Several months ago, I acquired a Wacom tablet. I downloaded GIMP and started experimenting. I can make textures now and I like GIMP enough but it acts up on me all the time. So I wondered how do others do it? Hence this topic.

So the questions I pose to other "digital artists" are:

1. What programs do you use if you make/edit textures and why?

2. What method do you use? (Take inspiration from photos, make your own, tweak others etc)

3. Are there any nifty trick or tips when making textures that you use or think might be helpful ?

Thought it might be nice to get the advice from the pros

try out photoshop, and filters, ( if they're in GIMP)

not a pro... not even close.

But I recently looked at several art programs specifically for texture making, and I think the easiest for making them up from scratch is project dogwaffle. Its a free download and it seems pretty easy to use. Here is an example of two hair textures I made in seriously one minute's time:

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i413/silentthief/MW%20pics/trial_hair_texture_3.jpg
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i413/silentthief/MW%20pics/trial_hair_texture.jpg

I use GIMP, as well. GIMP is necessary at least for taking your textures and making layers (that overlap) and alpha (that is see-thru), or for fitting a new face over top of an old one to make a new head. But I wouldn't say "get this over that" as it is going to be a learning process. You find what you are comfortable with and run with it.

ST

These threads maybe of interest:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1004621-the-texturing-technique-thread/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/792864-how-to-make-textures-thread/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/727009-texturers-union/

Photoshop 7. GIMP's interface was too clunky and unintuitive for me. I use version 7, specifically, because they changed the interface around in newer versions of PS and I can't find anything.


I either tweak existing textures or I make them out of photographs I've taken. Haven't done much of the latter for Morrowind, though. I don't have the patience (or a tablet) to paint anything from scratch.


Play with things until they look pretty. Remember to save often. If you find it hard to choose between something, take a break and look at it again the next day. I guarantee one of them will look prettier when you've got some fresh eyes.

Lattice, I find that interesting... I also use Photoshop 7. I have used GIMP in the past, but some of the functionality seems to elude me.

Pinkertonius:
I use whatever seems most appropriate at the time. For instance, if I want to make an old-looking tapestry for my junk yard mod, I use the existing texture only grayed or torn or whatever. Using pictures is okay, but it's hard to find exactly what is needed.

For tools, I use Photoshop or GIMP (if I must), niftexture, Irfanview, NIF Tx strip v1.3b, Capture from anolog X, and sometimes DDS converter 2, There are others like BSA Browser to get at Bloodmoon textures.

Thanks.. I haven't heard of that. I'm getting used to GIMP but the wife wants to buy Photoshop for her photos so I'll switch over when we do that.



Great. Thanks for the links. I should have known they were there :whistling:. I'm not exactly new around here



That's what I was wondering. What methods others use. I tried to do a texture before I got the tablet and it was too much a pain for me (I like to "paint" alot of my textures) then use something layer to add a little texture (just a little).




Thanks for the list, hopefully other Texture making newbies will find this useful too. I spent 4 hrs on one texture yesterday (Main menu screen). GIMP messed up on me right before I finished (the first time) so I had to redo it ...plus I'm a little...meticulous and picky. I personally love it. Probably will make a second career out of it. It's not even like work to me :hehe:

I'm no pro, but I do have a Wacom tablet and have used GIMP and do textures on occasion, so I'll toss in a few remarks:


For editing/retouching, Photoshop (CS5). As the name suggests, Photoshop is designed for photos and working with them. It's not really meant as a content creation suite, but it can be used as one.
For creating (drawing, painting, etc) I use Corel Painter 11. It has infinitely better tools for creating images IMO. I do use Photoshop to tweak them afterwards.


Inspiration from, or parts of, photos. It depends on the content. For a face or some such, I'll use a reference and draw. For patterns, especially gravel or dirt, I'll use filters and stock photos to create what I need.


I've found the RealTexture Tools (for Photoshop) invaluable in a few ways, particularly for tiling landscape or building textures. They make that a lot easier, and the intelligent tiling is better than some of the blending methods in other apps or filters.

I use a combination of free texture sites and Photoshop CS2. (which is the last version with the classic interface I believe) My copy of PS came with ImageReady, but I've not really used it much - Photoshop covers most everything I need.

I don't have a classically artistic bone in my body when it comes to drawing or painting, but I have gotten pretty good at texture mapping. I'm also a decent photographer, but I pretty much depend on source images for my texture work.

My interests have always wavered between art and computers. Circumstances always keep the two from intersecting till now. Technically texture making seem fairly simply (if not time consuming) for me. I get more in trouble from my artistic side. I'm just never quite "there" or I spend alot of time experimenting with different looks. I have noticed as I go about my daily life that I see "potential textures" all the time. If I have a camera, I take a picture if only as a reference for later (photography isn't my strong suit).

1. What programs do you use if you make/edit textures and why?
Photoshop :\ Sorry I don't have any advice on free or cheap things. I use CS5 which means I don't have the NVidia normal map plugins, so I do use GIMP for that.


2. What method do you use? (Take inspiration from photos, make your own, tweak others etc)
Depends on what I'm making. Object and ground textures tend to be made from stock photos with only minor editing for contrast, color, and seamlessness where it applies, but character and clothing textures I put a lot more personal design into. They do still use photographic stock, but a face will have parts taken from several different people or photographs of the same person, and clothing will use scanned fabric and lace. However, in order to make it look nice it needs a lot of handwork for shading, shaping of alpha channels, placement of details, etc. Much of my clothing is of my own design, though I do make Morrowind versions of clothes from other games... I've got a whole folder full of City of Heroes reference screenshots for this purpose, since some of the enemy factions have really cool outfit designs.

3. Are there any nifty trick or tips when making textures that you use or think might be helpful?
For clothes, use the UV maps - the actual diagram textures themselves - to your advantage. Knowing where vertices and edges are can help a lot when lining seams up with each other. What I usually do is sketch the general shape of the clothing out first in light blue with the UV map in the background to make a sort of a mock-up that I can use to line things up properly before putting the real texture on, that way I can know I'm putting things pointing the right way, etc.

1- I use Photoshop because it is incredibly powerful.

2- When I make textures for MW I usually use photographs and tweak the hell out of them. I do however paint textures, currently working on a non-morrowind project that requires me to hand paint cartoon-ish type textures. Having a tablet is practically a necessity if you plan to hand paint textures or draw. Doing this with a mouse would be ridiculously slow, and the results would probably not be as good.

3- There are lots of tricks that I use, anything to save time haha. I don't have the time or the patience to really get into anything specific right now. I would suggest searching Youtube for tutorials. Watch any tutorial related to Photoshop, if you use photoshop, regardless of what sort of content they are editing. You can learn a lot of cool tricks from photographers, texture/3d artists, digital painters, and so on.



@Plangkye

The Nvidia plugin doesnt work with the 64bit version, it does however work with the 32bit version. If you are looking for something to create normal maps in Photoshop, you might like to try nDo, it is free and works great for normal maps.

http://cgted.com/

Yeah, I have the 64-bit version. But that nDo thing - what a fantastic-looking tool! I'll give it a try!

I use Gimp alot as well, but find the UI to be a bit clunky. Therefore, I use Gimp and Paint.net. While its a bit simpler, the interface is much simpler in my opinion.