I often shoot models for other projects, I was wondering if anyone out there would be interested in teaming up to do textures for victoria (2 or 3) or whatever model? I can certainly shoot the models, but I havent had much luck in creating the textures (seams and such). Anyway if you are interested let me know either PM me email me (sammons@oswego.edu)

I just started to try and develop somenew skin textures. While I'm not a pro at it,I'd be interested in giving it a shot.

Attached Link: http://www.lauries3dvue.com

thanks all, give me an email and I can run down models and such that are availible to me, and of course I will need to know exactly what to shoot!

hereis my email aliinct@hotmail.com. Again, I am no pro, but I think its best to get clear shots of the critical spots face, torso, back, legs. The closer you can get the better (within reason of course) so that the detail is there. The lighting is also very important. IOt needs to be natural and uniform. Alex

Count me in as well . I can help with lots of different skills .

me too I would love some nice material to work with waessman@karlstad.bonet.se

Heh. Me too. Maybe we need a library of skin photos for all the would-be texture makers. I've done quite a few, but don't have any willing models lying around, so have had to make do with net photos. Since they are rarely taken with texturing in mind, they are less than ideal. I would love to see how well I could do with photos taken with texturing in mind. (of course, I could use myself to make an ugly old hairy male texture, but it's less than appealing...:-)

Ooooh wait a minute there Zenman you might be on to something, I have gotten way more response than I expected on this, I could just shoot the models and make that availible in the MP or something (trying to recoup the models fees here) in addition to making the textures. On average I shoot 2 or 3 times a month, so we could make a little library of raw shots to use. would the idea work?

That sounds like a winning idea to me! :)

For a second there, xil, I thought you were buying into the "ugly old hairy" thing...whoa! Yes, a complete collection of royalty-free photos for texturing would probably be fairly popular.

" but don't have any willing models lying around," does standing and sitting count ?? What kind of skin texture are we talking about. Me i kind of like then in a moca color . They photograph better . :)

I'm quite liberal when it comes to female skin texture colors...I'm quite fond of all of them. :-) (although being male, I have trouble recognizing colors much outside the primaries; when referencing obscure colors like "mocha", it's always best to include a visual reference...:-D )

Sounds like a great idea. I'm sure a lot of people would like to try their hand at creating textures but lack the raw material. I'd suggest making the first one available in freestuff (perhaps at reduced resolution) so folks can get an idea of what you can provide. Also the appeal would be greater id you can have a variety of models. There's certainly no shortage of young attractive Caucasian textures available. Some older and ethnic types would be appreciated. I think it also might be important to make sure the models understand (and attest) to the fact that their liknesses will be used in Poser and that they might be placed in some "virtually" compromising situations over which you have no control.

I have been thinking a bit more about it and it would be nice if we had a standard format to use. What i mean is I can go in to poser and render all the shots to use as a photographing aid , I would need but I am not sure what ones are need . Any texture people care to do this ?? I pretty much know how the head goes but what about the body ?

The best reference for body positioning is the textures themselves. All figures except for V3 focus on front and back, arms out to the sides, legs slightly apart. Ideally the hands would have splayed fingers similar to what needs to go into the texture. Feet are seen from above and below. The resolution of the photos needs to be fairly high (DAZ3D used 4000X4000 texture photos for V3; this might be considered excessive...:-).

Zenman53186 thanks good points on poseing and very helpful one thing though models cant take off there skin and lay it out flat. To make a basic face you need at least a front and 2 sides shots. But is this all that some one needing a texture wants? It would be nice to toss around what exactly is needed or wanted . Whats overkill or not enough . Not that i mind haveing a model come back and poseing nude again and again. So the front of the body do you want at least 3 shots or one total body shot ? Or one front the 2 sides and the back ? The more the photograhers work togeather with the people making the textures the better it is for every one.

tasquah, you're right, of course. There is probably a lot more detail on how best to take the photos. Perhaps more than can comfortably be expressed here. I'll make an attempt, though. How much detail a texture maker needs is a personal preference. Typically, the more the better, but having 100 photos taken at every 30 degrees around a body part is something most people don't want to do or store. I would be thrilled to have a front, back, and two side shots of every body part. Having all sides allows a greater element of realism because the left texture would not just be a reversed version of the right. Lighting is important (as mentioned above). Ideally, the lighting should be the same for each shot which means turning the body to face the camera as opposed to moving the camera. The use of flash would likely wash out detail unless you can control it's strength; however, if it can be controlled, then it would be very useful in minimizing lighting differences between shots.: Using the figure mesh groupings as a guide would work well in choosing what should fit in a single photo of say 1200x1600. Having said that, here is a description of a possible photo shoot. front, back, top, bottom of arms front, back, sides of upper torso front, back, sides of lower torso front, back, sides of hips front, back, sides of thighs front, back, sides of shins top and bottom of feet top and bottom of hands The face is a little different, partially due to the greater detail needed, and partially due to it's many curves. Upper part of face, camera slightly above eyes, slightly pointed down Bottom part of face, camera slightly below mouth, slightly pointed up Each side of face Side shots are not as critical, since most textures, due to their UVMapping, do not always give the body sides much texture space (V3 is an exception). However, if I had them I would make good use of them. And since the scalp is typically covered with hair, not much detail is needed there. Okay, how's that for more detail...:-)

all good ideas people, I am working a rig that will make this pretty easy to do (a turntable with an arm for the camera. Someone mentioned warning the models, this isnt a problem, I keep all my paperwork in line, I tell them what it is for etc, and then they sign away the rights to the image. I have two models upcoming. I can get a variety of skin colors, the first two will a tanned and very white (with tattoos). I have really shot many male models, they are harder to find in general but I can try. My plan so far it to shoot a low rez digital only version of it for freestuff, to work out the kinks and then offer the raw materail as a marketplace item (I am mostly looking to cover to costs of the models time and such). and then I would like actually offer textures from different models as well. I will talk to the two models I will be shooting first and see what I can set up.

Zenman53186 Thanks very much for the time and effort to explain this . It makes shooting allot easyer to set up. I was kind of thinking about the face like you said with more detail shots and maybe adding the neck in as its own catagory / apendage that can possibly be additionaly used for the back of the head area on the texture map. Also like xil said when you hire a model you useally pay her a hourly fee and the release is a total one , besides that its not like the end product will resemble her likeness much. I look foreward to seeing the tattos skins , I have one hell of a time photographing arm tattoos I hope she doesnt have to many especialy near were a seam is. I think I might start with some heads first to work out all the kinks then work my way twords the whole body. Besides its easyer to get some one to pose for a head shot than full nudes .