Always impressed by these kind of textures...but never able to achieve them :(

[ctrl+S]

Have a look at this link:

http://forums.ego-farms.com/index.php?board=22.0

The videos on there are free to download. (I use the VLC player[which is free also] to view them because I hate Quciktime)

He goes on to show you how to texture a face. These techniques can be applied to anything though.
The trick is making different materials/maps. Bump, specular etc.
Also, the new 'rage' is Normal mapping. Google for tutorilas on Normal mapping.

Those videos above will HELP YOU A LOT.

p.s. Also have a look around on that link above for other great videos! Eric has a ton of them on that site.

[angel]

Did you see the second sticky down the list?

You can find anything that you are looking to make... well, almost everything.

[leigh]

Just use photographs and build your textures from them. I'm not sure why you find this confusing, to be honest. It sounds like you haven't really tried.

Tutorials are largely useless because they don't teach you to think, they just teach you to follow a set of instructions. That's not really going to help you at all in the long run.

[KaiserAdler]

- at ctrl+S : the link does not work no matter how much I try , still I can access their site , so only the link is not accessible

- leigh : I canot use photographs because of two reasons
1.I don't have a camera so I can't take mine
2.I can't use other pictures that I find around since those are someone else copyright , if I use them without consent , I can run in trouble , if I ask for consent , that will cost money , I have to give credit and they are imposing so much restrictions that are not very helpfull anyway (this is what I was doing so far , but I had enough of that , and that's the reason I want to create my own textures)

I will check the sticky thread and the other forum though.

Still , if you can remember of a link to a brilliant tutorial (from time to time you can finde one of that around) please, post it here.

Thank you!

[MartinRomero]

Hi everyone,



First of all I want to thank “ctrl+S for sharing this really cool link with us http://forums.ego-farms.com/index.php?board=22.0



Hi there Leigh,

I will have to disagree with you that “Tutorials are largely useless because they don't teach you to think, they just teach you to follow a set of instructions” I believe that we need a start point; we need some kind of idea on how things are done (rust, wood, steel, dirt textures). We need to see how to go about certain things by learning from those who know, so that we can start creating our own. Sometimes if we just go and try things without knowing exactly how to go about it, chances are that we will get frustrated right away. We shouldn’t depend on tutorials however I do think that we need something to grasp from.

I learned how to use “diffuse” maps because of your document http://www.onona3d.com/pdf/texturing.pdf and yes, this is not a step by step document however, I understood some of your techniques just by reading and looking at some of the examples presented on this document. I do believe that “Practice makes perfect”



Cheers

[leigh]

- at ctrl+S : the link does not work no matter how much I try , still I can access their site , so only the link is not accessible

- leigh : I canot use photographs because of two reasons
1.I don't have a camera so I can't take mine
2.I can't use other pictures that I find around since those are someone else copyright , if I use them without consent , I can run in trouble , if I ask for consent , that will cost money , I have to give credit and they are imposing so much restrictions that are not very helpfull anyway (this is what I was doing so far , but I had enough of that , and that's the reason I want to create my own textures)

Oh come on now. There are loads of websites out there where you can get high resolution, royalty free images to use in textures. Sites like 3d.sk (you do pay for a membership there, but it's very cheap), or free ones like cgtextures.com.

[leigh]

Hi there Leigh,

I will have to disagree with you that “Tutorials are largely useless because they don't teach you to think, they just teach you to follow a set of instructions” I believe that we need a start point; we need some kind of idea on how things are done (rust, wood, steel, dirt textures). We need to see how to go about certain things by learning from those who know, so that we can start creating our own. Sometimes if we just go and try things without knowing exactly how to go about it, chances are that we will get frustrated right away. We shouldn’t depend on tutorials however I do think that we need something to grasp from.

I learned how to use “diffuse” maps because of your document http://www.onona3d.com/pdf/texturing.pdf and yes, this is not a step by step document however, I understood some of your techniques just by reading and looking at some of the examples presented on this document. I do believe that “Practice makes perfect”



Cheers

By tutorials I was talking about step by step tutorials. The articles on my site are not tutorials, they're articles covering texturing theory.

;)

[KaiserAdler]

"free ones like cgtextures.com"

- and how do I know they are actually free?I know that the most part of those are photographs taken by the poster.But if I chose one that is not?There are much more sites with free textures than that one.I have did that already.I have used some rusted metal textures submitted by someone on a site like the one you mentioned , in one of my products , only to find later that those pictures were copyrighted by someone else and posted without permission as free textures on that site.
The poster was not infriging any copyright , since he posted copyrighted photos for "non-profit" (wich was true).I was the one that infriged copyright , because I have used the "free" photos/textures in a product (wich is for profit).So , I had to remove a product on wich I have spent lots of hours on modeling , because it suddenly had no texture...And I did that before it was too late.
In conclusion , thank you for the link , but how do I know that I can use a certain texture in my products , free of charge and without any consequences?Is someone on that site checking the posters?Who can I blame when someone will come to me and say that the free texture from cgtextures.com , that I have used in my product , is his and I have to remove my product?
- "3d.sk (you do pay for a membership there, but it's very cheap)"
I know about them.A lot of people where I sell my products are using their textures , but they are still required to get permission and give credits.And sometimes to present an express letter from the owner that he/she has given permission for a certain set of textures to be used in a product.

But textures made by me in Adobe Photoshop only , without any "outside" refferences will save me from these troubles.The packaging and testing of a product is already a chore as it is.I have begin to consider that the packaging and testing is much more stresing and harder than the actual process of producing the model...
If I get a line misplaced , a non given credit and so on , my product is rejected from the testing queues , and I have to repackage it and wait another 7-10 days to get through the queue.And I am human , I can make mistakes , no matter how focused I am.

You don't have to hear all these , but I have found an oportunity to spell out my frustration and I couldn't hold myself.Sorry for this.

[KaiserAdler]

That site looks like a site full of good textures.
In conclusion , from your experience with it :
- it is safe to use any of those textures in my products?I have found no statement on the site on how they can be used.
- do I have to give any credit to anyone?
I don't even intend to use them as they are , since I will modify them pretty much...

[ctrl+S]

Yea...I forgot to mention that link I posted is quite slow at times. Just be patient or try it again later. A couple of those video's on there are worth it!.

i.e. I'm not a noob, but even I learned a couple of cool tricks from thos videos.

[leigh]

"
- "3d.sk (you do pay for a membership there, but it's very cheap)"
I know about them.A lot of people where I sell my products are using their textures , but they are still required to get permission and give credits.And sometimes to present an express letter from the owner that he/she has given permission for a certain set of textures to be used in a product.

I have no idea why you think this as it simply isn't true. Read their license agreement:

http://www.3d.sk/?id=16&page=4

On payment of the License Fee (this being found at www.3d.sk, which may change from time to time), the Licensor grants to the Developer a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, assignable, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty free license to use the Products (these being hi-resolution photo files found at www.3d.sk) and to adapt and modify them in any way the Developer so wishes for the purposes given in Clause 1.3.


3d.sk's images are royalty free. This means that you can use them for whatever purpose you want, as long as you do not take the images from their site, and sell them somewhere else. You can use them as textures in any way that you wish.

The same applies to cgtextures.com:

http://www.cgtextures.com/license.html

I think that somewhere along the line you've become confused about the meaning of royalty free.

[MartinRomero]

Hi Leigh,

Yes, I do understand that the articles on your site are not tutorials, but I guess my point was that we do need resources to learn from and sometimes a step by step tutorial won't hurt. I do agree that we should not relay on them all the time. Practicing will make us good in whatever is that we do.

Thanks again Leigh for providing such good articles about texturing. They have been very helpful on my projects.



Gato3D

[soulburn3d]

Both lessons and tutorials have their place.

I try and write as many "lessons" as possible, since they can not only help spark the imagination of the reader, but they can also suggest ideas that can be applied to any 3d application you have available.

On the other hand, sometimes you're dealing with a piece of software or some smaller part of software that follows absolutely no logical method, and you just need the hard step by step tutorial to get something done.

I also find that step by step stuff is great when you're first learning the software, and after a few days of those, the theory based stuff is much better. Sort of "First learn how to use your tool, then learn how to use it well".

- Neil

[MartinRomero]

You are totally right, like in my case. I just bought the DVD Introduction to Sculpting Fluid Dynamics Real Flow Techniques with Way England from The Gnomon Workshop. And right now, I am learning about the software and its capabilities. For me, DVDs like this one help a lot, mainly because I am visual learner, and like you said after doing the step by step thing, the theory makes more sense.



Cheers

[leigh]

Both lessons and tutorials have their place.

I try and write as many "lessons" as possible, since they can not only help spark the imagination of the reader, but they can also suggest ideas that can be applied to any 3d application you have available.

On the other hand, sometimes you're dealing with a piece of software or some smaller part of software that follows absolutely no logical method, and you just need the hard step by step tutorial to get something done.

I also find that step by step stuff is great when you're first learning the software, and after a few days of those, the theory based stuff is much better. Sort of "First learn how to use your tool, then learn how to use it well".

- Neil

I hear what you're saying, but I don't think it applies in "creative" situations. Using a step-by-step tutorial to learn how a tool works is one thing, using it to learn how to paint a texture is another, in my opinion. A tool works in a specific way, whereas texture painting is a creative process that can be approached in a number of different ways, depending on the circumstances. The same applies to modeling. You can teach people how modeling tools work through a step-by-step tutorial, but you can't really teach them to actually model.

Well, that's my opinion anyway :)

[MartinRomero]

Totally agree with you Leigh. I am glad we get to share all this information.

cheers

Gato3D

[WGerick]

Talking about using photographs for texturing:

http://www.sxc.hu/home

The "textures" category shows 10.000 pics alone:

http://www.sxc.hu/category/1001

Almost all of them are very high-res and also royalty free...

[soulburn3d]

I hear what you're saying, but I don't think it applies in "creative" situations. Using a step-by-step tutorial to learn how a tool works is one thing, using it to learn how to paint a texture is another, in my opinion. A tool works in a specific way, whereas texture painting is a creative process that can be approached in a number of different ways, depending on the circumstances. The same applies to modeling. You can teach people how modeling tools work through a step-by-step tutorial, but you can't really teach them to actually model.

I agree, a painter would tend to have more "lessons" to learn, and fewer step by step instructions. But there's still plenty of step by step stuff needed, like how to customize a brush, how to color correct a texture, how to use a cumbersome material editor in your company's favorite 3d app, or how to install a texture in a production environment so that it shows up for dailies the next morning :)

- Neil

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