have one tiny question though. i am using this method on a model, however, there are a few peices that it makes no sense to map, and the textures are applied via projections. what should one do regarding models where some parts are unmapped?

[Greg-Jackson]

Stefan-Morrell (http://forums.cgsociety.org/member.php?u=64489):

Anyone can answer this. I am having trouble getting the "UV Template".
Can anyone do a mini-tutorial for me please. I know I am asking much, but I really need help with this.

I am unwrapping my object, but it does not seem similar to Stefan-Morrell's work. Maybe I am doing it the wrong way, which is why I would like someone with more knowledge than me to giud me.

Anyway, thanks in advance to all.

[El_Pube]

Amazing tutorial Stefan ! Thank you.

[njanim8tor]

Hey Stefan,

Great work. One question, when using specular maps, where are they being placed in the material editor? In the Glossiness slot?

[Stefan-Morrell]

If anyone is working with programs that can't render occlusion maps.you should check this one out(free):
http://www.santyesprogramadorynografista.net/projects.aspx

I've been having a great time lately rendering out normal maps from very high poly models.

Hey Stefan,

Great work. One question, when using specular maps, where are they being placed in the material editor? In the Glossiness slot?

I usually drop it into the 'Specular Level'..so the map defines how much spec comes through,I'd guess it's more or less the same thing as putting it into the glossiness slot.


Greg-Jackson..I've used a very simple planar map for the example panel,applying a generic unwrap will look vastly different to a simple planar map...the sides of the mesh that don't meet the projection of a planar map are so small that I didn't feel it required mapping.
I also wanted the template perfectly square so I could easily tile it.

I think the biggest rule to follow if your baking is to avoid overlapping uv's..anything that overlaps will render very dark,


btw,there's a few more panels here using the same technique:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=422622

leau2001..good job for a first result,the biggest thing that jumps out at me with that are the colours,the yellow I think could do with some de-saturation & maybe darken the hue a bit,I'd also add a grunge overlay to get some variation in the overall look,& maybe tone down those scratches a bit

benjerman..yea,my models always end up with a few parts that aren't worth doing any custom template based textures for,a generic tiling texture & a quick uvw unwrap works fine on these parts..things like bolts,nails,cables ..these almost always get a generic texture.

[ysvry]

thx for sharing this knowledge.

[JackSkieczius]

hey, thank you so much for this thread. i been wanting a tut like this for a while.

here is hwat i came up with.

http://fl-tw.com/Contribs/Jack%20Skitz/plate2Ren03.jpg

[JustChris]

Wow, very nice and intuitive tutorial. The step where you flood fill all the layers really makes the texture become yours. Never knew that a simple trick does so much. This is my first try, very nice what you can do in just a half hour.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7758/sidersh2.jpg

Can't wait to try this on other things like planes and other vehicles. Good job with the tutorial! :)

[the_zed_axis]

thanks for an awesome tutorial and what makes it better is that its from nz :)

where do you work ?

[mehran]

excelllent tutorial...you won't believe how much this has helped me....
here is alittle trick that I just learned..
if you are having trouble painting the small scratches(the primary ones) you can siply
1-take 2/4 pixel brush
2-paint in roughly the lines scatches that you want. Don't break the lines too much..
3-go to filters >stylize>diffuse>dark only..click okay.
in case you want the rust to be a bit lesser..go to edit>fade diffuse..

[Xoliul]

Very interesting tutorial; but there's one thing I wonder;
It looks like you rotated you scratch brushes to paint around the circle. If there's one thing that annoys me when painting textures, it's having to rotate a brush (create seperate layer, place brush, CTRL+T, rotate,hit enter, merge down = tedious). So would anyone mind explaining how you can set the placement angle of a brush ?

[Stefan-Morrell]

Very interesting tutorial; but there's one thing I wonder;
It looks like you rotated you scratch brushes to paint around the circle. If there's one thing that annoys me when painting textures, it's having to rotate a brush (create seperate layer, place brush, CTRL+T, rotate,hit enter, merge down = tedious). So would anyone mind explaining how you can set the placement angle of a brush ?

no, I used the brush without any rotating..those scratches are painted in very loosely..just like your quickly scribbling in pen & paper,

[mehran]

Xoliul:
you can do it like this ...
make a circular spline Shape and Stroke it with your brush(right clike on the spline and select stroke), stroke the spline again
with an ereaser(right click>select stroke> and select the eraser from the drop down menu) to create variances of the same thing.....

[Redondo]

thks a lot stefani 4 ur making of ...
reallly it is great ...

[dpizzle]

i'm not sure if this is the problem you're having...
but check this out(if you're using PS, which i'm guessing you are)

http://www.davidpayneonline.com/misc/brushrotate.jpg

[Dysfunctional]

This is just brilliant. I am a 3D newbie and this was so informative and helpful. I noticed you had a tutorial in this month's (January) "3D World" magazine. I haven't read it yet but think it may be the same one.

Anyway, I admired your work before I jumped into real modelling using 3DS Max when I started as a simple Poser user back in the day. Your offerings at Daz3D were very detailed and I believe I may have purchased one or two.

At any rate, I thought this was great and if you truly want to blow me away, can you put together a tut on how you did the tile effects in the promo image at the start of the thread? I would really love to know how to create a wall with grungy tiles that has cracked and missing faces. I think maybe some others would be interested, too?

[Stefan-Morrell]

I noticed you had a tutorial in this month's (January) "3D World" magazine. I haven't read it yet but think it may be the same one.

yes,In 3dworld issue 88 I've gone a bit more in depth into the process,offered more in a step by step way than this one,also support files are included so you can check out what each layer is doing

can you put together a tut on how you did the tile effects in the promo image at the start of the thread? I would really love to know how to create a wall with grungy tiles that has cracked and missing faces.

I wont have any time to make another tut for a while, but here's what the bump & color maps look like(scaled down & cropped from a 2048x texture)


http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/polycount3d/CGTalk/CSF_wip24.jpg


http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/polycount3d/CGTalk/CSF_wip16.jpg

[Dysfunctional]

Awesome. Thanks so much for that, Stefan. I appreciate the fact that you are certainly busy and cannot do the requested tutorial on such short notice, however I can realize from the provided images that surely the same principles from this particular tutorial apply to the tile question (indeed, I can see some of the same exact "worn" effects in place).

I guess what I was most curious about is the displacement. Are the tiles individual polys or are they all simulated through excellently produced displacement maps? Please understand that I have only just in the last week jumped into the actual "modelling" world so I apologize if this seems a rookie inquiry, but I just want to understand 100% how that effect is achieved before I attempt it. I am humbled by the amazing art that is on this website and don't want to waste anyone's time if this is an obvious answer, but right now I am a sponge just absorbing everything I can in my modelling classes and the more I can take away, the better.

Thanks for the response, and kind regards...

[thondal]

WOW! I understood this! Finally. Been trying to understand how to make great textures, and now i finally got it. If only I can actually learn to do something 10% similar to this tutorial then my work will become 200% better..

thanks

[greboide]

hi i had to try this also, not so good as others but i think ive learned a lot on making textures uvpainted, the softs ive used are gimp and blender:-
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c132/greboide/cofre.png

[greboide]

duplicated!

[everlite]

Hey Stefan,

Nice one, i just picked up 3dworld yesterday and found your article very useful on a job i'm doing that requires just the same rusty metal effects.

- Dave.

[rozmiarek]

Hi, Stefan!

Great tutorial, I would be more than happy and honoured if I could use it in my book. Got my e-mail?

PS Need to discuss some things with You as fast, as it's possible

[rozmiarek]

Great work, Stefan! Could I use it in my book? Need to contact You as fast, as possible to discuss everything!

[Ahuri]

Many thanks to you Stefan :bounce:

This "exercise" rocks! Doing a good hard surface texture is now possible :scream:

Excelent job :thumbsup:

THANK YOU MAN!

[Ancient-Pig]

Nice tutorial man ! :)

[Stefan-Morrell]

rozmiarek..you can email me at 3dsmorrell@gmail.com (http://forums.cgsociety.org/3dsmorrell@gmail.com)

Ancient-Pig..hey thanks,I spent some time at your website today,some amazing cloth textures you have there,would be great to see a tutorial on how you do those :)

greboide...looking good,maybe a bit heavy on the scratches,but a good start!

Dysfunctional..there's no displacement in this,just bump mapping & yes the method is very much the same as for doing the hard surface stuff



Cheers

[everlite]

Hi,

I'm working on a project where i'm creating ambient occlusion maps prior to painting each texture, to give it a little depth and dirty feel. Though i'm starting to encounter a few problems.

I've created around 15 maps so far for different components, all painted up and applied to the objects, but now whenever i created a AO map i'm getting "error creating bitmap" popping up all the time. Does anyone else get this? I've created 15 so far with no problem.

Basic settings at 2048 with 32 samples.

Something seems to be happening in relation to the more maps i create. I'm wondering if the surrounding maps are causing the problem, ie: the more i create and apply into the scene ... not sure.

Adding to this it seems to be when i set the size over 1024.

Cheers - Dave.

[greboide]

thanks stephan for thinking its good, i guess that those scratches were caused by someone trying to open it somehow ;).

[Stefan-Morrell]

Dave..which render engine are using?
I dont know for sure but it might be a memory problem which has different fixes for different engines

Hi,

I'm working on a project where i'm creating ambient occlusion maps prior to painting each texture, to give it a little depth and dirty feel. Though i'm starting to encounter a few problems.

I've created around 15 maps so far for different components, all painted up and applied to the objects, but now whenever i created a AO map i'm getting "error creating bitmap" popping up all the time. Does anyone else get this? I've created 15 so far with no problem.

Basic settings at 2048 with 32 samples.

Something seems to be happening in relation to the more maps i create. I'm wondering if the surrounding maps are causing the problem, ie: the more i create and apply into the scene ... not sure.

Adding to this it seems to be when i set the size over 1024.

Cheers - Dave.

[everlite]

Max 9, MR.

Yeah i've pinned it down but not solved the issue. It'll work with anything under 1024 but go higher and it just says can't create bitmap.

I have 2gb ram, no more than the basic window apps running in the background. Do you think it might be a memory problem?

[Stefan-Morrell]

you might need to ask in the 3dsmax forum to get better answers,I tend to do all my dirt maps using finalrender & I dont have max9
in Render options>Processing>Translator options..try turning on 'conserve memory' (which will slow your render down but should make it more stable)

'error creating bitmap'..whenever I get that error in finalrender turning on the 'bitmap pager' or switching to 'low priority thread'(same as mr's conserve memory) get's around it

[XB3rt]

great tutorial!
is there any way to create these ambient occlusion maps in c4d r9????

[jasonhuang1115]

Thanks, Stefan, for posting such an informative tutorial for hard-surface texturing. I am actually working on a giant robot project and this tutorial has been really helpful for me. I also bought the 3D world magazine specifically for your tutorial because in that it covered more details and info that I would like to know. :thumbsup:

I have a quick question here for you. Is the ambient occlusion pass here designed for a still image shot or it could also be for sequence images. I had hard time to bake a nice AO map in Maya for texturing purpose and is wondering if I could just render an AO pass and composite it in the post. If so, that would be a lot easier for me. Thanks.

[hoktar]

thank you so much!
was searching my whole life for such a tut :thumbsup:

thx:love:

[octopus7]

Thanks for a brilliant tutorial Steffan! I have often wondered how to get that dirty, scratched paint look and thanks to your tutorial I was able to come up with the following.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g16/tigertank88/WIP003.jpg
Using your methods it is relatively easy to get a "rough cast" effect as well which is what I was aiming at for the outside of the box (which is something i'm doing based on Star Wars type thermal detonators) I used bump & specular mapping as well as an occlusion map. I should also note that this was my first go at using UV unwrap as well.

[roctavian]

I enjoyed very much your clean and informative tutorial. Thank you.

[denizengt]

One thing I don't understand is rendering the occlusion pass - how do I get it to be in the same top down view and size as the unwrapped UV's?

[chippwalters]

Great Tutorial!!
Really like it. Here's my quickie version. The top is the textured version. Interestingly, this whole model was generated from a single 512 x 512 16-bit Photoshop TIFF file and rendered in Vue 6-Infinite. It's actually under 1800 polys. Picture 2 shows the model, while the third image shows the height map from Photoshop.

http://www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/test/MeadMonitor_big.jpg
http://www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/test/MeadMonitor2_big.jpg
http://www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/test/MeadMonitorHeightMap_big.jpg

[ctrl+S]

Wow..that is nice Chipp.

p.s.
Stefan, this tutorial is linked all over the internet! Seems like wherever 3D forum I go to, there's your tutorial linked. And with good reason! It rocks! Thank YOU Stefan. My texturing skills improved greatly thanx to you.

[Stefan-Morrell]

nice work chip!..you could probably even render that on one single polygon & it'll look cool.

denizengt...the occlusion pass is rendered according to your uv's..so whatever you render as an ao pass should match your uv template

ctrl+S..cheers:)..It's certainly been well received,which is all good..great to be able to give something back

[markfiend]

I'm just starting to get into 3D; (Blender) and I saw this tutorial; wow!

My effort: a low-poly spaceship (49 polys!) based off your method. I didn't include the AO pass (haven't found out how that works on Blender yet ;) ) but colour, bump and specularity maps.

The lighting is a bit so-so, but I don't think I did too bad for a couple of hours work:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/markfiend/blender/ship.jpg

[hERda]

Great tut, thx!

But I cant figure out how to paint those scratches on edges. Iam trying to pain a metal texture for a gun. And I just cant get those scratches painted. Can you please go into detail here?

[NeptuneImaging]

Hey Stefan, how are you doing? I am still reading your tutorial (It has helped me immensely), but I want to know how you would go about creating paint for a wall...right now I am having issues creating the basis of the paint, mainly the bump mapping...

here is my thread that I am trying to get the paint look: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4280329#post4280329

I was going to go toward a procedural approach but I did not want the image to look like it was repeating or anything...what would you suggest I do.

Thanks a bunch..

Kashif C. Riley

[medunecer]

Thanks for this tutorial! Very useful!

[ParadiseFlyBird]

great tut Stefan....

[stheneboea]

Very informative tutorial. One question I had was, for the scenes you did in your portfolio, what size maps did you use? Were they large, like 2048x2048, or were you able to get that render with something only like 512x512? Anyways, thanks for sharing, here is what I came up with following your tutorial. Oh, and yes, I would agree with your statement that we should us a tablet. Wish I had one...

[stheneboea]

And here are the renders...

[Stalsby]

cool tutorial!!! It would be even cooler if you posted your 3d max settings from your material browser! so we could see your texture setup and what maps you have in what slots!!

[cage3d]

you are like a god to me, i needed this kind tuto for a long time. thank you very very much

[Deloix]

This is my first hard Surface texture. :D

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1769/hardsurfacelo2.jpg

[Lukem]

Great tutorial - thanks!

[Danilo Almeida]

Very good stuff. Congratulations man.

[Bandolin]

Rarely are tutorials written that so specifically meet one's needs. It was pertinent, detailed and easy to follow.

Great work Stefan.

[ohjin]

Wikid Cool

[Glacierise]

This was very helpful to me, thanks!

[IvanB]

Thankyou SOOOOOOOOO much for your amazing tutorial!!..Your work is brilliant! (I could go on and on etc etc.)

Heres an example I made...Just goes to show what a good tutorial can do to get us started.http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif

This was modeled and rendered in Lightwave 9.3, and obviously textures created in photoshop CS3.

[retsbabe]

Step by Step Tutorial published in 3DWorld Magazine issue #88

for a step by step look at how I texture hard surface objects,please Click the image below to access the .pdf version of the article

http://www.stefan-morrell.com/imagesnews/3dw88_cover.jpg (http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/3dworld/TDW88_t_cyborg.pdf)[/QUOTE]



Great tutorial, just what i was looking for - funny how most of my google searches bring me right back to where i should have been looking in the first place :) Thx for posting that you also have a tut in 3d world, i went digging and found my copy from back in march. congrats on being published, thats fantastic. Thanks again for taking the time to write and post your tut its much appreciated.

[Pixelgen]

Finally crack it:
Once again thanks for the tut.


image 1: Used A0 to create a skin for part of a model..
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n86/Pixelgen/02_TTcopy.jpg

image 2: Still working on this one...
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n86/Pixelgen/AO1.jpg

Edit:
I really could do with a few links for CS brushes that will help to add the finer detail to textures...

[MisterS]

Unfortunately it loks like the support files only go back to May 2007. Anyone know where I can get them from. It was March 07 to support this turorial.

[MisterS]

you want


http://mos.futurenet.com/resources/3dworld/tdw88_texture.zip

[kidlizard]

Great tutorial very helpful, I also like the way you designed it.

Looks very Graphically Designy

[Mafx]

I seem to be off to a dud start with the 3d world article. I have looked through the attached files and gone through the article but when I open the droid start and follow the steps to get the AO map I end up with this insane number of pieces in the render to texture window (and they are green). I am following step 1 and step 2 to the letter but it dies, I am using Max 2008, is this likely to be an issue?

Also, I was mucking around with some shapes of my own and my AO map always ends up with very grey edging, so when I apply the paint fill layers I do not get the fill that I need and end up highlighting the scratches and not the white areas of the AO map.

Am I missing some obviously basic steps here when doing the render to texture and generating the AO map? please?

Thanks heaps

S.

[mac666er]

Wow, I was just looking for a tutorial to sharpen my texturing skills... This is amazing work Stefan! even two years later!:arteest:

[JonnyRay]

Thanks for this tutorial, Stefan!

Thought I'd point out to folks that if you happen to be using a tool which can't render AO maps, the free "XNormal" can.

Link: http://www.xnormal.net/2.aspx
Tutorial: http://donaldphan.com/tutorials/xnormal/xnormal_occ.html

[maNtodEa]

where can i find a brush preset like one on the second picture? btw, thanks for a great tutorial. it actually simplified a whole texturing process.

[Stefan-Morrell]

hi..that brush is one of the default photoshop ones with some of the options changed,scattering is on for example..used along with a tablet & scribbled quick & loose to get a random look.
it might have started frrom the 'wax crayon' preset,honestly I cant remember..just play with the brush settings & you'll find something that works.

good to see his article still useful a couple years after it was made:cool:

[maNtodEa]

thanks mate, I found something similar to what i want. take care.

[TomCatania]

Oh man, this is a fantastic tutorial. Wish I had found this a lot sooner :O.

[nanshan]

Good!Powerfull!

[Xform]

Hi Stefan!

First I'd like to say, great tutorial! But Im having trouble with rendering the AO pass for my object. It is fully unwraped and when I render it to texture I get a completely white or black image.

I really dont know what Im doing wrong, Im using max 9. When I do a normal render the AO works just like it should.

Cheers!

[arcadhia]

hi..that brush is one of the default photoshop ones with some of the options changed,scattering is on for example..used along with a tablet & scribbled quick & loose to get a random look.
it might have started frrom the 'wax crayon' preset,honestly I cant remember..just play with the brush settings & you'll find something that works.

good to see his article still useful a couple years after it was made:cool:

Are u still around?

Love this technique! when is the video tutorial be released?

[scottN]

Hey Stefan,

I started following your tutorial in the magazine and ran into a bit of trouble around step 2 and 3. My ambient occlusion map rendered out to something completely different to that in the tutorial. Im positive that I've done something wrong, so hopefully you or someone on this board could help me out. Im gonna attach the map so you know what im talking about (i only saved it as a .jpg so it would be compatable with cgtalk).

thanks guys...

[Stefan-Morrell]

hey Scott,not sure why that happend for you,before doing the bake make sure 'Use Existing Channel' is enabled in your Render To Texture settings,having it on 'Use Automatic Unwrap' is the only thing I can think of that would cause that.

if you get only a black or white image then it's possible that the normals are inverted & you need to apply a reset x-form

[scottN]

that did the trick! thanks a lot stefan, I doubt I would have figured that out. Thanks again for the help and thanks again for the great tutorial!

[dbsmith]

Hey man, I see youre from New Zealand. Working for a company at the moment?

[joker-like]

an image isas best as 1000 of words
how can i fix it?
sorry for huge size?
http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo67/omid_221/1-2.jpg
http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo67/omid_221/2.jpg

[Glacierise]

You'll need a 3d-painter to do that. Mudbox 2009, Zbrush (polypaint, not textures!), Bodypaint... I think the mudbox-photoshop is the best combo.

[bcraig]

how do I render an ambient occlusion pass in c4d 11

[Eugenius]

Thank you very much for the excellent tutorial. I was able to create a freebie texture for Team-Dystopia and I couldn't have done it without it. Thanks again!

Here's a Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1788190

[oktow]

thnx for ur great tut...
i learn it from u

[scottN]

stefan, how do you lay out your uvw's? I currently cant find any method that I'm happy with to texture my models and it's killing the quality of my work. I currently use 3ds max like you and would like to know what method you use, seeing as how you put out all this great work constantly.

[DanConnor]

For people having trouble with the making the ambient-occlusion image, you could try doing this:

Set your renderer to mental ray.

Set the background color to white and the global light to zero (everything is black).


select all the objects and give them a standard material, set it's color to white.

place an ambient/occlusion map in the self-ilumination slot (more samples for higher quality).

delete all the lights in your scene (they are unnecessary for this)

render.

Not sure if this method is as good, but I did that and the whole tutorial came out quite nice.

[IronWarrior]

Terrific tutorial! Learned some straightforward techniques...

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/9168/hardsurfacetestfinal.jpg


I think my scratches need a bit of work, but overall I think it's alright.

For anyone who doesn't know how to render an Ambient Occlusion pass in 3ds max...here's how it's done (not sure if someone explained in detail throughout the rest of the pages)

Switch renderers to Mental Ray (Render->Common->Assign Renderer)

Go to Indirect Illumination and enable Final Gather.

Click on your object, and press zero to open the render to texture box. For mapping coords, select "Use Existing Channel", and go down to "Output" and click "Add", then "Ambient Occlusion (MR)"

Set a width/height, and change the samples if necessary (I used 64).

Not sure if this is the best way to do it, since I never use MR, but it worked for me fine.

[DanConnor]

I dunno- when I do that I get a bunch or unwrapped components etec...

[IronWarrior]

Unwrapped components? It's supposed to render the object unwrapped, not quite sure what you mean there...

[DanConnor]

I mean I get it laid out in a whole bunch of parts; the sides all separate, several versions of the top, lots of little pieces, and its all in color. I've never used render to texture, so I've probebly flubbed it up. Will consult ye olde manual.

[IronWarrior]

Make sure you are using the Existing unwrap channel...anyways, here's the tutorial that showed me how to do it:

http://www.eddybrown.co.uk/blog/baking-ambient-occlusion/

[zapper1998]

Can we still downlaod the Issue #88 project files,


I read the whole thread, have the Issue 88 magazine,
Just not the project files??

anybody help please...




Michael

[Shagrinar]

Great tutorial, it helped me creating my first texture - which a lot of people said was quite good - just because of this tutorial! - Really cool :)

[Urenze]

Well, I need a lot of improvement, but this tutorial has been a huge help. Thanks!

Urenze

[jenkins08]

The images for the tutorial are broken.

Has this page bookmarked for quite some time, registered here to do the right thing and notify you of the broken images.

-jenkins

[Stefan-Morrell]

thanks for the heads up Jenkins,I'll update it asap

[jenkins08]

thanks for the heads up Jenkins,I'll update it asap

Cheers mate this tutorial is really really helpful and i should of said thanks in my other post, so thanks for this tutorial mate it's golden :)

-Jenkins

[DarkNemos]

The best texturing tutorial i have ever seen. So much info in so little text and images. Thanks so much man!

[ssmakx]

thanks for the excellent tutorial. :)

[cccameron]

well, this is my first post, and its all for you... thanks...
do u plan on doing any more tutorials, it was just so understandable and straight forward, lol i havent textured anything yet, but as soon as i do ill post my results back. thanks again

[dawestsides]

Thanks a lot for helping beginners like me.

This is exactly what I was looking for!

[rranney]

This was a great tut! The workflow has been great on my most recent exercise and I will be using it for later photographic-based texturing!

Thank you for sharing. :thumbsup:

[atarigraffx]

quick question for anyone that knows,


if i use the ambient occlusion layer like in the tutorial and use that pass to help paint in the darks for every object in my scene, do i still need to run a whole ambient occlusion pass during rendering??!

[sundialsvc4]

if i use the ambient occlusion layer like in the tutorial and use that pass to help paint in the darks for every object in my scene, do i still need to run a whole ambient occlusion pass during rendering??!

Well, you see, in a workflow like this one (which is based on compositing), the only "render" is at the very beginning of the process, and it only happens once. Once you have all those maps, you're done with rendering.

[joe-joe]

thanks, good work :thumbsup:

[darthrevan]

Uh could you make it a video tutorial, i have a hard time understanding images and text.

[alagear]

This will be THE tutorial for me to reference in the future for texturing machinery or in general. Accolades my friend!

[nitinkumar]

Really great Tutorial, its really helpful for me.:bounce:
Thanks Mr. Stefan for help us..

[speirso]

great tutorial, many thanks,

was just wondering about the ambient occlusion pass,

is this just a projection render on to a plane with mental ray ambient occlusion?

and how do you render the uv template like this one?

thanks again,

andy

[Eugenius]

great tutorial, many thanks,

was just wondering about the ambient occlusion pass,

is this just a projection render on to a plane with mental ray ambient occlusion?

and how do you render the uv template like this one?

thanks again,

andy

I'm no expert but the Ambient Occlusion is a feature that most higher-end 3D modeling application have; you usually do AO map after the UV map phase. In regards on how you render the template (and/or the AO), refer to your 3D manual or do a search in a 3D forum thread in the same 3D application that you're using. Most saavy 3D folks are usually very helpful.

[t1z10]

Thanks a lot!

[davidscotland]

I am flat stuck with this tutorial at step 10. It says to hold down the control key and click the paint layer to make a selection based on the previous fill command. I haven't got a clue how to make this work.

Someone else mentioned using masks and said to go to layer > add new mask. There is no command here to add new mask???

[prichardgs]

Awesome tutorial, thank you very much. Always good to learn new techniques that speed up the workflow.

ps: Your work is fabulous.

[digitalworkshop]

Hi stefan!

A big thanks for sharing the experience and knowledge and giving it back to the community.
:bowdown:
I would like to follow the Texturing the Droid tute but i cant get to lay my hands on the scene files. i have the PDF for the tute from the link above. i went to your website and there is a link there to download 85mb scene files but that doesnt seem to work. would be great if somehow i can get the scene files to start with.


best regards,
digi

[Lightweight]

I find myself using this tutorial whenever I do hard surface texturing :) However something that rarely works for me at least is the way you are doing scratches. Just painting white on it makes it look really "painted on" whenever I'm doing it :cry:

However, for metallic objects that don't have a paintlayer on top of them is what I'm looking for next.. just pretty much metal that is bare/base metal but that should look equally convincing. Using a primer/paint makes it easier since there's big areas being covered by only color with a little bit of generic scratches on top.

Anyone that could perhaps link to such a tutorial or give me any tips?