Guest Workshop: StarX Texturing Workshop Part 1

[StarX]

 

Just getting started with texturing? Start with InsanitySorrow's classes here at Graphics Artistry: Lesson 1, 2

For another basic texturing tutorial try out:
Hana's Basic Texturing

Also read the stickied topics on the Graphics Artistry page. They contain a wealth of information and usefull links!

Welcome!

First of all let me explain what to expect from this workshop. For starters this workshop isn't meant for the absolute beginner! It requires you to know your way around in Photoshop, though I think that most of this can also be done in Gimp as well.
Also, keep in mind that this is simply one method to create a such a texture. It isn't set in stone, as there are numurous ways to create similar effects.
There's no need to worry if your texture doesn't look like mine at all, I simply give you some very basic guidelines on how to achieve certain goals. What you do with them is entirely up to you: be creative! Feel free to play around with the powerfull tools that Photoshop gives you.

The texture I created for the tutorial isn't the best of the best. But it serves it's purpose by allowing me to show you a few neat texturing tricks that I have picked up over the last couple of years.

With that out of the way it's time to have some fun!

The goal: create a worn metal blade that's fit as the trusty weapon for a rough warrior.

Requirements:

 

• Adobe Photoshop (or possibly Gimp)
• Basic hi-res metal texture
• A selection of various sets of Photoshop brushes suited for adding scratches and dirt. And a few dry scattered brushes and a flat dry brush.
• NifSkope

 

Let's get started!

Since we'll only be covering the actual blade we'll leave the rest of the weapon for what it is. So for the model I picked I'll focus on just one part of the weapon.


Here's the model in NifSkope that shows the part we're going to texture.


And in this picture we can see where this part is located in my UV map.

Now the first thing I want to do is start blocking the shape of my blade. I do that by clicking on an empty area in the UV map with the Magic Wand Tool (make sure that the box next to "contageous" is checked!). Than I inverse the selection and on a new layer I fill that selection with a single color. I call this method blocking as this term is often used by artists to quickly determine what basic color comes where in a drawing. It's especially used a lot by colorists for graphic novels. And I use this method for most of my more complex textures as well. But in this case we can keep it nice and simple as we only have to worry about the blade.



Now it's time to pick out a nice metal texture. Given the goal of the project you would be tempted to just select an already weathered and rough looking metal texture. But such a texture will always give you a lot less control over where to apply stuff like rust and scratches. So I opted for a nice and simple metal texture.



I use the blocked shape to make a selection of the blade by using the Magic Wand. In the layer where the base metal texture is located I simply use the copy and paste commands. Now I have a new layer with the base metal texture that has exaclty the shape of the blade. That's great! Now I can already do something very simple to start defining the edges of the blade. I use an "Inner Glow" in Layerstyles to brighten up the edge a bit.


These are the settings I used, but feel free to fiddle around with them to make it suit your needs. And remember that you can always alter them in a later stage.

The texture now looks something like this:



In a new layer I paint a rough line at the transition of the Inner Glow effect with a flat dry brush.


With the smudge tool I make the hard line a bit softer in places.



I want the basic metaltexture to be darker, so I do this with: Image>Adjustments>Brighness/Contrast.


I create a new layer and with a scattered dry brush I paint vertical strokes at the edge of the blade. This gives a very nice effect and it's used on some of Skyrim's weapon textures us well.


I do this for the whole blade which now looks like this:


Now I want to add in the fuller (the center channel) of the blade. I select the layer with the darkened basic metal texture. At the centre of the blade I make a thin selection (with the Rectangular Marquee Tool) from the base to the blade's tip, covering the complete length of the blade.
I copy>paste the selection into a new layer to create my fuller. I darken it up a bit so it now stands out from the rest. Than I use the Warp Tool (Edit>Transform>Warp) to make the fuller thinner at the tip of the blade.

By using Layerstyles I give the fuller a nice emboss effect.


Let's have a quick look in NifSkope to get a better impression on what we have done so far!

A nice looking blade, but still way too clean for a seasoned warrior!

I begin by painting some rust on the blade in a new layer (set blend mode to Overlay), mainly around the centre where the fuller is. Not too much as we don't want it to look like it will crumble to pieces when it's used!


I apply a slight gaussian blur on the rust layer to soften it up a bit and make it blend in better. I also use various scratch brushes on another layer (which I set to Overlay) to add in some nice details to show that this blade has seen a lot of action. Just like with the rust: don't overdo it!


Next up I take a soft brush with a low opacity to add some highlights on the edges. I set the blend mode to "Soft Light".


I tone down the rust a bit more by lowering the opacity of the layer. With a dark soft brush I start painting darkened areas on the blade's edge and set this layer to "Overlay".


Finally I take a low opacity dirt brush and start adding a blue color to parts the blade. Take it easy, we just need a subtle hue.


Now let's have look at the finished texture:




I hope you enjoyed the workshop! Until next time!

 

[McSquirmie]

Thanks for the great tutorial

I was wondering though if you could upload the nif for that sword, I want to practice this but don't have any UV's to practice on

[StarX]

Glad you enjoyed the workshop.

Insanity and I made this weapon for the latest version of Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul for Oblivion. I have uploaded the Nif for practice purposes right here:

http://www.4shared.com/archive/9qBhuhGJ/Workshop01_Sword.html

Please read the text file that comes with the file.

Enjoy! And feel free to show me your work right here!

[McSquirmie]

Glad you enjoyed the workshop.

Insanity and I made this weapon for the latest version of Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul for Oblivion. I have uploaded the Nif for practice purposes right here:

http://www.4shared.com/archive/9qBhuhGJ/Workshop01_Sword.html

Please read the text file that comes with the file.

Enjoy! And feel free to show me your work right here!

Great! Thanks a bunch