Are there any simple and easy to understand tutorials on taking a texture template and creating a new texture from it? I'm thinking something to take V3's Dress and do something interesting with it but I'm not quite sure after looking at that template thing. Thanks for the help! Kristta

I don't where a tutorial is, but here's a technique that I use that perhaps you would find helpful: I take the base texture map (which looks like severely warped graph paper), and use my paint program to fill in just a few of the polygon areas in approximately the area that I want to paint, saving it to a new name. Then, I attach that changed file as an image map to the object in question, and render it at low quality. That gives me a figure that looks like it's made from graph paper, with a few pieces colored in. That tells me fairly quickly if I'm painting in the right area or not. I keep doing that until I get an outline of what I want to change (for example, I've used this technique to paint a swim suit right onto a skin texture). Then, I fill in the outline with the texture that I want to use.

It also helps to think of a texture map like an orange peel, pulled off the fruit and laid flat. It looks funny flat on the table, but if you roll it back up it will still look like an orange. If you painted a picture on the orange before peeling it, it would look like that bizarre thing we call an image map. :)

Hope that's (at least a little) helpful,
Jack

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 15:15

Do what Jack says to get an idea of what goes where. (Not all templates are labeled... are those dragon spines or dragon teeth... paint them blue and find out BEFORE detailing them.) If you are repainting a dress and aren't sure where the waistline goes or where the sleeves join, just make a quick pass with the paint bucket... and test in-the-round. Here is one I'm currently working on. I wanted the waistline lowered with a dip in front but wasn't sure how far down the hips to go. And since the paisley is fairly complicated, I thought a nice delicate pleated chiffon insert would look lovely in the bodice. Layered my test spots in PhotoShop, flattened as a jpg, rendered from all 4 orthographic views around it (essential to see where things really line up). Saved as "not on your life"... because this isn't getting off my hard drive. Not with that headlight effect! I've raised the waist and done something else with the bodice front... before painting in dozens of tiny pleats and tucks. The paint pot is my friend. :) Work on layers. Save often under different names. Don't be afraid to experiment. Carolly