Gave texturing a shot...

[KukY]

Since I am unable to import a model in WZ, and I am unable to texture it in in frst place, I decided to do something I can do: Redo existing textures.
I know how to do stuff in Photoshop, so I started making new textures, based on Josh's suggestion on my forum(http://kuky.99k.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=48).

For now, I made new textures for the HQ and it's baseplate.

http://i31.tinypic.com/21afv40.jpg

What do you think?

[MetalWarrior95]

It looks stupid :-/
Like its from an cartoon...i could better if i just know how to get original texture of HQ and then edit,dont know how to extract textures from wz files!

[JDW]

It looks stupid :-/
Like its from an cartoon...i could better if i just know how to get original texture of HQ and then edit,dont know how to extract textures from wz files!

Wha are you talking about? I think it looks great, considering that it was KukY's first shot at texturing, very impressive. And KukY wasn't going for a old-school warzonish look, he has a vision of something different. Something interesting.

[Safety0ff]

I'm not sure whether that was the best terrain background to use to show off your hq.

There are a few details that I'm sure will improve with practice, such as the border on the roof ( 3 sides have a even and consistent sized border, and the other 3 sides do not,) also, the texture for the window in the image looks like it got cut off on the left side (one side has a border, the other does not).

Apart from the details, it looks "too clean," though, most first steps in texturing look "too clean" so it's not a big criticism.

[lav_coyote25]

whats wrong with "too clean" ?

[milo christiansen]

Dirty it up some and it will look great!

for me adding dirt is the hardest part of making a texture, and I have never mastered it.

[JDW]

Dirty it up some and it will look great!

for me adding dirt is the hardest part of making a texture, and I have never mastered it.

That's very true. Any artist got some tips to adding a light touch of dirt to a texture?

[Zarel]

Start from real photos, the way the terrain engine does it. It's possible to create textures from scratch, but that's an ability that's not very easy to learn.

[JDW]

hmmm... i see what you mean.. Well you can't get anything better than the real thing , i suppose.

[KukY]

Start from real photos, the way the terrain engine does it.

Well, I did it that way. Almost whole texture is based on a photo of concrete I took few months ago.

[Jorzi]

Break up the repeating of the texture and take inspiration for details from the old textures, stuff like gravel on the edges of the pavement, gaps where the slabs of concrete line up etc.
The shading is also important, make a separate layer where you paint the light coming onto the building (multiply it with the base texture). This could also be calculated in a program like blender if you manage to get the uv-mapped model in there.

[Olrox]

I really hope you simply skipped MetalWarrior95, Kuky. You should keep improving your work, because it isn't the first one that will look good, it actually is 99% of the times, the worst

My first models were really crappy, I can't even afford to look at them for more than a few seconds. What kept me going on was all the positive feedback I've earned, and the motivation from my friends.

Creating a good texture, IMO, is similar to composing a song or drawing something: The first, strong details are very important, but what really makes a difference are the details, the most subtle, combined effects. I'd advise you to compare the results of your textures with real-life buildings, or even those fancy models from modern games such as C&C4, and then make some Gedankenexperiment about how you can simulate those lighting effects, relief and stuff, without having to resort to rendering systems. Making relief simulations naturally requires a good planning of the UV map of your model, so you must start thinking about what effects you're going to use before doing that. If the model's already mapped, you should always watch the original texture to get information on how the light is simulated there (this way you can know in what direction things are supposed to be brighter, and in which direction they should be darker.

And always use some gray shadows, even if you set them to only 15% opacity. You may not observe much changes in the beginning, but in the final composition, everything counts towards the final look of the texture. It is a time consuming task, but it is also a rewarding one, IMO. If you need artistical feedback on the production stages, you can PM me at any time that I'll be glad to say what I think and how you could improve your textures, so that you don't have to take the risks of showing us your admirable efforts and hearing useless, lame comments in the first moments.

It is a brave act to showcase your first models in an worldwide forum, and it's no surprise that there are some people that simply can't understand what that represents. I encourage you to procceed with such generous sharing, and hope that you can use our feedback to improve your work and skills at producing artistic content for WZ

~Olrox