Few VERY BASIC Questions About Texture

Support Materials and Textures
#1

First off, what are these kind of textures referred to as:
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8708/draeneifemaleskin0003.png

(http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8708/draeneifemaleskin0003.png)

In other words, very mesh specific non-repeating textures.

I’m just about done with my shields mesh (with the mesh’s colored for a basic reference), and I need to start texturing it. Before I get into lighting, reflection and transparency, I’d like to know what this type of texturing is called, and how I might go about doing it. Or if there is a great reference tutorial that I could check with this texture specifically, that would be great. All I’ve found so far are repeating textures for like walls/floors etc.

Here is my shield mesh:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6692/lowpolyshieldfrontrende.jpg

#2

For a game it would need to be UV mapped, and the type of texture is usually called colour or diffuse.
You would include the ambient occlusion lighting in the colour map. (as in the face image)
Depending on the game engine you can also have shine/specular, glow, normal/bump. Check which ones it supports.

So step one is to unwrap, but only if the modeling is finished. Step two is to bake a normal map from your high poly to the low version. Then ambient occlusion. At that stage you’ve got a good basis for texturing.

#3

I’d like to point out here that World of Warcraft does not use normal maps. So that’s one less thing to worry about then.

#4

thanks dudes. looked to UV mapping and found this (which is a great series of tutorials).

for anyone who might have had a similar question.