Textures..

[DarkFlux]

Hi everyone i was just wondering if i could get some insight on how you guys do your textures. I see some artists take actual pictures and use them for your textures then some obtain them from the web. What are the Pro's and Con's between the two? Thanks for the input ahead of time.


Darkflux

[zeke3d]

get them however you can, diversify, and make sure you catalog them for easy access later. knowing your own libraries is the biggest advice I can give, having a huge library but not taking the time to use them or know where that perfect sample is will make it worthless. I have taken many a picture, have/will use pay texture sites, and of course working with other artists on various projects in which they bring in their favorite sets, by all means expect me to get my hands on that action, of course after asking that is. hope that helps.

as for the use, I use them for base or for texture only, for if you really love realistic or even stylized game art, that Max Payne look just doesn't cut it, even though I love the games, slapping on photos in their entirety doesn't look good compared to just giving them a little more care and layering the information, with those textures as a tool not the answer. Even little details like signs or stickers, have a way more appealing quality if you design your own, and use those pictures for reference.

[kageko]

well first off u wanna be sure u can actually use the pics u get from the web, so asking the one who uploaded it would always be a good idea.

that being said, we just had a lecture on this in school, what u want to do if u for example took a pic of a concrete wall, u take the clone tool and remove any unique qualities it has (for example a smudge or something that stands out). After that u want to continue cleaning up the material and if its for an enviroment, u might wanna make it tileable, but thats a subject that requires its own tutorial so google it ;) anyway... as i said, clone- and healingtool is your friend, mixing materials with custom brushes are also great ways of getting good results, also, be sure to add a sharpen mask or high pass filter for a nice finish.

Hope that answered your question, good luck ;)

[DarkFlux]

Yes it does thanks much you guys appreciate the help :D

Darkflux