Using Merchant Resources To Create Characters

• Save time by not re-inventing the wheel
  • It is NOT CHEESY to start off with these resources. It's being smart and utilizing pre-existing resources.
  • The more time you save creating the basic texture, the more time you can spend on the distinctive details that will make your character truly unique!
• Professionals should not shy away from this tutorial!
  • It contains many references to tools used by hobbiests, HOWEVER, these techniques can help you generate extremely professional results.
  • Don't be a snob, use these techniques to save you time, and hence generate more income as a texture artist.
  • Studios don't care how you did it as much as they care about the results ( at least they shouldn't ).
• Start off with a generic "skin" than can be modified into just about any character
  • Choose your basic texture to match your character design as much as possible.
• Subtle, fine detail such as eyes, etc. can be created rapidly
• Use resources designed for a specific model on ANY model.
  • Much more efficient than starting with raw photographs

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Searching for Merchant Resources

At Renderosity you can find well prepared skin base textures

The Basics

• The simplest case is when we get texture resources that are pre-made for a specific character model
• In the case, the textures already line up perfectly.
• Here's an example of using a skin designed for the Victoria 4 model by DAZ3D
• If you are going to use this technique on your own model, or one that does not match the texture set, then please skip ahead to Part 2

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Part 1

Easiest way of setting up the textures

• Start off with your model that is already setup with it's default existing textures
• Create a new image layer
• For each appropriate map, highlight it in the manager, and then choose Import Into Current Layer
• If you replaced all of the maps, then you can delete the base layer to save RAM
• Or you can choose Merge Visible Layers from the Image Maps section of the Manager

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Paint your modifications

• Here we will do a few simple things.
• Using the Hue Up-Down type of the Color Adjustment Brush, we introduce some redness to the cheeks and nose areas, and some blue/green to the under-eye area.
• Make a cool tattoo
• Sexy scar :D
• Use the Projection Brush to do some editing in your favorite 2D painting application ( e.g. Photoshop, Gimp, etc. )
• Utilize any number of techniques to achieve your goal.

What if the character is heavily morphed, and the texture looks stretched?

• Simple... after you setup the textures as described in Part 1, modify them as described in Part 2, only focusing on the stretched areas.

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Export the modified textures

• In the Manager, highlight all of the images that you want to export, and then choose Export...
• You'll be prompted for a file name for each map
• Be sure NOT to overwrite the originals.

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Part 2

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Using Textures for ANY character

• The workflow for using pre-existing skin textures is very similar to using photo-references
• However, there should be no lighting/shadow issues, and the tone of the skin should be consistent.
• In this case, we are going to paint a texture for the Second Life female avatar.

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Step 1

• Load in your character, and setup it's texture maps ( or load it with existing maps already assigned )
• Drag and drop the face texture into the Brush Image box
• Press SHIFT-V to toggle the Brush Tile Setup tool
• Press V to see the texture wrapped on the model at real time
• Select the Fixed Place type

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Step 2

• Click on Frame
• Then drag a box in the viewport to frame the Brush Image to closely match the face of your character
• It will not line up perfectly, so do it part by part. First, we'll line up the eye area
• Also, use the Move and Size options to finely adjust the brush tiling
• Paint a few strokes with the basic Paint Brush and see the results.

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Step 3

• Press Shift-V again, and re-adjust the tiling to match other parts of the face ( in this case, the nose and lips )
• Repeat the procedure in Step 2

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Repeat...

• Keep repeating this procedure for all of the appropriate parts of the model.
• In this case, I pained a simple shirt and shorts to make the image PG-13

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Save your base texture project

• Choose Menu->File->Save As...
• Save the project with your newly created base texture only
• Choose Menu->File->Save As... again
• Save your project as the one you are about to create. This will prevent you from accidentally saving over your base texture project.
• Use your base texture project as a starting point for future projects.
• BACK IT UP on the cloud ( dropbox, google drive, etc. ) since you put lots of work into it and do not want to loose it if your hard drive fails, etc.

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Add your own detail

• As described in Part 1, you can use any number of techniques to make a distinctive character on top of the base texture that you just created

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Export the modified textures

• See above... procedure is the same as the first case.

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Conclusion

• Using pre-existing, clean and simple texture sets that are specifically designed as a base foundation, you can rapidly create photo-realistic textures without the painstaking labor of doing the fine skin detail yourself.
• Although these techniques can be used purely in a 2D painting application, Blacksmith3D allows you to modify them across UV seams without texture stretching, which will save you hours or labor.
• Focus on the macroscopic look of the character. Morph the face, shade the colors, add details and imperfections, etc.
• These texture packages were designed to be used as a starting point for custom projects, so you are not stealing, copying textures ( check copyright and conditions first ). Utilize them! Create amazing textures!
• It is only cheesy if you use these texture sets and do minor modifications. You should really work them so the final result is dramatically different from the original.