Painting in Photoshop

If you take a look around the video game industry, you will quickly discover a wide spectrum of tools and applications being used to make our 3D art assets. The array of 3D modeling tools include applications like Maya, 3D Studio Max and (of course) Modo. These applications do a great job at generating the 3D geometry, or surface, for our models but don't go a great job at making custom texture maps. Thus enter Photoshop; the one common denominator of 2D image editing and painting applications.

Since the inception of this industry, Photoshop has acted as the primary image editor and authoring application for the 3D modeling industry. In Photoshop, you have access to some of the most brilliantly designed tools that cleverly assist the creation of high-detail texture maps. From importing to painting, Photoshop, to this day, provided the best tools and workflow. One are that Photoshop excels at is interactive painting. The Brush system in Photoshop allows us to quickly add high resolution detail, like dirt and grime, using traditional painting techniques. Paired with a graphics tablet, like a Wacom Intuos, the Brush system becomes a digital extension of the artist's creativity. Instead of relying upon selections, or layer order, to determine the placement of texture details, the Brush system enables the artist to paint images, using strokes, on our texture maps. On top of being a lot of fun, painting in Photoshop allows us to layer detail and place texture details in specific places.

This week, we will explore the process of working inside Photoshop to create our texture maps. Here, we'll learn how to use the integrated brush system, applying custom color and basics of using masks. In addition, we'll cover the production pipeline between Modo and Photoshop and discuss how the two application can work seamlessly together. This is going to fun! Lets do it!

Project Due: Week 08

In Part 1 on this project, you created the geometric model of a photo-realistic dumpster. In Part 2, you will create the UV Map and textures for this project. Remember what we have learned when creating the UV maps for this model. Take it slow, one side at a time. Isolate the geometry and unwrap. Once you are finished creating the UV maps for the dumpster, starting working on painting the diffuse texture map for the dumpster. Use photographs for the base textures and paint on the detail using brushes. Leverage the power of the texture resource library on CG Textures to increase the accuracy and realism of your texture. Render out our scene in Modo when you are finished. Please ensure your project includes the following required elements before you complete this assignment:

After you have saved the project file on your personal external storage device (like a thumb drive), please upload your Luxology Scene File (.lxo), a flattened PNG of your diffuse texture (.png) and your rendered image (.JPEG) to the Dumpster Tex dropbox on D2L.

Before you upload your files to D2L, please ensure your files meet the following naming conventions:

Project Due: Week 08

Creating highly detailed texture maps requires access to a lot texture resources. To gain the accuracy we desire, the foundation of our texture maps needs to be based around photographs. As you know, it is our responsibility to recreate reality with our models. It doesn't matter if we are building a dumpster for some far off futuristic planet or a dumpster found on good ole planet earth; photographs are going to give us the fastest and most accurate results.

Your mission this week is to search the web for texture images. Start building a small texture library that you can use for dumpster and future projects. I've been collecting texture reference for years and have amassed a large library of texture images that I can pull from when making my texture maps in Photoshop. Start your texture library today.

In addition to finding awesome texture reference, also explore the web and find Photoshop Brushes that you can use to paint your texture. Often, photographs are great for establishing the base color, or foundation, for our texture maps but don't provide us with the ability to add grime, or dirt, detail in small areas. Ultimately, we want to be able to control where the weathering effects on our texture maps reside. Each model is going to receive a custom weathering pass, so Photoshop brushes are an excellent tool to be applied in this process.

Check out these awesome learning resources! I've collected a number of assets that I think will help you conquer this week's homework and laboratory assignment. Please download the following materials to your local hard disk or flash storage device (AKA thumb drive).

Here are some important videos for this week's learning materials. I've created these videos to help you navigate the instructional content we covered in class. Make sure you add these important assets into your personal learning library by bookmarking them!