uhh, if you goign to do your texturing in photoshop you use your UVs as a guide, not a render
so, you go into your uv texture editor, export the UV layout as an image and paint on that. (normally you would add new layers in photoshop, change the layer blend mode to darken and inverse the colours (ctrl+i) and start painting


the difference is the normal map has colour information about the direction the normal goes in at that particular point on the object.
when you use a bump map it gets converted to colour information anyway, using a normal map avoids that step, essentially there isn't much of a difference between the two bumps
normal maps just make things go faster (hence why it's useful in games)

Yeah I know all that Chirone. What I meant was I will have to decide whether I am going to attempt to paint the textures in photoshop alone or whether I am going to use one of my 3D painting options.

I will have to rethink the way I created my UV's if I am going to go all PS. I think I am going to attempt to project the panel line stuff I am working on using one of the 3D painting apps then clean it up within PS.

If you look at the UV layout of the fuselage after unwrapping using maya's unfold the fuselage is distorted so trying to do the panel line detail and stuff would be nearly impossible. I would have to go with a side planer map but then I have to cut the top and bottom or I get major stretching.

This is all trial and error for me because I have not found a decent tutorial that really covers texturing a hard surface model to the level of detail I am interested in. I am seriously considering checking out the local art schools to see if there are any evening classes that cover the stuff I am interested in learning. Sitting and starring at the photoshop screen for hours and trying to learn to paint AND learn to use PS at the same time is frustrating.

I am still running into a block for the color scheme. I might just go with a simple base color and some stripes. I still have to layout the signage. I am working on that now. I think if I can get the signage and lines details the model will look very nice.

As for the panel line stuff I may have to increase the maps up to 4k square. I find the smallest I can go with the rivot details is 5 pixel square which is quite fuzzy and the to get good quality panel lines I need higher resolution as well. I might do everything on the fuselage at 4k square then see how small I am downsize it.

What did you think of the panel line, and rivet layout?

i think the panel line is cool
i'm not so sure about all htose rivots though.
the ones that cross over the panels that is. I would have thought the rivots would only be around the edge of the panels rather than that and crossing through the middle.

sounds like you've had quite a bit of a struggle trying to find something to tell you how to do the stuff you're after
sorry i can't point you out to anything, what have you been putting in your search?

wow I am going to have to make the texture map for the body 4k square (minimum). I was doing some tests in photoshop and the panel lines and rivets are to big. If I try to reduce the size of the rivets they have no shape and are all fuzzy.

I may actually need an 8k map . What is the maximum map size Maya can handle?

PS - I did quite a bit of research on rivet and panel line details and I have even worked on an aluminum homebuilt aircraft and rivets do go through the middle of panels. In traditional aircraft construction there are stringers and ribs and the metal panels are riveted to them not only around the edges but through the interior sections as well This way the outer skin actually adds rigidity and strength to the whole structure.

But that is not to say they may not look correct ascetically, so I hear you. I am in the trial and error phase atm so I have time to change things and it's always easy to remove detail. When I bump the map size up I will tinker with it.

Thank you for the feed back. Jay if you are out there how does the panel detail sit with you?

The panels and rivets give it a very military feel to me so I am going with that motif for the paint scheme.

Hey guys,

Can someone with more experience then me take a look at my paint over for the panel lines and rivet details and let me know if trying to project this on to a uv snapshot from the side is the correct approach?

just warp it in PS... btw shouldn't this be part of the bump map rather than part of the colour map? I would just paint it in PS and i'm not the best photoshopper.

lets see your UV layout.

The fuselage UV's are shown on page 5 of this post.

http://srv01.simply3dworld.com/showt...5&pagenumber=5

The UV's look nice and square and even, but because they are a complete unwrap of a side view doing a straight on projection does not work.

Yes, I was thinking of using the line, rivet, and panel details as a bump. Also, I thought I might use a displacement for the small recessed areas around the latch handles, but that might be overkill?

As for color...would I also have these details in the color map for grime in the seams? I guess that is another question I am asking of the guys with more skill texturing then I?


I have both zbrush and bodypaint 3d and was tinkering with simply doing a side projection of the details with so so results. It is hard to line them up precisely. I was thinking I could then just fix up the top and bottom views.

If you are using Zbrush and are covering this tutorial why arent you refering to the Zbrush section that covers the texturing? I used projections anf there are no probs

J

I did refer to the tutorial section using projection painting in zbrush Jay and it works fine for projecting a general texture like the aluminum lamp post metal in the tutorial.

But when I try to use it to project the panel and rivet detail I over painted in photoshop I just can't seem to get it to line up correctly and hand painting it on the model or on the UV map, I am also finding to be impossible.

I think the issue has something to do with the camera perspective but I am not sure.

I have just been struggling to learn the tools (zbrush and body paint). I do not find them intuitive at all. I am not very good at photoshop either. I am not very skillful at painting. So trying to learn three complex applications (photoshop, zbrush, and bodypaint) while also trying to learn basic painting and texture paint skills for hard surface objects is tough. Especially since there are bloody few good tutorials that cover it.

No offense Jay, but the texture painting section of the sand speeder tutorial is not very detailed and assumes a great deal of knowledge about painting in both zbrush and photoshop.

it sounds like you are worrying about this too much. just get stuck and give it a go. :)

learn from your mistakes and feedback from the forum/friends.

No Offense taken. It is done with the assumption that you know the software, otherwise I would be there all day explaining it.

Concentrate on one of the paint packages, dont try and cram because you wont learn as quick...personally I'd start on PS.

Model the rivets on it will look better

J

What do you guys thing of something like this for the body paint scheme?

I have more signage to add but wanted to toss this out to give a feel for what I was thinking about?

Or this...

or this...

Num 2.

Are the panel paints were made by hand ?