I am sure that I am not the only one with a large number of photos suitable for texture work on their computer that they have never used and are never likely to use for texturing, and it has occured to me that it would be a very productive use of the photo resources if I were to upload them to the internet for other people's use, and encourage others to do the same with their photo resources.

It is with this intent in mind that I create the Morrowind Modding branch of the Texturer's Union, the first of what I hope to be many Threads of the Texturer's Union in which texturers can pool their resources and share their thoughts and techniques. This thread is a sibling of the http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=727168 but don't worry I have obtained moderator permission to post this in both sections.
I'll try to keep both threads current and synched, but for full and complete coverage you can read the other thread.

Here I write out the first draft of the Texturer's Union Manifesto.

1. We, of the Texturer's Union, solemnly declare that the Threads of the Texturer's Union can be used for the sharing of photographic and even abstract resource material for the purposes of texturing and the acquisition of learning.
2. It is the intention that these shared resources shall, at some point, be gathered and released as a resource pack in the style of Craigor's http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=4292 http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=4293 http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=4310 and http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/modcontrols/author.asp?name=skydye. (I'd appreciate it if someone else could collect the resources for me, limited as I am by a dial-up connection)
3. We, of the Texturer's Union, also declare that these threads can be used for the sharing of texturing tips and techniques - whether these methods be for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, the GIMP, or even alternative graphic editing applications.
4. We, of the Texturer's Union, also declare that these threads can and should be used for enquiries into all topics related to textures and texturing.
5. We, dum dee dum dum, can just discuss stuff too - don't want to be a bunch of stuffed shirts, do we now?
6. Feel free to post a link to your own texturing WIP threads and to ask for help/opinions on WIPs, but don't turn this thread into a WIP thread for any projects larger than just a couple of 'loose' textures.
7. Have you made any single textures which you haven't released because they don't constitute a 'pack'? Post them here if you want to share. ^__^
8. It might be a good idea to make a public note that you've used a certain shared resource for a texture, not in the interests of vetoing further usage but in the interests of at least making people aware should a particular texture have been used fifteen times already :hehe:
9. Looking for a texture resource you can't find for yourself? Ask! We all live in different areas, so we all have access to different kinds of photographic material - maybe there's someone reading who can easily snap a shot that you'd have to go a hundred miles to get for yourself.

Now, I want you all to print this out and sign in blood on the line below. :hehe:

Signed: __________________

I encourage others to share their techniques, resources and knowledge. Welcome to the Texturer's Union.

Edit:
Be aware that I update the front post infrequently, so there will be other resources scattered throughout the thread, as well as mini-tutorials where people have asked questions.
Make sure to check the links list! The are some amazing resources available!

'Loose' Photos:
Here's a list of contributed photos (so far), please add some yourself - the more people contributing, the more useful this texture resource pool becomes

Earth Wyrm:
http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards001nr4.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards002ig9.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards003sr6.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards004of2.jpg
http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards005mu9.jpg
http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wornwoodboards006hh1.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=roughmat001pi9.jpg
http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=unusualstonework001lp6.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=filthyfloor001cq6.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/licheny_bark_001xu0.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/stonework_001vg1.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/rust_001cig.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/rust_002hs1.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/brambles_front1wx.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/brambles_back5e6.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/flat_bothsidesudl.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/unusual_front8on.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/unusual_back8t6.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/unremarkable_bothsides5j3.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/unremarkable2_bothsides345.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/ivy_front3eg.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/ivy_back1zv.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/ivy2_front9r3.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/ivy2_backez9.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_frontw4e.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_backqjn.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_pronged_singlertt.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_pronged_single_backlv8.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_pronged_single_v3pj.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_pronged_single_v_backqlg.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_teenamj.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_teen_backfso.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_teen2uhi.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_teen_back2689.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_youngg6m.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_young_back3xi.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_young22bw.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_young_back2mfa.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_young3f1l.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/5_young_back3jv2.jpg
Morgulsen:
http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch1f7w.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch2ykb.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch3col.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood1i6y.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood2pjv.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood3076.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood4q5d.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood55ae.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/shingles1tds.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/shingles2qmx.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/wood1cf1.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/wood2vbt.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/fachwerk1ykz.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/raetsel1i6a.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p1010007j4v.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p101001054i.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p1010013uf6.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p1010014lwe.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p1010015epm.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p10100238y9.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/p1010024j68.jpg

Links: (in no particular order)
http://ladyn.tamriel-rebuilt.org/Textures.html - Lady Nerevar's personal resources, uploaded for public consumption. Exercsie some discretion and try not to destroy her server, please.
http://www.gowfb.com/images/Coja/leathergrade/index.html#ANI - link courtesy of AnOldFriend
http://www.meridameridian.com/browseCollections/Marine/Yunnan.asp - link courtesy of Connary
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MineralPics/ - Lots and lots of mineral resources, plus some miscellaneosu other pieces (i.e. Chocolate)
http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y76/Caultus/texture%20pics/ - Contact swrdphantom through PM for full-res versions
http://www.mtiledesign.com/tiles/granite.asp - link courtesy of KittyBrod
http://www.stoneworksltd.co.uk
More generalised texture resources:
http://www.cgtextures.com/ (This site has tutorials too)
http://imageafter.com/index.php
http://pdphoto.org/index.php
http://www.zyworld.com/redwoodtreesprite/FreeGraphicPrograms.htm
http://www.mayang.com/textures/ - My favourite resource site. 3000 free textures in many different categories, resolutions are 1600*1200 or greater. Allows only 30 downloads per day. If you exceed the limit, you will be blocked (for a period which I'm unaware of, having not taken the risk). Commercial use is allowed.
http://www.morguefile.com/ - I haven't had time yet to give this site a full look-over, but with nearly 3,500 photographs in the textures section alone with a minimum resolution of 800*600 - it can't be bad. For free use in commercial and non-commercial projects. Lots of reference pictures for meshing are also available. Could this site possibly rival Mayang in my affections? Time will tell.
http://stock.kriegsnet.com/index.php - 100+ 1600*1200 photographic images suitable for use in texturing. The admin would appreciate an e-mail showing what you've done with it, e-mail address in 'about' section.
http://www.3dexcellence.com/textures.html - Site offering a selection of 200+ very high-resolution photographs for free use in texturing both commercially and non-commercially.
http://www.mega-tex.nl/index.html - Site offering a large and diverse selection of photographs for use in texturing, only for non-commercial use. Resolutions are mostly 1024*768. In some cases the actual subject of the photo (i.e bark on a tree) will not take up the entire canvas - This is particularly true of the 'nature' section.
http://www.woodworking.org/WC/woodsampler.html - Site with upwards of 100 small-medium resolution photographs of many different wood species. The beauty of this site lies in the number of species covered, providing for all colours and grains of wood anyone could ever want.
http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/modcontrols/author.asp?name=skydye - 7 texture packs put together by Skydye. Each consists of seamless images, ready for use in creating your own textures. Included are various textures. Rocks, dirt, bricks, ground and so on. Each of the texture packs is an ~40meg rar and the textures are in DDS format.
http://texture.everflow.com/texture_main.html - Site offering approximately 100 good resolution textures for free use.
http://textures.forrest.cz/ - Site with a wide selection of medium and greater resolution textures, includes a number of categories which are not so common. Skin, fur and fabric. May be worth checking out their disclaimer before downloading.
http://www.3dvalley.com/textures.shtml - Site with a decent selection of low-medium resolution textures, some of which are seamless. Is notably mostly for it's high-quality texture for a human eye.
http://sxc.hu/browse.phtml - Huge selection of member-contributed photographs prime for use in the making of custom textures or for using as reference images from which to make meshes. Delightful. Resolutions range from large to very large. Each photograph has one of four different terms of usage - so make sure to read it for each that you use.
http://www.zoorender.com/ - Offers a selection of hundreds of low-medium resolution images for free use in texturing, the wood section alone has 168 photographic images.
http://www.escrappers.com/textures.html - A decent selection of large resolution textures in a number of commonly used categories.
http://www.davegh.com/blade/davegh.htm - Lots of hand-painted and digitally edited textures to die for. Includes some delicious blood splats which really are to die for. Absolutely not to be used in any commercial video-game projects.
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/texture/ - 100+ textures of (hugely)varying resolutions and (hugely)varying quality, some tile - some don't. Lots of categories, some of which aren't common.
http://gug.sunsite.dk/texture.php?PHPSESSID=b944d165d5cdee3b70142ad3132f8724 - Offers a number of low resolution, tiling textures which may make useful sources for applying through photoshop's texturizer. A lot of abstract images can be found, but there are a few real goodies there.
http://www.grsites.com/textures/ - Like the G.U.G, this site offers hundreds of low resolution, tiling textures which may make useful sources for cloning or applying through photoshop's texturizer.

http://textures.z7server.com/save_all_textures.php - Collection of various textures, some nice things. (WanderMaster8)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/highresolutiontextures/pool/ - Various stuff. (AOF3)
http://www.2textured.com/main.php - Various, plus reference. (AOF3)

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1051333

Tutorial Links
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/dispmap/dispmap.htm and http://www.jpkabala.com/BetaTutorials/displacementmaps2.html - Links courtesy of Westly
http://www.cgtextures.com/ (This site has resources too)

Reference:

Check post #20 for a photoshop tip on bringing out the details in textures
Check post #22 for some photography tips from Slartibartfast
Check post #76 for some information on using free transform on multiple layers - could use some help on this one if we've any experts in the house
Check post #84 for some very cool stuff from Kittybrod on Stained Glass
Check posts #92-#94 for a small photoshop tip on a feature of brushes that is often overlooked
Check post #127 for a guide on cloud effects from Doccolinni.

Disclaimer:
It seems that there has been some confusion as to what this 'union' is and what it is capable of.

When I made the thread it was with the intention that people would use it to share photographic resource for textures or any 'spare' complete textures that they've made but have no real use for. People could also share tips on texturing techniques, drop interesting links, information or resources or they could come here if they're having problems with something related to texturing and want some advice or answers to specific questions.

Coordinating an effort to create a repository of complete, hand-made and new textures was a thought that didn't really even occur to me - and is a task that's quite beyond my ability to manage. So if anyone has been under the impression that that was the aim than I'm afraid that it's not something that I intended to imply. If I've said or done anything to suggest such, then I apologise.
It's not that I object to this thread being used for such an effort, on the contrary, that would be rather wonderful - I just wont be able to organise anything of that nature by myself.

Another important thing to say is that there is no possible way for me to protect the rights of contributors other than to keep a record of who contributed what and to ask people to credit as appropriate. I'm no more able to protect the resources contributed to the thread than I am able to protect the textures that I've made and released in mods. Once something is posted publicly on the internet, there is no way to protect it or guarantee limited usage under the terms of the original owner/artist.
As with when you release a mod, when you post a texture in this thread it should be with the understanding that unjust people may take it, use it and claim it as their own. There is nothing I, nor anyone else, can do to prevent this - the Internet just isn't a secure place and you can't trust people to act according to standards that match your own. If anyone who has already posted resources has any problems with this, or otherwise feels uncomfortable than they can PM me and I will discreetly and immediately remove any links to their resources that I am able to from this thread and any of it's other locations.
I hope that is clear.

If you're really into disclaimers and that sort of stuff, check post #20 for some more discussion on usage issues and the like. Actually, you should probably read it even if you're not really interested.

oOOH, oOOH

I always have thought I might b able to texture, but never been able to make it look cool.

First, what is reccomended for use?

I own Photoshop CS2, and am profecient in making signatures or photoediting.

What does it take to make a from scratch texture?

very nice you started this wyrm. I always wanted a place like this but felt strange when thinking of me opening a thread for it. and now it is here, the texturer's union, hehe, cool!

the mesh-thingy you proposed: I am not sure if it will yield fruit when trying to make it 'common' among modder/players. but bethesda's texture redundancy is at some places a bit annoying. e.g. when looking at doors and maybe also barrels have the same texture. would be nice to have more diversity. on the other hand... the assignment of unique textures for those parts could lead to a total "patchwork" cluttering look. that is I thing I would not like to see.


btw. right now I am uploading some photos I made a few days ago. nothing special but maybe can be used by someone for something when texturing. I will edit this post and add the urls here.

gogo texturer's union :intergalactic:


--------------------------------------------------------------


edit:

ok, here some photos I made recently. can be used freely by anybody (as long as not used for commercial things ;P). they are not crystal sharp but I think they are ok to work with. sorry, they are a bit large, but it is best to work with big pictures.


http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch1f7w.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch2ykb.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/mossythatch3col.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood1i6y.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood2pjv.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood3076.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood4q5d.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/paintedwood55ae.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/shingles1tds.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/shingles2qmx.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/wood1cf1.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/wood2vbt.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/fachwerk1ykz.jpg (in english I think it is called 'half-timbered'?!)
http://www.abload.de/img/raetsel1i6a.jpg ^^

Photoshop CS2 is perfect for making textures, I use CS myself so you're a version above me
Some texture artists are able to make textures from scratch, I know that AlienSlof does a lot of hand-painted textures - personally, I take a photo and edit it until it looks right. I've a preference for textures which border on photo-realism, but aren't quite photo-realistic so it takes a lot of editing for me before it looks right - I usually put upwards of a couple of hours into a single texture.

Clone-brush is a very useful tool, so give that a try if you haven't explored it already - and make sure that you use a soft brush, a hard brush with clone brush usually results in catastrophe.

Hopefully, as people continue to offer up tips and techniques we can all learn a few things from this thread.

A fundamental note on making textures for Morrowind is that the texures do not have to be square but they do have to be in dimensions which are powers of 2 - so all Morrowind textures have to have a width of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048 pixels and the height also has to be in the same set of numbers, but the canvas doesn't have to be square.

I look forward to seeing your photos Morgulsen. I thought you'd like this thread.

My little contribution today:

A manufacturer's web for wicker an other fabric with excellent images for texturers:

http://images.google.es/imgres?imgurl=http://www.meridameridian.com/_img/product_images/yunnan_wicker300k.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.meridameridian.com/browseCollections/Marine/Yunnan.asp&h=450&w=450&sz=288&hl=es&start=414&um=1&tbnid=jmNixH3Q3vFMhM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwicker%26start%3D396%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26sa%3DN

Oh, now that's an idea - http://redrival.com/earthwyrm/content/resources/resources_texturelist.htm an old list I put together a while back. I can't guarantee that all the sites are still up though. :unsure:

@wyrm: thanks for that link, will check it out later.

added some resource photos in my first post. hope someone has use for them

Well I am not a texturer per say but let us not forget about http://www.zyworld.com/redwoodtreesprite/FreeGraphicPrograms.htm There is many great utilities listed there along with a few texture sites(at the bottom of the list) that I did not see on your list Earth_Wyrm.

Everything in my sig is free use. It's always been that way.

Anyone wanting links to a couple of excellent sites for (mainly female) facemaking sourcepics PM me. Some of the content of 1 of them is not suitable for direct linking here.

What also might be nice is tips on taking photos with the intention of making textures from them. There is a nice, new professional-grade camera in my house, and I need to learn to use it, so I might as well try taking some pics that can be used for textures. Otherwise, all my practice pics will be photos of my cats.

I'd be interested in some photography tips too - I have a good number of texture-ready photos sitting on my HDD, but I have a great many more blurry, poorly-lit, rubbishy photos sitting on my HDD which are unsuitable for texturing. Some advice to increase the useful:useless ratio would be appreciated.

Gren, are you in Japan? I would like if you get the chance to get some good close up shots of the Shrines. I am mainly interested in the bronze figures, and thatched buildings on the temple shrines. I spent 9 years living in Japan when I was in the Navy. Mainly the Tokoyo, Yokosuka and Atsugi area. I am not sure which area you are in, but any thing would be fantastic. Thanks



LiF

I've posted http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=727168, so hopefully there will be interested parties there who'll contribute more resources and knowledge and we'll get even more useful... stuffs.
I'll try to keep both threads current and synched, but 'for full and complete coverage you can read the other thread.'

I've had a look at some of the photos you uploaded, Morgulsen. They look good, I like the shingles - really clear and a good angle. I've never been able to get a decent photo of shingles myself - what's your secret? (A ladder, probably )

I think that she is in Florida (or 'round about that area )
The pic in her sig is a joke/stab at the wierd and random uses of English
phrases in Japan (also a nod to her educational focus in English) .

EDIT: Be back later as soon as I compile a package of body part textures for use

Bummer, thanks for setting me straight on that Westly.



LiF

:rofl: That thing in my sig is from Engrish.com; and Westly is right on target on all counts. You've got a good memory, Westly! Makes me a little paranoid, 'though. I just thought the idea of the Grammar Crisis Room was just great--the E.R. of the English Department of a college/university.

Sorry to disappoint, LiF. You might, however, put up a query/request in the Community Forum; you never know who might be willing to help.

Sounds great, Westly. :goodjob:

Here's a couple of sky retextures I did once that have never seen release because I'm not interested in making a full pack. They also happen to make a good illustration of point 7 of the manifesto:


http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=tx_sky_blightl5m.jpg
http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=tx_sky_ashstormzss.jpg

The ashstorm texture is more than a little grainy, but I don't think you'd notice in an ashstorm
If you like them, I think I've got the names right - just save as .dds and put them in the game

Well, I don't know if my site was on there, but I will repost it http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MineralPics/.

It is mostly pictures of various minerals that I have laying around the house (literally, they are scattered outside now, most of them) but there are a couple of pictures of chocolate that I needed for a mod I am working one. One is milk chocolate, and two are white chocolate. I have used various textures, minerals and chocolate, for several things (I have also released some mineral retextures of various items.)

But they are all free to use. (hey, if I could get paid for them, I would, but I don't think they are highenough quality, and tooo common *pouts*)

As for threads, well, there are two of mine that I would like to draw attention to. One is pure retexturing, the other is an actual mod that I have retextured a LOT of items for, that I am now posting screenshots of.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=601278 - it is exactly what it says it is, a labyrinth. BUT this labyrinth has been made with the purpose of pointless and shiny junk to collect in mind (I am like that crow in the Secret of Nimh, for those of you who have seen it, this will ring a bell: *OOOOH a SPARKLIE!!!* That is exactly what I say whenever I see something pretty ) The retextured stuff is one the last page, but I don't remember if I had posted anything else (any more pictures)

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=700027&hl= - This is the pure retextureing thread, while there is talk of a mod involved, I don't know whether or not it will ever be done. This is exactly what it says it is, themed sets of items, or items using the same basic picture or object (such as a snowflake motif, or a pegasus) I had been browsing a site called CollectionsEtc and noticed that they would have themes occasionally, such as a bed set that all use a specific color and pattern, this would include the comforter, pillows, and a rug. I just had the thought that it would be nice in MW to be able to have something like that.

Here's that tip I promised earlier: A method in Photoshop by which to bring out the details in a texture with minimal introduction of artefacts.

This is a very simple Photoshop process which works for most, but not all, textures - it is usually only fallible in the case that a texture has many sizeable dark patches or is already very clear.

1.
First, make two duplicates of the layer that you're working on and want to bring out the details in. You can do this by right-clicking the layer in the layers panel and selecting 'Duplicate Layer...' or Hitting Ctrl + J.

2.
Next, set the topmost layer to http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v680/Wyver_Almasy/Detailing1.gif - 'Overlay' works good for this too if you want a stronger effect. Sometimes I'll use multiple layers set to 'Soft Light' if it's a texture which needs drastic sharpening (which is the case on the example I'm working on).
[Soft light retains the base color of the texture while overlay tends to harden via the base color used - Kjon]

3.
Now, hide the lowest layer. To hide it, click the eye icon to the left of the thumbnail in the layers panel.

4.
Now flatten all the layers that are still visible (Layer->Merge Visible or Ctrl+Shift+E)...

5.
Unhide the bottom layer...

6.
Set the top layer (there should only be two layers now) to 'Luminosity' Blending mode.

7.
Merge Visible layers again and hopefully you'll see that a lot of detail has been brought out of the texture that you couldn't see clearly before. You can repeat this process if you want to, but I find too many cycles results badly.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v680/Wyver_Almasy/DetailingFinished-1.jpg - the original is on the far-left, the processed one is in the middle and an example of the original+sharpen filter is on the far-right. I think you'll find the one in the middle compares quite favourably, plus it can still be put through a sharpen filter if you want (though I'm not a great fan of that filter).

You should add that to duplicate you can press Crtl+J, rather than hitting duplicate, and soft light also retains the base color of the texture while overlay tends to harden via the base color used

A couple of photography tips ;-

When taking photo's of outdoor surfaces or the ground, i find it best to do so on overcast days and wait for the sun to be obscured by clouds as this results in far fewer rejections and less post work, otherwise if you go out on a sunny day you will have a lot of rejected photo's and create a lot of post work for yourself as such photo's will always be too bright for Morrowind, and will waste a lot of time correcting your photo's due to uneven lighting, lightspots,reflections and shadows.

When taking photo's of the ground for making ground textures, the camera needs to be held horizontally above the ground so that the grass/cobbles etc are evenly proportioned across the whole photo. The easiest way to do this is to hold the camera at arms length pointing directly downwards, take several photo's eg 5 or 6 as several will be rejected due to camera shake or because you have accidentally held the camera at an angle getting your legs and feet in the picture. If you take a photo of the ground whilst standing upright and looking through the viewfinder, then objects closer to you will appear larger than those further away and only looks right in game when your character is facing the same direction as the photo was taken. Such textures also look weird when levitating above in game or when viewing in some sort of art/photo viewing package/as you can see the differences in scale as objects such as cobblestones will be large and spaced out on one edge of the texture then taper towards the other edge becoming increasingly smaller, bunched together and distorted.

If you make a texture for using as a ground texture without adjusting for scale then invariably the scale will be too large for Morrowind resulting in unnatural oversized grass/ cobbles etc. Assuming you have taken a picture by holding the camera at arms length above the ground the scale of your photo will be approximately 4 x too large. To get the scale in game to more or less as in real life then using a panorama creation tool such as the one in Irfanview to duplicate and join your texture into a 4 x 4 block should do the trick.

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/index.php?display=1164 a good source of free photo's

Thanks for the tips Slartibartfast, I'd always been taking photos on sunny days. The arm's length thing I'd figured out for myself, and since I've got long arms it's pretty easy for me to make sure my legs aren't in the picture.
I've always had trouble keeping the camera still though, I've got the shakes.

Morguefile is a great site, for reference material as well as source material.

I didn't know the shortcut for Duplicate, thanks Kjon.

Here's some more photos:
http://www.abload.de/img/licheny_bark_001xu0.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/stonework_001vg1.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/rust_001cig.jpg
http://www.abload.de/img/rust_002hs1.jpg

I need some help.

Not 100% a texturing issue... yesterday evening I tried to replace the nebulae of the nightsky with new textures. It simply doesn't work. Also tried different file types (dds/tga), sizes, alpha maps etc. but none works. The new nebula textures simply don't show up on the sky. What's the trick? Anyone knows? I'm going mad. Help!

Hrm. Haven't a clue. :unsure:
What's the filename on that texture?

.DDS DXT3 with a full-white alpha map and all mipmaps is how I'd set it up.

Edit: Actually, DXT2 would probably be fine.