Right i know a lot of people use real people in textures for realism. But how apart from that do you get your images so realistic. Ive been told it has something to do with the bump maps. But im not clear. I wanna do the best that i can, so help would be appreciated.

Download the photo realistic Mike texture from the free stuff to see what it takes. Most people who use textures set the figure materials colors to all white with a black highlight color. This helps show the texture map at it's best. You can use bump maps if you want, but they aren't always needed for a realistic effect. -JH.

Bump maps can be used to provide another method of control in manipulating highlights on skin. Skin is kinda "shiny" [bright Highlight Color value & small, undiffused Highlight Size]. However, it is not smooth like plastic, rather, it is still slightly creased & porous [single pixel sized, random, b/w noise on a bump map 2500x2500 or greater]. PLAY ALONG DEMO! If you are in a dim room, reach up, with your palm down, and touch the center of your monitor with you middle finger. Now lower your hand until you see a highlight on your fingernails. Compare this with the highlight you should now see on the back of your hand. Fingernail=no bump map, Skin=noise bumpmap. Just apply a small Strength percentage in close-ups & more in wideshots. A little bit goes a long way.

I thought you might want to have a look at this place, it has loads of good tutorials about making textures and bumpmaps, http://mastering3dgraphics.com/ and if you want more, then have a look at this place aswell. http://hamfast.bryce-alive.net/tutorials/bmtut1.html cheers, Darren