This lesson covers drawing textures for 3D models, in particular, how to draw textures for 3D models for Blender, other 3d editors, for game engines Unity 3D, UE, UDK, Amazon LumberYard, i.e. drawing textures for games.
First, let's look at the basics of GIMP, without breaking away from the process of creating a texture (seamless, tiled).
Drawing textures for models. Let's Fly - How to Create a New Document in GIMP
Let's create a new document in GIMP, for which we select the File tab, in which we select the New tab (or just press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + N).
Let's choose the size of the desired document/file/canvas 512 by 512 pixels.
The figure shows the menu for creating a new image in GIMP (a new document in GIMP).
Add a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and select it by clicking on it with the Left Mouse Button in the Layers menu.
how to draw a rectangle in gimp
Choose a tool rectangular selection"Rectangle Select Tool" and select a square on the selected layer.
To select a square area, press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys while selecting the area. To place the created square selection exactly in the center of the image, you can move it if you hover over its center with the mouse cursor, after which, holding the Left Mouse Button, you can move it.
The figure shows the use of a selection tool for a square, rectangle, square area, rectangular area. It's very easy to stroke a selection in gimp.
Select the Stroke Selection Tool from the Edit menu and set the Line Width to 6 (six) pixels. After that, select the Stroke button to complete the stroke.
The figure shows the stroke menu for a selected path in gimp. It is worth noting here that you can stroke not only with a given line thickness, but also using one of the tools, for example, an eraser, an airbrush or a brush, including the current settings for them. To do this, just select "Stroke with a paint tool" in the stroke menu "Stroke selection" (or "Stroke Path", see below).
We continue drawing in GIMP. Drawing a Circle: Let's draw a circle in GIMP.
Creating a circle in GIMP is very easy. Once you've stroked your selection, select the ellipse selection tool and select the circular area in the center of the canvas. To create a circle, press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys while making a selection.
The figure shows how to create a circle (circle) in GIMP, and also shows the process of stroking a path in GIMP. Circle the selected circle, as shown above, with the same line thickness.
Now (continuing to work with the created layer, which should be selected) press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A to select the entire area of the canvas and stroke it with the Stroke Selection tool mentioned above. Leave the line thickness the same - 6 pixels. The thickness of the line will be less than with the previous stroke, since only the part that is on the canvas will remain visible, i.e. 3 pixels.
Drawing Lines in GIMP
Now let's add details to our texture. Select the Path Tool, left click on the upper left corner of the inner square, then left click on the opposite corner of the inner square (bottom right) to draw a path. Do not hold down the mouse button as this tool allows you to draw curved Bezier lines.
This tool allows you to draw even broken lines.
The figure shows a vector line drawing tool, i.e. paths, just like in Photoshop. After you divide the square diagonally with a line, move the mouse cursor to the upper right corner of the square, hold down the Shift key and click the Left Mouse Button to mark / place new point new line/path. Move the mouse cursor to the lower left edge of the square and click the Left Mouse Button to complete the line.
Outlining a Line (Path) in GIMP
Now select the Stroke Path tool from the Edit menu. And circle the selected path with a line thickness of the same 6 pixels.
The figure shows how to draw a straight line in GIMP and trace it. You can leave the sharp edges of the lines, or you can smooth / blur the image on the layer.
In order to implement Gaussian blur, blur the image, make blurred background, blur the photo, and so on, Gaussian blur will do.
How to blur an image or background
Select the "Gaussian Blur" tab from the Filters->Blur menu and set the horizontal and vertical blur parameters to 5 pixels.
The figure shows how to blur an image in GIMP using the Gaussian Blur filter. Export the resulting image by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+E (Shift+Ctrl+E) or by selecting the “Export To” or “Export As…” tab from the File menu. Select the PNG format and name the exported image, such as bump-map.
The figure shows a bump map that can be used to create a normal map as well as a height map. How to create a copy of a layer. How to Duplicate a Layer in GIMP
Create a copy of the layer with your image, for which select your layer with the Right Mouse Button in the Layers window and then select the Duplicate Layer tab in the drop-down menu.
The figure shows how to create a copy of a layer in GIMP. Disable the newly created layer by clicking on the eye icon to the left of the created duplicate layer.
How to fill a selection (selected area). Filler in GIMP.
Now, using the Bucket Fill Tool, fill different parts of the image with different shades of gray, for example, as shown in the image below.
The figure shows the fill tool and the dialog for changing the color of the current tool through the Color Picker. You will find the fill color under the toolbox in GIMP, as shown in the image above.
What is important - you can use the tool both on the current layer and on a separately created one.
Export the resulting image to a separate file and name it bump-map-grayscale.
The figure shows another alternative texture that can be used for bump mapping or creating a normal map, as well as a height map. In the next part of the tutorial, we will continue drawing textures for 3D, websites, etc.
. Texture painting for Unity3D. GIMP LessonsPart 2
Maxim Goldobin (aka MANMANA)
Post Views: 10 435
I decided to translate the old guide on creating a high-quality sci-fi texture, and also slightly adapt it for Unity3D. We need a blender and photoshop. The translation of some terms will be a little clumsy, as I am used to working in English. Please forgive me in advance for this.1) First you need to come up with a model that you want to bring to life. The more realistic the model, the more believable details are located on it, such as: rivets, seams, bolts, the better. Now you create a high-poly model in a blender (or other 3D graphics package), without skimping on details.
2) The next step is to create a UV map and an ambient lighting map.
In the blender, select your model, and unwrap Project from view, positioning the camera so that the model is turned right on us. To do this, select all the polygons of the model in edit mode, click on U and select project from view
In the texture edit box in blender, select UVs--> Export UV layout. Save the file at the desired resolution for the texture.
Then we need to bake the ambient light map. To do this, in the blender in the properties window, in the world tab, check the ambient occlusion checkbox, go to the render tab, select Bake and change the baking type to ambient occlusion. Before baking, you need to create new texture. In the texture editing window, create a new texture image--> new image, select the color white and the resolution is the same as the scan. Select the polygons of the model and assign them to your white leaf by simply selecting it from the list of textures.
Go to Render and hit Bake. Don't forget to remove the extra lighting, as the map may come out too light.
It should turn out something like this:
3) Creation color palette
Go into Photoshop and create a new texture using a base background color or a simple texture with little detail, such as a shot of a concrete wall or a piece of metal.
Add a layer with ambient on top and set the layer properties to "multiply". Adjust transparency. Also add a layer with a sweep and select the mode "screen" (screen), set the transparency to about 20-25%.
We have a basic template on which to draw the palette.
4) Scuffs and scratches.
Any metal part is usually covered with paint. Over time, some of the paint peels off and scuffs and scratches appear. Create a new layer, select the screen mode with a transparency of about 30% and take any brush in Photoshop that has the least anti-aliasing. White color. The ambient map can give us a good idea of where the paint is peeling off the most. As a rule, these are the corners and edges of the parts. It's a good idea to add a second layer of scuffs on top, with less translucency. 
Next are the scratches. Also create a new layer in screen mode with a little transparency, choose a white pencil and draw straight lines on the metal, creating scratched surfaces. 
5) Painting surfaces.
The fill in Photoshop has a great "all layers" property. Choose the desired color, in the properties of the fill at the top, check the box "all layers" (all layers) and paint over certain pieces of details in your color. The fill will focus on details and scratches, but you need to fine-tune the sensitivity of the tool. 
To create a two-tone coloring, you can create your own fill pattern for yourself.
As a rule, metal surfaces have several layers of paint. To create the second layer, make a layer under the main layers of paint. By using magic wand, create a selection from the already filled paint, then using the selection panel, increase the selection by 2-3 pixels depending on your resolution. Now you can use this selection to paint a second layer of paint under the main layer.
6) Creation of Bump texture.
The bump texture creates visual volume and bulge for your texture. Of course, now there are programs that create it automatically, such as CrazyBump, but we will try to do it manually. To create it, save your palette in a separate file, and make all layers black and white using the "image" menu. Replace the two-color palettes with a one-color layer, turn all scratches and scuffs into black so that they fall inside in the game. All paint will be about the same tone, the bottom layer is slightly darker. All unnecessary details are blurred to give the map a smoother look. Ambient maps and sweep are disabled. 
7) Additional details
A great way to add detail to your palette is to add additional textures on top, such as concrete, metal, fabrics, plastic, or rust. Set the transparency to low and play with the layer modes to achieve a soft and organic looking effect. The effect of rust can be made by drawing a regular smeared yellow/brown/green color in multiplication mode and with low transparency.
You can also add details such as captions, arrows and numbers from other stock images or using the text tool. 
This is what our final palette looks like: 
8) Reflection map.
The specular map gives you the ability to adjust the reflective properties of a material when rendering or in game. It is created in much the same way as a bump map. Lighter parts reflect more, darker parts reflect less. Accordingly, all scratches and places with peeling paint are dark again, and the main surface is lighter. Ambient map included. 
9) Final step
Well, our texture is almost ready. To use it in the render, you can already take it directly, however, to import it into the unit, we need to do one more thing.
The fact is that Unity's basic shaders read the bump map separately, and the reflection map is taken from the palette. In order for them to use our texture, we need to insert a reflection map inside the palette. To do this, open the "Channels" window and create new channel, which will be called alpha 1. Copy the reflection map from the file, and paste it into the palette in the alpha channel, for this it must be selected. We adjust the size, and save the resulting texture in TGA format. 
Everything ingenious is simple!
The main purpose of this article is to show some texturing tricks and rules that will take your textures up a notch. new level quality. All the tips that you will read in this article are not the only method for solving problems, but judging by my many years of experience in creating textures, I can say that these methods work. the best way(quickly and efficiently).
1. The expressiveness of the material - what is it?
concept expressiveness of the material I will use very often.
Demonstration of NOT (!) expressiveness of the material.
But in general, ultimately, no special significance, the texture itself looks good or bad if it looks great already on the finished model.
However, a great way to check the quality of a texture is to look at the layout and see if you can tell which material is which (metal, stone, rubber, etc.) or which part of the model is deployed.
But if you are working on modern materials or next generation materials (NextGen materials), then this is not always possible. However, if the material can still be recognized, then there is a good chance that the material will look great on the model as well. But if the material is not recognizable, then there is a good chance that you will look at a set of random colors and pixels, but in fact it should have been metal.
(Using photos as a texture can easily fix this, but more on that below.)
In addition to good diffuse map (diffuse map) Also great importance has quality reflection maps (specular map). There are many tools that will create the specular map for you, but they don't give you the control you need. Especially when you're working on different materials placed on a single texture, or with bright text.
Therefore, Photoshop remains the only great tool for creating reflection maps. Using it, you can make a mask that will exclude areas where the reflection map is not needed. And if you have white text on the texture, then using a mask you can muffle the brightness of this text on the reflection map.
Above is a picture showing how you can create a specular map for a simple texture with two materials: concrete and metal. Each material has its own level correction (Levels 1 and 2) with a mask. You can also use Brightness/Contrast instead of adjusting levels, but using levels gives you more control over the picture. And on top of the adjustment layers (Levels 1 and 2) is Hue / Saturation in order to turn the reflection map into black and white.
2. Base material
It's good practice to start with a base material when creating a texture. If you are creating a metal material, then first create a uniform (preferably repeating - tiled) texture, completely filled with metal. If the metal is needed damaged, then the damage can be completed on top of the base material.
Be sure to keep the base textures. Thus, if you again need to create a metal material, then you take the base material and create a new one based on it.
This is very handy if you are working on a number of typical objects or buildings. So starting with a base material for each type of material on your texture, you can create a good material expression. After each part has its own material, you can start adding details.
3. All the beauty is in the details invisible at first glance.
High-quality texture on a low-poly model.
This is something that a lot of people miss when creating textures - small parts. They are not visible at a cursory glance, but greatly increase the interest and liveliness of the texture.
Depending on the style and theme, you can use both minimalism in details and extremely detailed textures.
Your job is precisely to give the viewer an object that looks awesome. Subtle details are just perfect for this task, and these details can be anything. Stickers, paint residue, rivets, bolts, some black marker scribbles, dirt, grease stains, whatever.
But the main point is to make it all inconspicuous / discreet. If you overdo it with this, then the effect will be opposite and the picture will deteriorate.
The object in the picture below is very good example creating parts in the right quantity. As you may have noticed, the diffuse color immediately loads with details and most of them are invisible at first glance. On the object there are pieces of film, stains, stickers with text, scratches, rivets, labels, etc. It is these details that give a realistic look to twenty-two triangles of the model.
4. Sharpen up your textures.
Be careful. Some love clear (sharp) And sharp(crisp) textures, while others leave them a little blurry.
Personally, I prefer clear textures, so I always apply a sharpness filter (Unsharp mask in Photoshop) to the entire texture as a final step.
Essentially, I just make a copy of my entire texture and make that copy the topmost layer. Then I apply the Unsharp mask filter to this layer (despite its controversial name, this filter will make your texture sharper).
I prefer to use a filter instead of Sharpen unsharp mask- with it you will not spoil the texture 100%. In addition, Unsharp mask gives you additional control over the final image.
There is a great temptation to make a very sharp texture, but this can lead to all sorts of artifacts in the picture.
The first picture (normal) is the original texture. This is how it looks in Photoshop without any adjustments.
The second picture is the original with the Unsharp mask filter applied at 70%. Very well made details on the paint and scratches.
True, now the highlight on the horizontal edge has become very expressive, but it can be dampened a little. (You need to do this on the original texture and reapply the Unsharp mask filter. In this case, you will have a completely sharp texture in the output and save your .psd file in perfect order).
The last picture clearly shows artifacts that you definitely do not need. This is clearly dominated White color, as well as bright orange pixels on the sides of the paint, etc. This should be carefully avoided.
5. Be careful when using photos.
Carefully avoid using photographs when creating your textures. Read about the reason for this in one excellent. It's very rare to be able to use part of a photo directly in a texture without adding/removing details or adjusting the photo to UV.
I'm not saying it's impossible. Some texturists are very good at this. But for the most part, using photos for textures is the prerogative of beginners. But it would be better for them to look at other techniques for creating basic textures.
6. Use photo overlay (Photo overlays).
Even with tip #5, using photos isn't always a bad thing.
Photos are a great way to add small parts. Those. details such as small pores that dilute a simple uniform fill and make the model not so cartoonish.
The best way to showcase what's on in question is to show the texture with and without photo overlay.
The best way to get a good effect is to go through all mixing modes (blending modes) in Photoshop and choose the most suitable for the pair: base material + photo.
Modes usually work well overlay And Vivid Light. The result of other blending modes is very dependent on the image, but very often the result is a burnt image. But you should always keep in mind the fact that photo overlay should be barely visible.
These little details should be completely discreet.
Another thing to always keep in mind is detail scale.
If you need to add a small defect in the paint, as in the second picture of the doors, then you must match the scale of the details to the same scale as your object. If the scales do not match, then the viewer will immediately notice the catch, since these paint defects will be out of place.
For the best overlay effect, I advise you to spend a little time on the option Blend if(Mix if) for each layer.
This option is extremely useful if you have very light or dark areas in the picture that spoil all the beauty. With Blend if you can significantly smooth them out. And if hold Alt and drag the slider, then it will split and you will get a smooth transition between what is mixed and what will not be mixed.
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When I first started painting textures, I didn’t have any information at hand on how to do it right: no books, no lessons, not even access to the Internet. But, in those glorious times, all the problems were nothing to me and no difficulties stopped me on the way to solving the task! A lot of time has passed since then, and I will definitely never sit down to draw textures without a scan, without an already created model, and even watercolor on paper! But, nevertheless, I had this. However, it was the textures that became something special and beloved for me. Now I do a lot of concept drawing - it's fun, I've had to model and that's great too, but textures are like a song to a nightingale for me! In general, I really like this work, or even this kind creative activity, if you like.
Drawing my first textures, I first of all focused on real textures taken literally from nature. As a result, I have accumulated a decent collection of all sorts of pebbles, sticks, bark, rusty iron, half-decayed burlap and other strange property at home. Also, I had to take a lot of pictures. My camera leaves a lot to be desired, but pictures of real textures are invaluable material for analysis.
By the way, a small recommendation: do not go photographing textures alone :). Always take someone with you - it's more fun and safer. Since a person who photographs moss growing on the foundation of some building in the city center, while practically lying on the pavement, causes an unhealthy, but quite understandable interest among passers-by. However, if someone nevertheless decided to find out in more detail what you are doing, then perhaps the only thing left to do is to purchase creative look a la Salvador Dali, and say the sacramental phrase: “I am an Artist!”.
Focusing on photos, you can create wonderful textures. Look at the complex structure of the straw, at the transitions between light and shadow, the contrast of these relationships.
All collected and photographed materials are carefully studied, considering the "live" texture, you can do a lot important discoveries. However, the most important thing, subsequently, is to transfer all these observations and conclusions to drawn textures. By the way, why draw textures? After all, looking at a high-quality photo of straw, you just want to use it in your game! The answer is quite simple and complex at the same time. On the one hand, photo textures are wonderful and at first glance can greatly speed up the work process. But, on the other hand, there are a number of nuances that also need to be taken into account. For example, using hand-drawn and photo textures at the same time is very difficult, because of this, the whole integrity of the game can “fly”.
For the game "Legends of Allods", at one time, several test character textures were created using photographs. We almost immediately abandoned this idea, since the photorealistic faces of the characters looked too contrasting with the hand-drawn "Allod" landscapes and surroundings.
Accordingly, it is necessary either to make tremendous efforts to create a harmonious set of textures (drawn textures must be the highest level, a special coloristic control is needed so that the color and lightness of the textures drawn and photos are the same), or use an exaggerated style when realistic objects with photo texture suddenly appear in a stylized, drawn world. There is another point that is often observed when using photo textures by beginners in games - a certain dullness. The graphics are mediocrely the same, without zest. And the fact that photo textures are supposedly a lifeline and thanks to a good camera you can move mountains is actually nothing but a myth. Again, to make a texture out of a simple photo, you need to work as much, if not more, than just drawing it from scratch, and the result will not always be better.
Look at the texture of the old red bricks. They are tiny, almost friable. A similar feeling is caused by a lot of details on each brick, cracks, crevices, as well as a “faded” color scheme.
However, I will not delve into the problems of making photo textures, but will immediately move on to drawing. Here, it should probably be said that in drawing textures, as well as in drawing in general, there is no universal way that could be called the best and most convenient. In my article I will talk about how I do it myself, and I hope that the reader will find here useful information. However, it should not be surprising that there are still a great many other ways to draw textures. Both simpler and more complex.
Very interesting natural texture of the earth. Similar cracks, but only small ones, can be observed on the surface, where there used to be a puddle dried up in extreme heat. I managed to find these large, picturesque cracks on a deserted island, on the site of a dry estuary.
Traditionally textures are painted in Adobe Photoshop, but it so happened that I do it with the help of another graphic editor, namely Corel Photo-Paint. Basically, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't matter where the textures will be drawn, the result is important, as well as comfort in work. For example, I really like Photo-Paint's interface. And one more important point: Graphics tablet, this is, of course, very good, but you can also create wonderful textures by drawing with the mouse. I'm writing this in case you don't have a tablet, it shouldn't get in the way of making good quality textures. And mouse-drawn and pen-drawn textures are evaluated equally. In many ways, this "injustice" is similar to traditional painting – good artist will write good picture even on bad paper and bad colors. And vice versa, best paper and most the best paints do not "stretch" a weak painting.
So, how do you get a texture from a normal scan? First you need to "dial" local color spots. Typically, there is a pre-made color sketch by the concept artist, which helps the texturer a lot with the colors and common idea. You paint over the entire scan at once, or you will work out in detail the entire skin of the character, and only then will you take, for example, clothes, it doesn’t matter.
However, it is best to illustrate each step step by step. For starters, enough simple example, such as an ordinary (more precisely, not quite ordinary, but a real elven!) bow.
First we need to unwrap, but in this example it will be a little different, so instead of unwrapping, we just used the render of the model. This is perfectly acceptable for simple object such as a bow or sword. However, the use of a sweep is also, to some extent, a sign good manners, which also should not be forgotten.
Now the color is being typed, the location of the decor is being determined.
The structure of the material is being worked out, in this case, wood. Decor elements are also being worked on.
Well, and, finally, the volume is worked out, shadows and light are solved. It takes me no more than 10 minutes to make such a simple texture.
Another example of turning a scan into a texture. If you have a good scan, there are no problems with drawing, and it takes very little time to create such a texture. The main thing to remember about the seams and joints on the texture / model. Therefore, when drawing, you should go a little beyond the edges of the scan.
In this screenshot, we can see the orcs already in the game.
More complex textures are drawn according to the same principle. The main differences are only that there are much more elements and details in the texture. True, not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. As in any graphic work it takes a lot of effort and practice from the texture artist. And the creative part will require the manifestation of imagination and resourcefulness. After all, textures are undoubtedly very interesting, but many novice artists do not take into account the fact that the textures for the game will require VERY many, and many of them will be quite monotonous.
Another onion texture. For the game "Legends of Allods: Legacy of the Necromancer" more than ten textures of bows were drawn - and during one day. And this requires from the artist a certain perseverance and the ability to perform monotonous, but at the same time creative work During a long time.
