Archives for posts with tag: art

Painting custom textures

Oct 11, 2011 //
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In today’s 3D industry, great value is given to organic modeling. Many believe that the more complex the model, the better the artist. In fact, a good artist does not have to create complex organic models to be a good artist and to show a lot of detail.

Look at the following image, created for the whimsical interface of a game.

Observe carefully this image, which seems to contain a lot of detail. However, upon closer inspection, notice that almost all of the objects in this picture are either planar or cylindrical in nature. What makes the image look intricate is the overlap and texture work.

Of course, there will be times when the project demands specifically the creation of organic-shaped objects. However, the artist should strive to make things easier, not more complicated, whenever possible.

Notice how many of the textures in this picture were painted SPECIFICALLY for each model, that is, custom-made for each geometry shape.

 

 

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Categories Creative Textures

Texture art gives personality to 3D objects

Oct 05, 2011 //
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Look the following model of a regular chair. With the current texture applied to it, you have no indication of who it belongs to, where it should be placed, or what is the context of the story it was included in.

However, once you create custom textures made especially for it, then you can really determine a lot about the owner, context and location. (Perhaps this chair is owned by a cartoon character, in a whimsical type of setting! The story is probably fun and cheerful!)

 

Textures indicate materials and add interest

Textures are also responsible for letting the viewer recognize the type of material that a specific object is made of. Besides identifying materials, textures also add detail and interest to otherwise plain models.

 

Textures disguise imperfections and finish off models

And finally, textures can greatly hide the imperfections of a poor model and can also help to add trim and finish off geometry that otherwise would look computerized and artificial.

Observe the two identical models below: the column on the left has a simple texture applied to it. The column on the right has texture that contains careful trims and decorative borders placed in strategic locations. Notice how the faceted polygons of the simple column are much more visible, while the intricate column’s texture disguises it a bit. Also, the connection to the ground and ceiling are much nicer and finished on the column at the right.

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Categories Creative Textures

Taking lighting into account in texture art

Oct 05, 2011 //
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Question and answer regarding the nature of lighting in texture art:

>>Student question:  I guess I’ve always had the impression you need to consider the interplay of light with your texture during the process of creating the texture.  For example, if I’m developing a texture in PhotoShop, and cast the shadow incorrectly, then I would think the texture would be bad if I later cast the light from a different direction?

Answer: Yes, absolutely, in that case you do need to take lighting into consideration. But that is only important if you are making textures that have “dimensional quality”, that is, that have a lot of depth to them. In fact, “dimensionality” is one important decision one needs to take into account when creating textures. If your textures are rather flat, then the lighting is independent of texture creation. Of course you would want to imagine in your mind how you are going to work the lighting, so maybe a colored or dappled effect will add another extra layer of interesting features over the texture work.

Generally speaking, the amount of dimensionality is directly dependent of the amount of independent lighting you are able to use: for projects which can rely on real, 3D software created lighting, there is no need to create such dimensional textures. For projects which have little or no true 3D lighting, it’s advisable to paint in some of the effects.

Above you see an example of a very dimensional texture created for a wall. Notice how it includes painting of the lighting effect, with deep shadows and dappled effects. Generally speaking, we have the impression that most of the light is focused on the bottom portion of the wall,  however, it’s not specific — it’s BEST to keep painted lighting effects non-specific as to not conflict too much with any truly 3D lighting existent in the final project.

 

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Categories Creative Textures

Scifi Texture Art

Oct 02, 2011 //
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This document is part of a Realtime Sci-fi Texture art online class I held around 2000.
Sci-fi is one of the most interesting types of fantasy design, and greatly used in video games. Typical scifi is usually moody, mechanical and almost always covered in a with a layer of grime…. which is probably why it seems to attract so many young men who play games. Video games are no longer a new media; it is a billion dollar industry working on new titles with budgets that are comparable to feature films.

One of the most interesting careers in this industry is that of a texture artist. Painting textures for games is no small thing , you must have good sense of design and be able to transmit dimensionality that is not available due to restricted modeling.Typically, in realtime projects, due to memory and engine speed, the 3D models are kept very simple, the intricacy and beauty is totally created by the texture work.

For example: a simple box can be converted into an intricate and interesting object, with one texture only.


And with two textures, you can add an enormous amount of intricacy to a simple cylinder:

 

True, it is not an extremely photorealistic depiction, especially where the lighting is concerned, but in the gaming world ultra-realism is not as fundamental as in other industries such as film.

A good realtime texture artist therefore is one that is capable of showing a lot of intricacy on a single flat piece of texture art, one that will give character and life to the simple polygonal models that make game levels.

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Categories Creative Textures
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