Textures and UVs

Some of you might be asking: "What the hell is a UV?" or "What do these different texture types do?"

...Or not ... but I'm telling you anyway.

Above you have three types of texture maps most commonly used. Just about every model will use these three. There's the diffuse (color), normal (illusion of depth), and specular (shininess - white is shiny, black is not).

First we have the different textures and what they each do to a piece of geometry (mesh). In each window there are 4 meshes; 2 low poly meshes on the left, 2 high poly meshes on the right (high/low polygon count).

• The "No Textures" window, are the meshes without any textures applied (they be naked).
• The next window is when the normal map is applied. The normal map creates an illusion of depth on a piece of geometry that would otherwise look smooth (like the low poly box in the "No Textures" window).
• Next the diffuse map is applied. The simplest of textures, it just adds the color.
• Last the specular map is applied. This dictates what is and isn't shiny on the mesh.

These are the three basic types of texture maps and how they affect a mesh. Additional texture maps could be: alpha (dictates what is transparent), glow (dictates what glows), and others.

So what's the deal with UVs?

Firstly, the U and V don't stand for anything. On a normal graph you have the X and Y axes, with textures you have U and V axes. Nothing special.

So how do they work? Check out this picture!

UVs are how the computer knows where to display the texture on the mesh. Each side of the die is its own separate UV shell (the red boxes in the "UV Map" window). In the second window the diffuse map is applied; whatever is in the UV shells is displayed on the geometry that that particular UV shells represents. The one dot side of the die is in the first UV shell, which represents the top of die in the upper left corner of the "Final Render" window, the two dot site being the second UV shell... and so on.

There you have it, a basic lesson on textures and UVs for 3D modeling. Simple right?

Door Modeling Process

 The pictures below will show the process of modeling. Explanation in each picture. They are big pictures, you may have to download them to properly view them. I hope this enlightens you on the process, albeit a rough representation; if I was to show every step of the entire process, it would probably bore you.

Version 1

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Version 2

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Version 3

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For SnG's here are the 143+ layers and folders in the Photoshop file for the textures. 

(plus because there is even more, but were flattened in previous versions)

There you have it, a little bit showing the work that goes into making the door. Note that this is only the modeling and texturing phase; there is still the UV setup, re-topology and baking phases (sometimes more).

Additional Door Pictures

Here's the additional renders. On top you got the basic perspective angle with the dude to show scale.

The second being how it opens. Step 1 is the closed and locked state. Step 2 is the first lock releasing. Step 3 is the second lock releasing by lowering into a space beneath the floor (which would close once the lock is lowered, so vehicles might drive over). Step 4 showing how the door would open.

Unfortunately just as I was 98% done I came to the conclusion that this could not be the final piece that would be used for the pipe. The way it opens would just be impractical for industrial use. Opening as it does takes up far too much space in order for the door to completely open, it would also require unnecessarily complicated mechanisms to actually open it, which would take up even more room; a sliding door would just be the best bet. This was my initial plan, but at the time, I could not think of an original way to do it. Thankfully when I do redesign it, I can reuse many of the parts (including the locks) keeping me from having to re-texture the whole thing, which would take much more time than necessary.

All in all, I am quite pleased with it. I am very happy with the textures and the overall design of it (aside from how it opens).

The Door is finished!

Kablam!

Pretty much all I am going to say right now. I am really, really sleepy >.<  Later today I will post a few more pictures. Enjoy!

Starting to texture

Just started texturing. Pleased with the weathering. Probably going to change colors around, I'd like the stains to look more like, well, stains, not rust. ... Scratch all the things!

Really early, but finally got the licence issue settled and was able to get started. I'm working with a 4k texture file (4096x4096 pixels), which is HUGE. Most games today use 1024-2048 for current gen. So why am I working in 4k? As shown in previous posts, the door itself is huge and I felt if you were to look at it in first person, you would need a lot of information to show it clearly. ... Also, it's fun to work with this kind of detail :D

I rendered this in a newly discovered program, Marmoset Toolbag. It's a super cool real time render program that will load your textures on the fly. Trying out the free trial for now, and someday when I have fifty bucks lying around, I might pick it up.