Hi, I have a question about making textures. I found a tutorial by Bobbie25 located here http://www.renderosity.com/tut.ez?Form.ViewPages=100&PageAction=View&Page=1

and I have found an image I would like to use for a texture. I understand the tutorial but the seam guides I downloaded from the free stuff section are Huge!!! and the image I am wanting to use is much smaller, which causes a problem when I start to clone! Can the seamguides be made smaller? Or must they stay the same size to work? Also, if they have to stay the same size, how can her tutorial be done? She says she used a picture from the internet but I have yet to see an image of a face the same size as the seam guides.

you can rescale the seamguides proportionally until it fits your desired texture size.

Ok cool, so it doesnt have to stay at 3000x3000? Will it still look good tho? (This is my first time attempting anything like this)

well, the guides will smear a bit when downsizing, but you can turn them sharper with various filters. poser doesn't fit figure's textures according to it's pixel size, but on the x/y ratio.

The TEXTURE however will equally loose it's quality by downscaling it. Most so called hi-rez textures are 3000x3000 as this resolution has proven the best if you are to make close ups of whatever you are doing. That said, lots of times lower resolution textures can look ok as well and lower rez can be necessary if your system is lacking ram or speed or both :o)

Hmmm, okay, so where can I find good images to make textures? Also, are there any other good tutorials for making face and body textures?

when you say texture, you are referring to a human skin texture, right? if you have, or know anybody who has a digital camera, the easiest is to simply take some photos. There is also one or two packs in the market place that sells such photos. Not sure if they're any good, I haven't tried them and the human textures I've made has been some that I have painted, not photorealistic in other words :o)

ahh, I see and yes I am referring to human skin texture. Maybe I will check out the marketplace packages, maybe scanned magazine pictures would work also?

They MIGHT work, but often when you scan magazines they have raster on the pictures. While these are not really seen under normal circumstances, they WILL stand out in a texture. But depending on method used for the magazines, it COULD work. At least I think so. :o) Good luck.

Thanks a bunch!

Try taking photographs of your friends and family. Adjust the scanning size to fit your "seam-guides" :) ladynimue

Thanks ladynimue :) Maybe I will do that. I have a cousin that would make a great texture. LOL

If you are scanning magazine pics, you can filter them in Photoshop to get rid of the process dots and patterning. First, scan them HUGE. You want to be scanning at a res of no less than 300 dpi. Then, drop the resulting files into Photoshop and use Gaussian Blur. Start at a value of 0.8 and increase until the rosettes start to merge. I'd also recommend you increase the contrast by about 16% and brightness anywhere from 10%-20%. Save out your new pics at a manageable size. In truth, I haven't ever tried to use scanned images in this way, but I do know how to scan pics to get a good result on screen. A final tip - despite what your scanner manual or the software help file will tell you, never use a white sheet behind the pic when you scan. You will get much better results if you put a sheet of black paper behind the pics. It will help prevent the images or text from the other side bleeding through onto your image.

Wow, that black paper behind is a great tip. Never thought of it before. :) Thanks. And I think I will experiment with bot the camera and scanner images. I will make sure to follow your scanner tips. My scans always come out somewhat choppy.!!

Unfortunately, if you are using scanned in magazine images, be aware that thos images are copyrighted. So you won't be able to sell your texture, if that's what you have in mind at any point. Photographs are your best option ... I believe SydRaven has a great tutorial on photogrphing for skin textures over at RuntimeDNA