Notes on texturing

Texturing

Setting up Photoshop files

·         All textures need to abide by the power of 2

·         Document should be names in relation to model and usage in game

1.       Naming convention should be as descriptive as can possibly be

2.       Spaces are replaced with “_”

Layer Setup

·         Different maps need to be broken up into different groups and colour coded

·         Use the correct naming convention for maps – albedo, normal, metallic, roughness etc.

·         Define names in subcategories – textures, wear, grunge, details etc.

·         Any groups that need to remain hidden or are used as backup need to be named so

1.       Example group name: HIDE_Wood_Planks

(This is all to maintain cleanliness in workflow  - you may not be the only person to work on the file)

Layer Comps

·         Layer comps allow the user to take a snapshot of the current state of the layer panel.

1.       It records the state of

Non-Destructive Workflow – Masks

·         Why use masks?

1.       Masks are less destructive than using the erase brush

2.       An mistakes are easily rectified later on

3.       Easy to try out different ideas

Physically Based Rendering (PBR)

What is it?

1.       Physically based shading means we approximate what light actually does as opposed to approximating what we intuitively think it should do

2.       Physically based materials will work well in all lighting environments. In addition, the material values can be less complex.

Albedo & Normal Maps

Albedo Maps RGB

1.       Albedo is the base colour input, or diffuse map

2.       No directional light of shadow information should be included in this texture

3.       The results should be flat colours with variation applied in areas fo wear

Normal Maps RGB

1.       Similar to bump maps, create the illusion of detail without high poly count

2.       Use RGB values to signify orientation of surface normal

3.       Allowed for significant advances in efficient rendering

Metallic & Roughness Maps

·         Metallic maps – greyscale

1.       Control how “metal like” your surface will be. Materials like plastic, rock or raw materials will be set to a value of 0 or 1 and nothing in between

2.       Hybrid textures that translate between different material types like raw metls to rust will have a fall off between 0 and 1

Emissive

·         Emissive Maps – greyscale

1.       The emissive colour input controls which part of your material will glow

Ambient Occlusion (AO)

·         Ambient occlusion maps – greyscale

1.       There is no such thing as ambient occlusion in real life

2.       It’s a rendering trick which samples a hemisphere around each point of a face, sees what proportion is occluded by other geometry and shades the pixel accordingly

Realistic & Hand Painted Materials

·         Realistic materials

1.       Often seen in games with a larger memory allocation

2.       Console or PC

3.       Focus on immersion

·         Hand painted materials

1.       Often seen in mobile games, with small memory allocation

2.       Sometimes used by choice, for a stylised look

Programmes to look into

·         Substance designer

·         Substance painter

·         Quixel suite 2.0

Game engines /preview engines

·         Unreal Engine 4

·         Marmoset Toolbag 2

Resources:

Sebastian Lagarde – PBR chart for unreal

Digital Tutors CG101: what is a normal map?

Allegorithmic – substance designer and painter

Quixel – suite 2.0 http://quixel.se/

UE4 – physically based materials

Marmoset Toolbag 2