Textures R Us - Getting started using textures in 3D graphics programs

February 15, 2009 by Lee Hammaker

The thing about 3d programs is that objects and figures in a scene require textures to bring that object or figure alive. What are objects and figures you might ask?

An object in Poser is anything with no movable parts like a rock a bench even a statue of a human. A figure is any movable or pose-able object like people, animals, monsters and cars with doors that swing open and close. They all need textures to create the illusion that they are real. Some would call them skins but that gets a little strange and sickening when dealing with virtual people in Poser.

Textures are created using most 2d digital graphics programs like Photoshop and Corel. I mostly use Corel. Or you can buy them online at any 3d graphics site. There are thousands of sites on the web.

Some people create textures by photographing an object like a rock and importing it into a 2d digital graphics program and then later the texture is mapped onto the object or figure.

Let me take you through the process:

1. Create the object; in this case a rock created in Carrerra 3d; a modeling program.
2. You can then place the “rock” into poser or Vue and apply the preset rock texture to it.

Here’s how I would create a rock texture to meet my needs:

1. Take a close-up photo of a rock and then import that photo into the computer. The higher the resolution the better the end product will be. At 300 dpi or Dots Per Inch is ideal. 600 dpi is really insane and probably used in movies; yeah those people are insane for their ability to work with high-end te xtures and models.
2. After the “rock is created and imported into Vue or Poser I then click on the materials tab in either program and apply the rock texture to the “rock” object.
3. I then set the 3d program to render the image to see if the texture will look as real as possible.
4. If I’m happy then I save the texture somewhere convenient on my computer so I can apply it to another rock object when I want to. I have a large library of textures like that.

What happens when you have an object that you created in Carrarra and it isn’t a simple rock you ask?

1. I create the object; say a strange looking alien bug.
2. I save the bug as a Wavefront object, one of many file extensions. Wavefront is kind of like the universal object file extension that most 3d programs recognize.
3. I open up a program called UVX. A program that allows you to “map” a specific texture to a specific object in a specific way. It’s like trying to wrap a box up with paper wrapping in a detailed and, yes a specific way. The program creates a schematic of the object in a 2d form (you can see the polygons laid out in gray tone). You can then import that map into your 2d program and specify where certain colors and textures go.
4. I save the newly created object and the map in a convenient place on my computer for fast retrieval. I can’t tell you how many times I forgot where I put the texture map or the new object. I had to do many searches until I learned from my mistakes.
5. I import the bug into say Vue then apply the newly created texture and arrgg it’s horrible. Well, I can change things since I save the original texture file I created with the layers intact. After I think I’m done with a digital painting I always save the file with the layers intact so I can edit something later. This could also be a bad thing because I tend to change things over and over again. I’ve done that over ten times sometimes.
6. Once I’m happy with the objects texture I save both again somewhere convenient and I can call up the alien bug again whenever I want to. Vue and Poser have libraries inside the programs for this.

A little about the 2d digital art programs, Corel uses floating objects where as PhotoPaint uses layers, so you work on one layer or object without changing some other part of the painting.

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Lee Hammaker has a passion for graphic arts and has been involved in computer graphics for over 15 years. Although he does it mostly for personal satisfaction he does contract out to businesses and organizations through GoFreelance. He has a new website where he is selling some of his unique designs on clothing at Half Infinity Productions. His artwork has appeared on various websites.