Texturing Exercise

To do this, you will either need a completed lab 5, or you can use:

https://scs.senecac.on.ca/~catherine.leung/stationstampcompleted.max

Note that the models here and in lab 5 are not identical, there are a few things that were modified along the way.

You will also need some texture images which you can get from:

http://opengameart.org/

(check the texture box and do a search, there are many texture packs available)

Create Material

Before we start, we will need to create a material.

1. Open the material editor by clicking m or Rendering->Material/Map Browser
2. Drag a standard material into the workspace
3. Drag a bitmap into the workspace then select the unwraphelper.jpg image from last lab
4. Connect the bitmap output to the diffuse input by dragging to make a connection

Apply Material

1. Select the standard material slate in the material editor
2. Select your object in the viewport
3. Click Assign material to selection button in the material editor
4. Turn on Show realistic map in viewport (it can be selected via drop down on Show shaded map in viewport)

Export Unwrap Template

1. Open the UV Editor on the station platform object
2. Open the Render UVs dialog by selecting Tools->Render UVW Template from inside the editor
3. Ensure the settings are as you see in the image then click Render UV Template
4. From the rendered image, click the Save button
5. Set the image type to png and find a suitable place to save this image; in the same folder as the max file would be preferred
6. In the PNG save settings, set the number of colours to 24 bit and that alpha channel is turned on

Get Base Textures

To create our texture, we will need some base textures to start from.

• Download these two textures from open game art:
  • http://opengameart.org/content/20-textures-for-metal-texture-creation-sets
  • http://opengameart.org/content/metal-texture
  • We will use the metal for the base of everything and we will use the grated metal for the platform trim
  • I found these by doing a search as follows:

Photoshop

We will now open photoshop to create our texture.

1. Open photoshop
2. Create a new photoshop file with dimensions 1024x1024
3. Import each of the following into its own layer:
   • uvw template
   • metal1-dif-1024.tga from metal pack 2
   • hg07.png from metal pack 1
   • Do this for each by:
     1. Creating new layer
        • 
     2. Open respective image in photoshop
     3. Select all (Ctrl-A)
     4. Copy (Ctrl-C)
     5. Close image, NOT PROGRAM! (Ctrl-F4)
     6. Select destination layer in our psd project
     7. Paste (Ctrl-V)
   • Should now look like this:
4. Save your psd as stationplatform.psd alongside your max file

Preview PSD With Max

We will now set max to preview our PSD.

1. Open material editor
2. Select bitmap material (double click it)
3. Set bitmap file to your psd
4. When the psd choice dialog comes up, select Collapsed Layers

Your model should now look something like this:

Now, as we update our photoshop document, 3DS max will update letting us know how our texture is looking.

Creating The Texture

When applying textures to 3D models, there are many types of textures that could be incorporated. We will be creating a diffuse texture; this is the type of texture that simulates how the model should look under non-direct lighting conditions which are the most common. In addition, there are also specular textures, normal map textures, ambient textures, and so on; we will not be developing any of those.

We will most prominently use the base metal texture and occasionally use the trim platform texture in some specialized situations.

The instructions here will show how we handle large text sections and how we handle a more specialized part. You will be responsible for applying this same (or similar) process for the rest of the parts of the model.

Photoshop Basics

Photoshop is an incredibly complex program but we will look at some of the absolute basics in this lab. Fundamentally, unlike other image editors that you may have used in the past, photoshop operates on the principle of dividing your image into layers and stacking them on top of each other. By being able to edit each layer individually, the artist is able to achieve a wide variety of effects while maintaining the ability to go back and fine tune their art at a later date. If you are a classically trained painter, a useful analogy would be to think of each of photoshop's layers as a layer of oil when oil painting.

Photoshop Interface

While the interface is modular and can be heavily customized, there are some basics:

• The main menu is used to perform basic file commands (new, open, etc...) and to gain access to to a wide variety of photoshop's more niche tools
• The main canvas is where you will do all of your drawing and image manipulation
• The main toolbar is where the various photoshop tools are located. These are used for moving layers, selecting sections of layers, painting onto layers, erasing from layers, using brushes or fills, etc...
• The layers/channels is where you can create new layers, copy existing layers, delete layers, re-arrange layers, and examine the colour channels currently in the document
• The document selector is where you could switch between your currently open documents

Setting Up Base Texture

You will need to follow along in-class as most of this is very difficult to explain through text. Our first goal will be to get our base metal texture to a good resolution on the image. We can do this by shrinking the texture down to 50% on both axes, then replicating it three times, moving the 4 instances of the texture to the various corners of the document, then merging the instances together. You should end up with something that looks like this before the merge:

Note how we hid the two layers above by clicking the eye icon next to those layers in the layer selector as noted above in blue

Tip: use free transform tool (Edit -> Free Transform) to move, rotate, and/or scale a layer
Tip: You can also move a layer by using the move tool (Hotkey: v)
Tip: Merge layers by selecting multiple layers then using the merge command
(Layer -> Merge Layers, Hotkey: Ctrl + e)

After the merge, your layer should look like this:

Sign

Our first example piece will be the sign. This piece will have a large text portion in the middle, surrounded by a design behind it.

1. Show the uvw template layer to see where we need to work
2. Use 3ds max to know which section we will need to paint
   • Do this by opening the uv editor, switching to face mode, and selecting the sign's face
   • This will cause the face's associated uv to highlight in the editor. We will use this information to inform our choice of where to draw onto the sign
   • 
3. Create a new layer for the sign's text and write some text in it in a colour of your choice
   • 
4. Decorate the background within the sign area
   • In my case, I created a basic design by creating a text area, selecting the produced text, growing the selection, creating new layers behind the text layer, and alternating colours while expanding the selection for each new layer. Finally, I set the blend mode on the new layers to multiply to let the base metal shine through. The result looks like this:
   • 
5. We should create a frame for our sign to make it more believable
   • Begin by creating a new layer atop your sign layers
   • Create a rectangular selection of your sign and fill it with a neutral colour such as beige
   • Shrink that selection by 10 pixels then delete the new inset shrunk selection
   • Select the contents of the layer by using Ctrl-Click Layer
   • Select the brush tool and create a dark edge to the inside and outside of your frame
     • Make sure to set the brush to have a soft edge
   • The result looks something like this:
   • 
   • We could continue to decorate the sign but now the front is done. Try doing the sides in a similar manner and see what you could come up with.

Roof

The roof is the large covering above the platform. We will use two textures to make this piece more interesting.

1. Begin by creating a new layer (referred to as #0) for the roof
2. Create a rectangular selection around the roof area
3. Paint this a neutral colour like beige or light blue (or whatever you like! But make it pale-ish)
4. Copy layer #0 to new layer #1
5. Scale layer #1 to 75% of its size
6. Select layer #1
7. Shrink the selection by 80%
8. Delete the currently selected area from layer #1
9. Select the contents of layer #1
10. Delete these from layer #0
11. Delete layer #1

This should leave us with something that looks like this:

Roof Grate

Now we modify and place the grate texture underneath the beige we just created.

1. Copy your grate layer
2. Make it visible
3. Rearrange it underneath the roof beige
4. Scale it down to 12.5% on both axes
5. Make copies of the layer, arrange them in a column, then merge them all
6. Position the column underneath the beige
7. Select the contents of the beige layer and delete them from the arranged grate texture

You should end up with something like this:

Roof Finish

Finally, overlay the roof beige with some grunge just like before using a similar brush to last time. You should end up with something like this: