Okay gang, if I wanted Uzilite-level textures on clothing, where do I go? I'm an extreme perfectionist, and I won't post (or save) anything unless I feel it has a certain level of realism (No Millenium Big Cat for me:). So where do the texturing pros go for their textures? Do you amass a library of scanned fabric swatches on your computer? Most of the fabric packs I see for sale are useless (no offense to anyone, my opinion) and the fabric freebies out there...I'll say nothing more. So what's the secret?

And once you have good fabric swatches, what's the best way to keep them looking real and not pattern-like when you're "painting" them onto a object template?

i'm not a texture expert, but, there's a lot of textures out there that you'd never be able to tell by looking that they weren't created 100% in a program like photoshop. It depends on the skill of the artist and how realistic they were trying to get. I've been dealing with computer graphics long enough to know that there really isn't any sure way of avoiding that "patterned" look, regardless of how realistic or fake your texture may be. Again, it depends on the artist's skill with the mouse, the program they're using, and how sharp their detail eye is. If you want truly realistic textures, get a high-quality digital camera and start taking high-res photos of clothing and various different pieces of cloth. If you want to avoid that patterened look, use a texture swatch that's larger than the surface you're applying it to. the less tiling of a texture you have to do, the less repetitive pattern you'll get in it. Anyway, that's my advice. I'm sure others out there have their own. 8-) E.D.

2 words Clone Dodge

I don't use patterns often for clothing what I do, is making pictures with my DC of clothes the frond and the back and some close ups and cut and paste that on the template that way you avoid a pattern Rock

No matter how good your texture is, if the mapping of the object sucks, you're up a well-known creek without the necessary instrument. mac

if you're looking for swatches, there used to be a site call Textures by Tuesday..may still be around..just my 2p..;)

Several basic tricks....by the way, why don't we take this to the Texture Forum? It's been lonely over there! Anyhoo...Layers. Work in layers, lots of layers. If you can, use more than one tile, with different rates of tiling (so one repeats every 200 pixels, another repeats every 300 pixels, so the combination doesn't repeat for 600 pixels.) What I did for my last texture set is start with the largest scans I could (so there was less tiling), then I created multiple adjustment layers with hand-painted changes in saturation and hue and lightness, as well as hand-painted details like seams and rust spots and loose threads et al. Many of these layers were just cloud filters set to introduce subtle splotches in the base texture; that alone will break up a large expanse of tile very nicely. The other thing is to have a real sense for how things wear in the real world. Do a lot of looking and take a lot of pictures. If you are adding some mud to a riding costume you don't add random spatters over the whole thing; you think about how the front hooves throw dirt back against the front of the lower legs with some force, and spattering with less velocity upwards along the front of the rider, until there's only a spot or two on the hat. Etc., etc.!