17/01/2014

Evaluation of Texturing Proccess

Texturing my model was a relatively easy process as i had most of the detail for the final maps on my sculpt. I started by taking the retopologized objects into maya and UV mapping them, with a combination of the built in UV unwrapping, and the program Headus UV Layout. This stream lined my process a lot and made unwrapping the models fairly painless. The only parts i had difficulty were with the hands, but iteration between the programs stopped me having overlapping UV's.

I then re exported the unwrapped objects back into topogun and baked out Normal, Colour and Cavity maps at 2K each for every part of the model. Then i combined the maps in photoshop to give me a single texture for the whole model. The cavity map was applied as a multiply layer onto the colour map to reduce texture space whilst simultaneously adding depth to the model. The normal map was scaled down to 1K and then i made a specularity map for each model. I did this by making the colour map black and white and then using the dodge and burn tool on areas i think should be shinier or matte. The normal maps were also tidied up on areas that didnt bake well, especially the leather around the shoes, which were full of errors

To make the model more professional i wanted to have Ambient occlusion baked onto the maps, rather than taken care of in Marmoset Toolbag or in the game engine. This both speeds up rendering and makes it look better on a low powered machine such as a mobile platform that could not render AO in real time.

From the maps that i have produced my texturing skills have increased dramatically over the last semester. However i feel there is still a long way to go before i am at a professional level. I need to research more into different types of maps, and how i could use them in my model. Also if i were to do it again i would have perhaps lowered the resolution of the normal and specularity maps to allow me to add more types of map. I would also look into more advanced ways of producing my specularity map other than just the cheap and easy "Make it black and white" method.




High Poly Maps


Low Poly Maps




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