I’ve more or less completed the base layer on the main pieces. See my most reason post on Page 2 for more details and images.
End of Update
I’d like to preface this thread by stating that this is my first real texturing project. I’ve done the tutorials and unwrapped my fair share of cubes before, but have always been a bit intimidated (and admittedly a bit confused) by all the UV unwrapping and texturing tools. But I’ve got to put this tank in a video, and I want it to look believable, so here I am. The tank was modeled by Greg Zaal, you can find it on Blendswap here:
I’m also using Stephan Morrell’s excellent guide to texture painting, which you can find here:
It’s from a number of years back, but is still extremely helpful to anyone who’s beginning to get into texturing (such as myself.)
All the textures I’m using were shot by myself this past week. I had to drive for almost three hours to find any suitable material, so I hope they will be convincing enough! I would like to upload the final textured model to Blendswap once the short film is uploaded, so that is why I’m not just using textures from CGtextures.com
This is the current status of the tank. Currently I’m using one of the shots I took as a simple placeholder texture while I UV unwrap each piece. The larger pieces such as the main body of the tank and the armored skirts protecting the tracks are tiled 2x2, to help with the scale issues between larger and smaller parts.
So, all that said, I would like to hear from any of my fellow Blender heads on any advice they have! Especially if you see me doing something that looks retardedly stupid and would be very easy to fix, which is very like to happen at some point…
Good practice. I too need texture practice. So you are unwrapping each piece rather than making one giant texture for the whole model?
Can anyone with more texturing experience provide some insight on the pros/cons of either approach?
I’m not amazing at texturing but i think you should split the model into multiple segments with seams EI: Body, Top, etc. Then you unwrap and add textures. Before you try that just smart UV project the model just to see how well that does. Hopes that helps a little.
I textured a tank for a movie project a few years ago and use separate textures for each mesh.
It is easier to unwrap and you have more control. In this example the turret and the chassis are two textures, every wheel use the same texture only rotated. All tools and other parts are separate textures.
First thing after unwrap is to bake an AO map, this give you the contur of the mesh and a bit dirt, then base material, rust, scratches and dirt as separate layer.
Cheers, mib.
EDIT: I use mix modes of unwrapping, often from view and smart UV project.
DDD-Yes, I felt that would give me more control over the details of the tank. To be honest, much of the detail will go unnoticed by people in the final video (especially anyone watching on a smart phone) but I still enjoy setting myself a challenge to accomplish. Also, if I’m uploading this to Blendswap for people to have, I’d like it to be as well done as possible!
Dacoolinus- Thank you for the advice, I will try this tonight!
mib2berlin- That’s an awesome tank model and cool props! Thank you for your suggestions, I will try them tonight. I have a quick question, is it possible to bake an AO map in cycles, or is that something you currently have to do in Blender Internal?
Also, is the project that your tank was used in online? I would love to see it if possible!
I had not heard of the Blendpolis movie project before today. Unfortunately, I don’t speak much (any) German, so I’m not sure what the project was about, but the video was cool! Your texturing looked great from all angles!
Here is today’s progress:
I’ve hidden most of the detail objects on the turret for now, so the tank looks much plainer at the moment. I’ve tried out the smart UV unwrapping, and that seems to work well on certain objects. Other kinds of shapes work better with a combination of normal unwrap and project from view methods, as mib suggested.
The tracks are currently only view from projected, and that’s why the look good on one side and terrible from another. You can also see seams on the barrel of the tank. I’ll adjust these flaws either later tonight or tomorrow.
I’m fairly happy with the wheels. Once the texturing is complete, I’ll simply duplicate the one wheel and adjust the rotation most likely.
Hmm interesting… i guess the whole model would be only be unwrapped for games where you need to keep the amount of resources the game uses down…
However, what about symmetry/like objects? Or are you taking that out of equation and making a different texture for each object (ex wheels, tracks, etc) (more realistic i guess since no piece is exactly the same but so much more work and resources)
The only critique i have for you though is that your tank looks more like concrete than metal. I would suggest adding paint/ camoflauge etc, look at pictures of real tanks,… unless you are already doing so.
norvman - Thanks! I’m quite happy with it so far. To be honest, I’m surprised I haven’t run into an issue and begun pulling my hair out already, so it’s going quite well!
DDD - You’re exactly right. Were I texturing this for a game, or for reasonable rendering times, I would have had to take that route and tried to pack the texture maps as tightly as possible. But since I really, really, really want this thing to look as believable as possible in the video, I decided to swing for the fences as far as texture detail goes. There are some closeup shots that demand detail and resolution, so I don’t want to worry about pixelization.
Although I am trying to minimize the number of texture maps used, so if different object can share the same map, I’ll definitely be putting them together. The side skirts for example, are two seperate objects, but because they are so much longer in one direction than in the other, all four sides can fit together on one map without a loss of detail.
And you’re absolutely right, the tank is starting to look like a big boring block of concrete :yes:
That’s exactly what I photographed for my textures, a big parking garage and some support columns from a building. I’ll be manipulating those shots a lot to add detail and markings and whatnot later on, but for now I just wanted to throw one of the shots on the model while I unwrap. It hurts my eyes a bit less than looking at the test grid pattern all the time, haha.
And I’ve subscribed Classy Dog to both of your channels, I can’t wait to check out all your videos!
Your Zoomer model looks really cool! I can see why you want to texture it well, so that the texturing matches the quality of the modeling.
As for multiple objects sharing the same texture,I know I didn’t make myself understandable. I mean I am just eyeballing the UV’s of some of the objects, then combining the exported UV templates in PS so that I can keep objects seperate, but just have them pointing to the same texture map at rendertime, as you did with your BMW decals. Hopefully that is more clear now.
And I know, finding enough time is always an issue, especially when you have other things that take precedence in your life. But just keep at it, and don’t give up!
I’ll be working on some more bits of the tank tonight, probably fixing some of the uv issues on the tracks and barrel and other pieces, then begin setting up files to properly texture those. I’ll save the smaller and miscellaneous mesh objects for a little later down the road, just to establish a strong base. Stay tuned!
Export UV’s from both objects, then import to PS as layers. Set the layers to Screen or Multiply, whichever your fancy. Can merge the layers down if you insist on only having 1 layer for them.
A trick I do is the first object layer goes into GIMP (same as PS) then I set to multiply over top the diffuse layer. Export that back as the diffuse layer and reload in Blender. Now as I unwrap the 2nd object I can see my islands from the first object. Wash-rinse and repeat for however many you are trying to cram in.
There also may be an addon somewhere that “packs” the islands, as packing will be broke unless you scale all UV’s identically, but the math is usually pretty simple (divide by object count).
One last thing I have done as well, temporarily join the objects together and unwrap. Once unwrapped, separate them back to separate objects. Packing is lots easier then too, but this depends on complexity of mesh as well.
P.S. can assign vertex groups before beginning to ease the re-separation.
Here’s tonight’s progress; I’ve adjusted the UV’s of the tracks so they no longer exhibit that terrible texture stretching. I realize you can still see some stretching/mirroring of the texture along some of the points, but hopefully this will not be noticeable in the film. I just don’t have the patience to mark that many seams to properly unwrap them.
Also, I’ve adjusted the UV’s of the barrel and the main body of the turret. I think they look much better now. Only the last shot shows the updated turret unwrapping. I know it doesn’t look as high resolution as previous shots; I took the tiling off of it so you wouldn’t see a seam. The texture I’m currently using for everything is 2048, but I’ll be using 4096 for large pieces such as that, so they will hold up better.
I agree with you, as I progress, I’m starting to feel the geometry is starting to look a bit too simple in some areas. I’ll see what I can do to adjust this without setting render times too high.
Here’s some Pic reference for your texturing… again I think your hitting it on the head… most tanks I have seen have a more … concrete(?) look to them… not so much 'shiney and metalic… as most metals origonaly come out of the ground and do in fact look more like earthen material until they are melted, polished, hammered and worked… tanks are not something one polishes up … the more dull and earthy they are the better… So most metals that are used in tank armor have been treated in very different ways than what one might do with metal for like say… a sword… Plus… Modern Tank armors are not even pure Metal any more… they are some combination of Metal and Ceramics…
Thank you for the references, norvman! I hadn’t seen those previously.
I feel you’re correct about the surface of tanks. While they will probably retain a level of specularity to them, their surfaces will be matte for the most part, especially wherever paint covers. I’ve been busy filming for the past four days, but will have time again this week to get back to the tank. Look for some texturing tests coming in the next few days!
good start here. I use to work with separate textures/mesh according to complexity (in your case it is maybe more accurate to have separated textures meshes I think). I also used to work by mixing color map to “grunge/normal/spec” colors, because I often have to adjust colors regarding to the grunge aspects (i.e an old painted metal starting with a color of X + a grunge map should be more or less next the orginal standard). Don’t know if it could help.
Thank you for the tip, ookka! Looking at your work has helped me in creating the textures for this project!
I’ve been able to find some time to do a sort of practice object, to prepare for the tank. So far I’ve only added painted areas and chipped/peeling paint, but want to give it a little more attention before I move on to the tank, just so I feel confident about what I’ll be doing. Here is the simple object I’ve started texturing:
On the first night, I simple unwrapped it, and applied one of my cement images to it, then painted in some scratches and generated bump and specular maps from that.
I tried to make the cement areas less glossy, and the scratched areas specular, as if the rough outside metal was hiding a shiny interior material, which kind of makes sense.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]209138[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]209139[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]209140[/ATTACH]
Tonight, I’ve changed things up a bit. I’ve started texturing it to look more like what the tank will look like, and I’ve reversed the specularity, so that areas where paint has been removed are duller, and painted areas are more glossy.
I realize the bump is too strong in the close ups. Initially, I thought that painted areas should also have a bump. But now I’m thinking the bump needs to be much smoother, if there is any at all.
What do you guys think? What else can I do to make the texturing more believable?
Next I will be adding dirt/grime/grunge and decals/symbols/text to this simple practice object.
