1 Tutorials LightWave 3D Texturing Organic Objects (Raptor Study Qua Jan 26, 2011 1:59 am
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by Rob Pauza |
UV MAPPING The basis of any complex texturing on an organic model begins with the creation of a good UV map. However, because of the complexity and variety of methods for creating UVs I have chosen to leave this process out of this tutorial. UV mapping is really a whole tutorial in itself. Several great UV resources are available here at the LightWave®3D site. (Press <back> in your browser or go to [Tens de ter uma conta e sessão iniciada para poderes visualizar este link] After generating the UVs on your model there are a variety of ways to export them to your favorite paint program for use as a template for texturing. For simple models, a quick screen capture <Print Screen> from the "UV Texture" viewport in Layout should suffice. For more complex or organic models where precise placement of textures is critical, Modeler will also export a standard .eps file which can be opened in any resolution using Aura, Photoshop, or any other good paint program. The .eps export command is found in Modeler under <File/Export/Export Encapsulated Postscript>. Your exported .eps file should look similar to the picture below when opened. STEP 1 (Bump Map) Most of the time creating the color map before the bump map is the easiest thing to do. In this case, the basis of the color mapping is the bump maps. For that reason, creating the bumps first will serve as a guide for painting in the color later. Using the newly created UV template from the previous step, create a new layer in your paint program to begin painting the actual bump map. (You will probably want to key back the UV layer so that the UV lines don't get confused with your new bump layer.) A project such as this can be extremely painstaking, but remember that you get out what you put in. TIP: As with the actual building of your 3D model, pre-planning plays a key factor in the productivity of the texturing process. Taking time to gather good reference material and possibly doing a few sketches beforehand will not only improve the quality of your work, but also help ensure that everything goes smoothly without unexpected "surprises." When you're finished painting your bump layer, discard the "UV guide" layer so you're left with only the painted bump map and save it to one of the supported image file types used by LightWave®. Your result should look similar to the image below. (Image below is cropped to show head detail) STEP 2 (Color Map) Using your newly created bump map as a template, create a new layer in your paint program directly underneath the bump layer. (That way the "bump guidelines" are still visable when painting the color on the underlying layer.) Next, simply paint in your color scheme in sort of a "paint-by-number" manner. The result (with the bump guidelines still active) should appear like the image below. When you're finished painting your color layer, discard the "bump guide" layer so your left with only the painted color map. (see image below) Sometimes the best reference material you can find is right under your nose, or occasionally right above it. The eye color map below was painted while looking into a mirror at my own eye as reference. The image below demonstrates the effectiveness of each map in the final render. STEP 3 (Adding Detail with Layers) TIP: LightWave® supports multiple texture layers. Use them. It's much easier to add/modify details if they're on separate layers. Added render time is usually not much of an issue if you're carefull. In addition to the main bump map in Step 1, an effective way of adding more detail is to use additional textures and/or procedural textures. The first extra texture ("Bumpies.tga" which comes with LightWave®) was used to vary the height of the uniform lines in the main bump map from Step 1 to add detail. The next procedural layer was used to add even greater surface detail and to break up the smoothness and effective shinyness of the rapor's skin surface. The image below illustrates the three bump layers and procedural texture settings that are used. STEP 4 (Final Rendering) The purpose of this tutorial has been to not only illustrate how to texture a raptor, but also to demonstrate how various texture layers work in relation to each other. Good luck and happy texturing, -Rob Pauza |