3 posts tagged “texture map”

Been a long time since I actually tought anything in SL, but never the less I will try and explain the best I can about creating a texture map and application to a product/design.

What you'll need:
A pair of scissors
Some cotton wool
10 meters of cardboard
And, Photoshop.

You'll only need Photoshop in this tutorial, lol but you can play with the rest when you get annoyed with the finicky part later on lol.

If you're interested in building something in SL with light and shadow in mind, that will help bandwidth and look pretty, then lets start off with the first steps in creating the map. As I explained in some previous posts, texture mapping is the art of using a single texture to create various looks on you project. Meaning, that you'll have many parts of the product on the same texture, to basically conserve bandwidth when loading and also the fact that the entire product will take a second to load, without the visual of noticeable grey areas whilst textures are processing.

So... Making the product load all at once, I'm trying to say lol.

Step One - Where to start

The easiest way I've found to do this accurately is to build your project before hand. This will allow you to make precise marks into your map, when you get around to it.

Once you have your build just the way you like it, now comes the fun part...

Essentially a texture map is what it sounds like, you'll be mapping your artwork over your design, with the texture having all the necessary parts, sides, lighting, shadows you need.

So, in SL try and get your build straight with the camera and print the page (no printer needed lol just screengrab), or for mac addicts like myself, apple-shift-3. We are taking pictures of all the sides, straight on, because we will be using these as an overlay for the map.

From here, import all the screen shots you took into Photoshop, clear the backgrounds or cut round the build and place this on a 1024x1024 pixel document, or any size you feel appropriate. * Remembering that images work best from multiples of 2 and save as tga, as jpegs seem to be a little strange in SL *. Okay, let the fun stuff begin. Using your amazing talents I know you all have in illustrating photoealistic imagery (lol), begin cutting pieces out of your build, like for example all the flat pieces and start to illustrate over them, adding all what you want the design to end up like. Also, you can add highlights and shadows in the places where you think prims would be overshadowing onto other prims.

Step Two - Realism Points

* Edges of your build might be worn away, so putting darkened lines on the ends make for more realism.

* Curves will obviously catch more light, or light streaks.

* Should your build be worn? Used looking? If so, then add some grain effects, cuts into the material you're using.

* If you have something like a leaver or switch thats close to the thing its attached on, then add some movement effects, eg. a rotating switch will cause the material under it to be worn away with the movement of it. Even if this is just a visual effect and the switch doesn't move, its still nice to incorporate it.

* If your build has two sides that are the same, then you can use the same image on your map for the other side, just flipped. But remember though, if it has text or an icon on it, it will be flipped too, so you'll need to create two sides on the texture map.

* Tube endings are also a nice touch on your build and mapping. Illustrating these on your map makes for more realism. Do a few on your map if you have the room, as to not repeat.... because we all hate noticeable repeating patterns lol

* if you have something that needs to be spread round an object, sometimes its easier to have that part of the map span from one side to the other, boarder to boarder. You can do it when its edges are not touching the boarders, but its easier sometimes to do it the other way.

* Remember to make sure your parts on the map are utilizing the space, its best to try and get as much of the build on one texture as possible, but using multiple maps still isnt a bad thing, so dont worry :P.

Step Three - The ZOMG Part

Once your map is complete (WAHOO, well done :P), now its time to import the bugger and start the last step.

Applying the texture and positioning it can be very tricky and to some people, it might be the part you give up at. But, do NOT worry, I know some people that have nearly given up, but once they see their build growing into this great piece of work, its enough to make anyone carry on.

Okay, so... apply the texture to where ever you want to start, make it a nice big prim, so you can see where you are going. The way I do this part, is to keep the part of the image central to the part of the prim, meaning, if the image you want on the prim you are applying it to is offset to one side, position that part central to the prim, so when you start sizing the texture up to fit, it stays in plain view and doesnt confuse you as to where the bloomin' heck has it gone.

Theres no really easy way to do this part, as texture aligners that you can buy in SL dont work well with highly modded prims. So you may be doing all this by eye.

The key part to this is patience, and as we all know, patience is rewarded at the end. You'll be pleased with your finished product, as it will not look like slapped on textures. And the best thing is, people will praise you for your hard work, as SL needs more texture mapped builds, makes for great eye candy.

I'll add some piccies and a more advanced Photoshop tutorial when I get the time to do some, but for now, I really hope this helps some people in creating more eye catching content in SL.

Lub and Hugs,
Detect Surface

Most of Second Life residents take simple textures and apply them to prims without really looking too much deeper into the whole texture aspect of design. In which designing in itself would become a new part of the world of creation, bringing more visually stunning pieces of content.

Texture mapping is used all around the world in computer games companies and any 3D artist will use this technique when creating models in Maya for example.

A texture map is basically a single texture with many designs on it, making up the whole object with minimal loading time. So, within the world of Second Life, this becomes an important factor when it comes to server side memory and speed. As mentioned below in the Abaddon review, texture maps are used all over the sim to create the utmost detail that transfers to computers at a blink of an eye.

Here is an example of texture mapping with a handgun I will be releasing shortly...

As you'll see, the gun appears to be realistic in a sense of that the textures look like they have been put on separately, but in a matter of fact, this is done with the use of one texture and then using offsets to create the entire look.

Creating content this way might take a little longer, and does ask for a perfectionist eye, pays off in the end as the gun loads straight away, looks realistic and stylish and is server friendly.