Does anyone know how to do this? I wanted to creating textures for my characters because if I am going to sell them I cannot use someone elses work. So, I would wondering whether anyone here knows how to go about creating a texture base for V3. I know it would be easier to download one but I am scared of exchange rates at the moment so if anyone can help that would be great :)

Hi StormChild69,

I definently understand what you are trying to do.  I tried this with ok results, but it sure isn't trully photorealistic.  First, I scanned in a pic of me in natural lighting- this keeps the skin looking nice without looking too dark or too light.  In PSP, I then used the eye dropper to sample different tonal areas of my face, and then paint swatches in that color on a new, blank canvas.  I saved this canvas as a reference.  Next, I loaded SnowSultan's seam guides into PSP.  I then created a new layer, sampled from the reference pallete, and started to paint in layers on top of the seam guide.  I'm really impatient, so I didn't make a really cool texture with 500 layers, but that is how it works.  One nice thing, is to do periodic saves as a PSD.  You can load these PSDs into Poser, and render them in real-time.  It is interesting, as you can see how paint placement on a UV map reacts on a 3d model.  You can do the same type of thing within Hexagon, Bodypaint3D,  DeepPaint3D, Modo201, and soon to be released Silo2.  I hope this helps- Starkdog

Starkdog is correct, the most important bit is good neutrally lit photos. Get some from.. http://www.3d.sk/  or a merchant here.

Then it's all about copying a bit, pasting bit cloning, opacity and blending. It's about tone as well as colour.

One trick if your making 2nd skin clothing, say a robotic bra, is to use a vector package. Import a copy of the final skin map into something like coreldraw or the free Serif drawplus.

'Flesh' out the shape you want working on one side of the body only. Once it's all lined up OK on the actual map, Mirror it to the other side. Now export it back to Photoshop/Paintshop and flood fill wth a texture and apply any filters to suit.