Onto
UV mapping, something that all artists will confess hating. Its
really not much fun, but it needs to be done well if you want to
make it look perfect.
First I set the ID’s for the polygons. Defining different
coloured areas for each part that required a different texture.After
setting ID areas I then went on to selecting them and applying the
UV mapping to one side of the body. I later then mirrored the half
and flipped the UV’s for the body; head, lantern, heart and
trousers then merged the two halves
.
*Tip*
After cylindrically mapping the head I had to fix its mapping. 3ds
max is not 100% accurate in the way it maps and can leave broken
areas that require moving and stitching.It’s a good idea to
check through your UV mapping if your generating 3d models or using
Texporter to create reference textures, as texporter wont pick up
these flaky parts as they are outside the area and some 3d engines
have issues with dodgy mapping.
Once
I completed all the UV mapping I used Texporter to generate reference
textures, which I could then use in Photoshop to give me an idea what
I’m texturing onto.
After getting the reference textures done I then created the finished
textures. Making use of the photos supplied with 3d.sk and rusty metal
textures.
Fall-offs
After creating the textures
I needed the skin to look right. Skin will absorb light being made
of hundreds of layers of transparent skin, blood, muscle and bone.
So it needs a diffused look. For this I opted for a cheap affective
fall-off material applied to the self-illumination map.I also used
the fall-off material for the lens to generate a green glowing affect.
No fall-off
Added
fall-off to the self-illumination maps.
Fall
affects
Fall-off maps are lots
of fun and can do so much to alter the way light hits a surface
and what’s more they are relatively cheap on processing
power.
