IN-GAME PROPS TEXTURING: HOW TO BRING POLYGONS TO LIFE

Texturing is one of the most important stages of a pipeline, which fundamentally affects the perception of a 3D model. The approach to the texture creation process can vary greatly depending on the project and the objectives of the artist. This can be impacted by technical limitations and the need for optimization, as well as game features such as the main camera angle or how much detail the player can see in the model. However, regardless of the project, you will be faced with the task of making it beautiful. And to succeed in this task, you will need to spend a lot of time developing both your vision and technical skills.?

Here are a few tips to help you become more confident with textures ;)

1. Preparing for texturing. Before you move on to texturing, make sure the UV unwrapping of the model and the bake is ok. While baked maps can still be corrected in the middle of texturing, changing the unwrapping will force you to redo a huge part of the work. So it is recommended to take some time to double-check so that you don't lose progress later on.

2. References. Finding suitable references is an important step that is often not given enough time. Regardless of whether you are working in realism or stylization, it is necessary to have a visual example of what you want to get as a result: whether it is a photo or an example from a project you like. This will at least help you understand what you should pay attention to, and at most will give you a good base for future textures. It is important to note that the search for references is not about looking at beautiful pictures, but about analyzing and selecting those examples that will help you in your work. Thus, you should not try to save everything and create a refboard that you will not be able to navigate. We recommend rejecting a reference if you don't understand what you can learn from it. But if you see that the reference will help you in choosing the color palette, adding damage to the model, creating the overall mood and so on, then feel free to add it to the selection.?

3. Analysis. UV unwrapping and bakes are fine, references are collected, but how to achieve the desired effect, whether it's color, pattern, chip or anything else? If you're stumped, a good option may be to analyze pre-made textures. In Substance Painter, you can find a collection of smart materials, parsing which will help to complete your comprehension of how to achieve the desired result. You shouldn't forget about tutorials, for example, on YouTube or ArtStation. Of course, sometimes you want to boast that you did the work by yourself, without using the tutorials. But in reality, it is better to make a good model, using guides, than a bad model, but on your own. All the more that nobody says about full copying of tutorials or using smart materials without changes. You don't need to copy mindlessly. Try to understand how the author achieved the desired effect.

4. Textures as a constructor. This point continues the previous one and in it we would like to recommend you to approach the creation of textures as a constructor, assembled from familiar techniques. This will require a rather large base accumulated through tutorials, examples and your own experiments. When you have enough knowledge, textures will not be seen as an abstract picture, but rather as a set of familiar techniques. This may reduce the amount of creativity in the texturing process, but it will add a more systematic approach. The main thing is to make sure that the final texture looks organic and not a hodgepodge of scratches, chips and wrapped duct tape (as many people like :)).

5. Less height, more roughness. Moving on to more technical tips, we would like to urge novice artists not to get carried away with over-detailing the Normal. If you consider objects from the real world or macro-photography, you will indeed see that each scratch has its own relief, as well as a rough surface. However, often you will not have the opportunity to work with such a high resolution and texel that will allow you to organically play every scratch on Normal map. In this case, you can achieve a much better result by working with the Roughness map and marking the microfacture on it, highlighting only the most expressive areas with Height.?

6. Do not texture in a vacuum. When working with textures, don't tie yourself to Painter/Designer/3DCoat and so on. If you know where the model will be used or presented, it is better to export textures periodically and check the result with the required engine/software. The result in the standard Substance Painter's Viewport may differ significantly from the result in Unreal Engine, Unity or your chosen rendering engine. Especially if you are using some specific shaders or customizations.?

Once you've seen the texture iterations in final quality a couple times, you'll be able to make adjustments for this in advance when working.

7. Put a story behind the textures. This kind of advice can be heard quite often and this selection will be no exception. You can always add random scuffs, dirt and scratches to an object, but they will fit in much more organically if you understand what caused them. Of course, you don't need to come up with a mini-essay to justify each scratch. It is enough to pay attention to the photos of the object or (if you have the opportunity) to look at the object in person. You will easily notice which places are more prone to wear and tear, where dirt accumulates or finger marks remain. At a minimum, this will add more realism, and at a maximum, it will breathe life into your props or the whole scene.?

8. Prioritize textures. If you're looking to develop your texturing skill, we'd recommend dedicating more time to this part of the pipeline, albeit at the sacrifice of the rest, to make progress as quickly as possible. This will help you make progress faster, as you'll spend most of your time working on the stage you're interested in. Try re-texturing your old models - choose objects with simple shapes that won't take long to create. Perhaps you know 3D artists who are willing to share their models so you can practice. And if these are someone else's models, then, of course, you should not put them in the portfolio, unless you have discussed it with the author in advance or it is a collaborative project.

To summarize

Let's repeat: textures are first of all about analysis, and then about mechanical actions, use of unusual brushes, custom generators and other things. You can always drop a couple of grunge, clean up the seams and get a minimally acceptable result, but if you want your work to be recognized, added to collections and used as a sample, the best option is to think more about what, how and why you are doing it ;)