how to create textures from scratch
 

hello everyone! :)

does anyone know of places on the net where i can learn how to make texture maps from scratch, using photoshop or anything like that?

i know realistic textures are readily available on cds or by order, but i'm at a lack of funds at the moment. :D plus i think learning the principles of making textures most assures that i can create anything i may need for a scene, without requiring an external source.

there is the links database hear.. and I cant belive that google wouldn't pull up a hole bunch of them..

have any have any kinds of textures in mind spacificly ??

surce images.. and some textures.. can be just as much work as makeing them from scratch. Have to make sure any lighting artifacts are taken out of them. for color.. etc..

thanks.

problem with google is that it tends to return too many sites. and a whole lot of the site that pop up give tutorials that are either too specific or yield results that aren't very real-looking. and alot of the tutorials don't concentrate much on the subtle effects, rather, on the "louder" effects like lightning and stuff.

right now i'm *trying* to make a clay-like texture with cracks for use on a fantasy style building structure, but i'm still experimenting. think old churches to get a feel for the texture style.

when I think of old cherches I think of lots of stone work, and the difrent kinds of stone.. could you be a liittle more discriptive of the clay look ?

If I was doing something for clay I would make it pritty smoth but have a rel blured bump for that fingered afect. you could layer in some cracks for pavemnt if its dryed out.. and like a sandstone texture for the bump whare some had bean chiped away..

or is the clay more like fired clay ?

if you like we could try to work it out hear in this thread.. (shrugs)

alrighty!

i guess before working on the building texture, the ground texture should be tackled first.

i'm doing grass for the ground texture, and i've created it to some extent using basic photoshop stuff, but what i've noticed is that the grassy ground still looks very flat even with bump mapping on. any way to fix this with textures, or should i model individual grass blades to achieve a more realistic thickness to the grass?

if it looks flat still your probbably to close for a flat texture..
ok lots of questions.. LOL

wrather you should model geo to map a grase texture on would matter what kind of look your going for and what you have to work with..

if your going for a real 3d look. one that is a little off from reality though in color look thin pfx would do..

if you want your grass to look close to photo real as you can get it, thin some geo with grass textured on it would be better.

if you have maya5 it makes it simpler. becouse with 5 you can convert pfx in to geo..

I would like to get kinda a idea about what were working with hear. could you post like a screen shot of the sean? like from whare you would normaly place the cam ?

is this for a still or animation ?

we get some of thease questions out of the way we can get down to doing the textures thin..

not at this moment.. but I will be wanting to make some very real or at least nice grass for a animation I would like to do latter. There will be some cuts with the grass and trees vairly close to the cam.

Do you have the fur plug in ??

Think I will try some test a little latter..

here's a screenshot of what i have so far. ignore the lens flare. i've taken it out already. i'm going for a higher perspective once i build more structures. but for now this is what i have. as you can see, that grass looks way too fake for my tastes, even with bump mapping.

thanks for the help. :)

what is the size of the object were looking at ? like the size of a water fountine ? Top of the chearch stepal.. or is that about the size of the hole cherch. ?

well the grass looks good if that was say a hill kinda far off.. Put a tree or to a little bit smaller than the lens flare to brake it up some and it would be great.

if its closer than that, yeah needs some work. so maybe some paint afects grass would be in order.. I'll see what I can come up with in a little bit..

that's a full sized church kind of thing. the hill is very close actually. around three times the width of the church away. would you suggest using fur for that? :D

well fur is good.. for like sunny days.. so it should do good with this. yep.

hear is what I got with fur for grass.. it dosn't have shadows yet. But its a start idea for whats posible with fur. I'll include the sean file also.

100,000 blades
the sean is framed like your sitting at a bench and there is a tree about 3 meeters away.

sean file.