Question about 2d textures

[Lohan]

HI, I've decided to begin learning how to create 2d textures for videogames. I will be looking at various sources over the internet, but if somebody could point out some link they personally found helpful or some of the basic concepts I would really appreciate it. Because I have almost no knowledge of it right now. Thanks alot.

[MuffinMan]

making textures for 3d models isn't all that simple...you have to do UVW unwrap of the 3d model and you'll see an image of your model flattened out. take a screenshot of that. open it in photoshop, create a new layer, select multiply, then paint or draw the texture. make sure you set the resolution to 150 or 200 dpi, or higher if you must. after completeing the texture. save it as a targa file (.tga) . games always use targa images for textures. does that help?

[Lohan]

very much, thankyou!! and for wall/environmental textures, just paint in PS? also, with the new advancements in technology like shaders and whatnot, is the life of 2d textures being threatened whatsoever? just wondering

[MuffinMan]

well, normal maps are taking over the whole future of computer graphics.
you can set the shaders in what ever game editor tool your game comes with.
making a bumpmap is easy. just creat a grayscale image (.tga) white calculates into how high and black calculates into how deep the bumps show up. so it depnds on how dark and bright the detail on your bumpmaps.

normal maps are much more complicated. you have to make both a low poly and a high poly mesh. the high poly mesh will become the normal map. 3ds max 7 has a new normal map tool. so yeah, you have to make a very high detailed mesh. and a simple low poly version of the same thing. and the tool will eventually turn that high poly mesh into a normal map. normap maps when looked at in photoshop. look like a rainbow gradient image with a bumpmap. normal maps creat the illusion of a high poly mesh so realistically that when you lookat objects in wireframe mode in your games they are still low poly, but the normal map is making them look like they are high poly.

it's not totally easy making a normalmap. each game uses them differently.

[gasmask]

in the future texturing will be obsolete as texturing a high detailed model looks like shit, its more about color layers when u get into high detailed models, get good at modeling low and high poly, texturing will be a thing of the past.

[MuffinMan]

indeed, i kinda feel sad about that...
i enjoyed making textures for my models. i think i'll post images of my textures to show my skillz at making textures. i fully exploit the tools and use them in every way i can. i use both painter and photoshop for different things.

[Hyver]

...make sure you set the resolution to 150 or 200 dpi, or higher if you must. after completeing the texture. save it as a targa file (.tga) . games always use targa images for textures. does that help?

i'm just wondering why the dpi setting?
dpi meaning dots per inch, only comes into play when going to print, determining what resolution the image needs to be printed in. on screen, a pixel is a pixel...
also, it would help if you said why tga's are often used?

cheers

[Slash]

Not all games use the .tga format. Other formats are used, and espescially Nvidia`s (www.nvidia.com) .dds (direct draw surface) is gaining popularity.

The boards at www.polycount.com took one for the team, as they put it, but they are back in business. Before the boards hit the dust, there was this great list of sdk (skin development kits) that contained unwrapped models, and templates. I haven`t been spending so much time over there since the new boards came up, but you can always go ask for the sdk-list if it isnt there already. someone is bound to have it.


And as for the textures dying out, i highly doubt so. Textures are still very much needed, The only think that is getting obsolete is faked depth and highlights in the texture.

Bump maps have been around since 1984 (if my memory serves me right.) Normal maps is just another way of doing the same thing as bump maps. (basically) The bump maps haven`t taken over :teeth: the future of computer graphics :teeth: these last 20 years, and i doubt it will in the near future.


(i really dont think dpi would matter when making textures. painting the texture in a large resolution and resizing it to the games requrement is the preferred method as far as i know. Texture size are usually in "the power of two" or whatever, 2x2, 64x64 or 1024x1024 pixels.)


//edit: typos..

[MuffinMan]

oh yeah, .dds
i totally forgot about that...(stupid me)
yeah doom3 uses it sometimes. still .tga ais widley used.