Saturday, September 20, 2008

How to Texture Like a Pro Part II

The last one in this series may have been a little vague. So with proper instruction in mind I decided to go into more detail. This will be documenting the texturing of a current (yet to be released) THI project, the F4U Corsair.


Here we see the geometry, completed by Creem Pye. The geometry has had the textures on each sculpted prim “regularized’ so that 1.) One map can cover several pieces to hide seams and reduce the amount of work, and 2.) the proportions are made “square” as much as possible to reduce the amount of distortion. Distortion especially on Spheres and irregular shapes is inevitable but if you can make the layout such that it’s evenly distorted it makes the compensation for the distortions easier. The wings are actually two pieces a piece, but the textures are adjusted so that one map will cover both segments. And since the wings are mirrored sculpt maps, layout for the Port Side wing segments will work for the starboard side as well. Anything to save you time texturing is good. This technique works for standard prims as well.


The next step is to place the plans (hopefully the same ones used to create the object in the first place) on a board The plans I obtained had to be modified, in Photoshop to make them cleaner, and more useful for layout. The nest phase was to place it on the board.


One on the board, it was sized and lined up to conform to the size and orientation of the geometry.


Once lined up it was just a simple matter of tracing the panel lines in prims.


Here you can see the opposite side being laid out on the fuselage, since they are single pieces (and therefore single maps) you have to take into account differences between left and right, as well as top and bottom on the wings.


Speaking of the wings, here are the layouts for the panel lines of the wings. As you can see the drawing has more detail than is being used. No prims will be used to denote rivet lines or spot welds because in reality, these details aren’t easily seen on the original aircraft unless you are close enough to touch. However, the panels will pick up oil and fingerprints and can be seen at a distance.

The prims are placed in each direction, front, side, back, top and bottom. With the lines all completed for each area, the piece are then stretched or moved alone a single axis, until they intersect the geometry. The prims are linked together into a “Scaffolding” The scaffolding can now have opacity adjusted or color changed, as is needed to make the next steps easier.


Here is the completed Scaffolding around the Corsair Geometry.


..and from the Underside.

Next step will be the Black and White Stage, stay tuned for Part 3.

--Karl

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