New Users Contest *November 2013* ►►► WIP THREAD ◄◄◄

24

Comments

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited December 1969

    Ok thanks all; I will get back to work now....Trish

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2013

    For firefly, and any one else of course.

    First screen shot shows where I made my black layer semi transparent, so I could still see the grid line while trying to place some white (visible) elements. If you look at the top of the layers screen you will se I have temp made it 60%

    Second screen shot, if it is clear enough, shows where I make the edge of the selected sector a wee bit bigger than the actual template, to make sure I get the edges covered

    This particular texture, I can use further to show you haw to do displacement and/or bump maps at a later stage, which will enhance the texture, as this particular texture was one where I used self coloured embroidery, using layer styles (purchased styles in this case, as I do buy a lot of merchant resources in order to make my textures)

    I will find an image of the completed texture to show you, but I don't want to put you off with too much complicated stuff to start with

    tutorial_demo_screenie_2.jpg
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    tutorial_demo_screenie_1.jpg
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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    here is the texture I was working on, for those screen shots.

    red_cape.jpg
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  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I try to follw the line as exactly as possible when it is within the outlines of the dress. When it goes outside the outlines, onto the background I do always allow it to do so, this makes sure that you don't get any missed parts on the seams where the two pieces go together, does that makes sense?

    What I am hearing is yes go past the color coded seam lines and just a smidgen more to make sure the underlying pattern is covered. Right?


    And as to the white parts, the parts that should be visible in your final map, as long as they are not spoiling your style lines, then they can overlap. It is the final result, once you have flattened the image that should then show the exact style that you wanted it to,

    From this I hear, focus on getting as close as possible to the design I want as I am building and if the white goes over another layer a bit don't worry about it right now. Periodically save the work as both a psd and jpg and check how it is looking. If the overlap is a problem for the design I can go back into the psd file and use eraser and paint to adjust it. Correct??


    Once you have your black shape, to give you the transparent parts, you can always alter the layer in the layer dialogue to make it only partially visible, so that you can see the template lines through it.

    Yes, now on the second try I can do that. You can chuckle away (I know I did) at the first attempt I made. I was copying the entire dress seam guide into each layer and becoming frustrated because I could not see where one piece began and the other ended. By layer 6 my mind actually came to life and finally asked "why are you doing that?" LMAO .... I just cannot believe I did that .... BUT it is fixed now and all layers are totally visible and the work is going pretty good.

    Just want to make sure that I am not doing something that will be problematic later. The lasso is semi-hard for me to use because my mouse sucks. So I am doing each piece (top, skirt, etc.) in bits and pieces with the lasso instead of trying to lasso out the entire piece, so that my painting is a bit more precise with less evening out after the lasso is turned off. IS this okay??

    I also am making great use of your "do half" of the garment piece suggestion to get the symmetry. I do half, flip the canvas and then paste into a new layer to line them up. Is it okay to merge these to layers to make it one piece?


    I will try to do a couple of screen shots later, to show you what I mean.

    I would love to learn how to make the bump and displacement maps! YES YES please teach us (or probably just me ... LOL)!


    Your stuff is AWESOME!! I download a lot of it!! This is what I want to be able to do some day. Sooo.. Thanks so much for teaching us to be as good as you and other vendors are!!


  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    ok really stupid question probably......but could I use this seam guide for the mill dragon2...to design a new skin texture for him....these colored squares line up like a sewing pattern somehow right or not??? thanks Trish


    That is such a cool idea! Cannot wait to see what you do with that!

    It would never have even occurred to me that you could do it with a "figure, character" type item.

    Good luck I know you will do awesome!

    BTW .... it took me two hours to find the paint bucket .... LOL. I finally pulled up the help doc to figure out where it was.

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited December 1969

    firefly43 said:
    ok really stupid question probably......but could I use this seam guide for the mill dragon2...to design a new skin texture for him....these colored squares line up like a sewing pattern somehow right or not??? thanks Trish


    That is such a cool idea! Cannot wait to see what you do with that!

    It would never have even occurred to me that you could do it with a "figure, character" type item.

    Good luck I know you will do awesome!

    BTW .... it took me two hours to find the paint bucket .... LOL. I finally pulled up the help doc to figure out where it was.



    Patience55 has a tutorial on making skins from scratch (focuses on human skins, but I suppose the same principles would apply to dragon skins). It would be a big project to take on, but for the brave or curious there's lots of good tips and information:

    Tutorial thread in the forum
    Downloadable zip version

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited December 1969

    Scott: thank you for the link I am sure that will help also.....Trish

    Firefly: Yes that paint bucket was well hidden...I was clicking buttons about that long also....and then I thought why don't I just ask...LOL

  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Scott: thank you for the link I am sure that will help also.....Trish

    Firefly: Yes that paint bucket was well hidden...I was clicking buttons about that long also....and then I thought why don't I just ask...LOL


    I saw your post and got so excited I could finally help someone with something I learned ..... but alas someone beat me to it. LOL

    Just glad we both finally found the elusive bucket before pulling out our hair. ;-)

  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited November 2013

    Ok maybe I over shot with my dragon idea.......on making a real one so I am going to make a stuffed dragon......so here in lies the problem again ....PS has so many bells and buttons ...Tried to use this to make a brush of this material ....it does it but not with the material colors it just shows the pattern so How do I do that??? I am afraid this is going to turn into a learn to work PS....sorry about that...Trish

    exam.jpg
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    Post edited by Trish on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2013

    Defining a brush will always just give you the brush shape. You then choose to use whichever colour you want for the brush.

    You need to Define Pattern. Then you will have a fill that you can use with your Paint bucket.

    Edited to add that this is best done with images that will tile seamlessly.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • TrishTrish Posts: 2,625
    edited December 1969

    chohole: thank you

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    Ok maybe I over shot with my dragon idea.......on making a real one so I am going to make a stuffed dragon......so here in lies the problem again ....PS has so many bells and buttons ...Tried to use this to make a brush of this material ....it does it but not with the material colors it just shows the pattern so How do I do that??? I am afraid this is going to turn into a learn to work PS....sorry about that...Trish

    I totally agree on this point...only in my case it is learning GIMP.

    But these could be useful skills in the future so I am persevering. No promises on the outcome. I am not much of a fashinista.

  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited November 2013

    okay, the forum link for making folds and such in the tutorial sent me to 404 not found page. So, I spent all day trying different ways to make folds.

    This is what I have come up with so far, using paint in various shades of gray and then using Gausian & Motion Blur. But to me something still looks off.

    Can someone give me any pointers on how to make it look less harsh. If I set the Blur up to high I lose the definition of where the fold is suppose to be.

    I know this is a bad rendition of what a fold should look like, so any pointers or even different ways to achieve it would be appreciated.

    2013-11-08_01-42_Fold_Test_1-2.psd_.jpg
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    Post edited by firefly43 on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2013

    You could try using a gradient, also I do tend to use Liquify sometimes on folds, to make them look more natural

    A fold made using a gradient A fold using a gradient double to show how it looks A fold then taking into the liqify filter and qickly altered a bit and finally same fold with a blur filter added.

    fold_demo_4.jpg
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    fold_demo_3.jpg
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    fold_demo_2.jpg
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    fold_demo_one.jpg
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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2013

    And as you asked for a quick burst on displacement and bump maps, here goes.


    1. Bumpmap, a grayscale image where different shades of gray determine how much of a texture/height a surface is going to get. Usually used for very fine detail, like cloth weave, rock texture, fine skin pores and things that make surfaces look touchable.

    2. Displacement map, also a grayscale image where different shades of gray determine how much of a texture/height a surface is going to get. Usually used for bigger detail then bumpmap, but smaller then what can be done with a morph. Sometimes it's clothing wrinkles, sometimes bumps and rivets and other medium sized detail.

    The difference is how computer calculates it. In bumpmaps the rendering creates an illusion of texture, while in displacement, computer actually calculates how the mesh is displaced... so, if you look along the edge of an object, Bumpmap will not change object silhouette, displacement map will change the silhouette (or displace the mesh to use the technical term).

    So take a simple dress image 1 I wnated to turn it into a true dirndl dress

    Add a bump map image 2

    add a displacement map Image 3

    What it looks like with a texture. It is subtle in this image, but the right side of the dress has bump only, the left side has displacement. Of course right and left are reversed as you look at the dress. so the left side of the image is the one with the bump only

    and finally a small section of the map I used, which has been used both as bump and displacement for this particular dress.

    displce_map_demo.jpg
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    dirndl_with_texture_copy.png
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    dirndl_with_displace.png
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    dirndl_with_bump_only.png
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    Dirndl_for_tut_1.png
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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • JesterVIIJesterVII Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    When posting images for the contest do you want renders of final, pictures of the texture map or both?

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited December 1969

    JesterVII said:
    When posting images for the contest do you want renders of final, pictures of the texture map or both?

    Correct me if I'm wrong, chohole, but the New User Contest is always a render contest, so the submission should be a final render in which your texture should prominently appear.

    For the WIP thread, if you are looking for feedback, it may be helpful to show both the render and the texture map. Your own textures are your property, though, and there's no need to post them if you choose not to. It's your choice.

  • White RabbitWhite Rabbit Posts: 231
    edited December 1969

    Hi good ladies and gentlemen of the DAZ community! ;-)

    This is a totally awesome contest this month! As was last. I have to say that when times are tough, the one thing that ALWAYS cheers me up, is to bury my soul in DAZ Studio! Its a fantastic escape for me!

    Thanks for all the wonderful tutorials! I am getting started!

    All the best,
    :-)

  • White RabbitWhite Rabbit Posts: 231
    edited December 1969

    Ah, please shoot me! I meant for this to be in the WIP thread! (duh) Please delete it! So sorry... :-(

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited November 2013

    Yes, it needs to end up as a render of what you create, as I have shown the final render of the dress.

    As Scott says, if you don't want to show the whole tex map, you can always just show a part of it, as I have done with the bump/displ map.

    That particular dress I used in the bump mini tut is one of my very few limited editions, so not generally available.

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited November 2013

    chohole - 08 November 2013 03:22 AM

    You could try using a gradient, also I do tend to use Liquify sometimes on folds, to make them look more natural

    A fold made using a gradient A fold using a gradient double to show how it looks A fold then taking into the liquify filter and quickly altered a bit and finally same fold with a blur filter added


    Diligently working on the suggestion you made. When I think I got it I would like to show again and get some feedback if that is okay. I am really excited now about creating my own design and textures for this contest. I hope the folds don't take me to long to get a handle on.

    I still have to deal with render scene and posing (posing I have not done much of either except for the last render and that was just tweaking a generic pose.)

    I am still enjoying this learning process .... thanks for the help and suggestions!!

    Post edited by firefly43 on
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    firefly43 said:
    <<< SNIP >>> I am still enjoying this learning process .... thanks for the help and suggestions!!
    And this is why we enjoy the contests. When New users have fun and learn it makes my day.
  • Mcjam24Mcjam24 Posts: 115
    edited December 1969

    well....here's my orange, which will be part of this month's contest....not quite there yet, doing the texture in Gimp is kinda making my brain hurt...

    orange.jpg
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    Orange1.jpg
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  • JesterVIIJesterVII Posts: 175
    edited December 1969

    I am also texturing with gimp so I understand the brain hurting thing. Here is a preview of my WIP for comments and advice.

    Wip1.jpg
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  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Comments to both... Keep up the good work. Advice to both... Ummm... what was the question exactly?

  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I know I have been playing around with folds to get them to look right, but it occurred to me I should ask.

    Are the folds done before texturing or after? AND .... Do I need a bump and/or displacement map for them?

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    I tend to use both. I will mock them in on the texture, to get the variations in colour shading, but also use a bump or displacement map to make them look "real-er" (yes I like inventing words as well lol)

  • firefly43firefly43 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    LOL ... so who said Webster was the authority on words anyway!

    Thanks, that helps me know what to do. I would like to ask for a bit more help because this is just a wee bit confusing for me and I do much better if I can understand the how and why things will work the way they do.

    I am going to outline what I am "hearing" from what I am reading and then ask you guys to correct me where I am wrong, but also please tell me where I am right so I am not guessing.

    1. When making the pattern for an outfit -- white will make it totally visible, black is totally transparent, grays from light to dark are varying degrees of opacity. The lighter the gray the more transparent it is.

    2. A bump map is gray, but because it goes into a different surface placement, ( basically behind the white garment template). It somewhat reverses now in that light gray areas are not visible but a medium gray will give a boost to the areas on the white map that are gray. So instead of those areas being semi translucent on the white map, the gray from the bump map makes those areas appear to be solid. Sort of like placing a piece of paper behind a semi transparent object to make it look solid. If this is the case then what range of gray am I looking for from light to medium?

    3. A Displacement map acts like you are laying your white "fabric" on a raised metal template so that section will be higher on the white dress template then any other area. This gives that specific area a kind of 3D quality in imagery. So these maps are light gray (areas that are not effected by the gray in the Displacement Map) with a dark gray for the raised areas. And again if I am right then what is the range of grays I am looking for?

    I am asking for the range (light to dark -- like white is ffffff) because I am assuming that too light a gray would not make any difference and too dark would distort the image.

    Again I am assuming ...
    The basic background gray of each map would be within a certain range of light grays so that shade of gray makes no significant difference to the white map above it.

    The "enhancement" grays of a bump map would generally fall within a certain range of grays because they are acting sort of like a filler to change the opacity of the grays on the white.

    The grays of a displacement section on a map would also have a range of grays that give the effect without distortion. I hope that clarifies what I mean when I say the "range" of grays.


    Thanks for the help ... I swear I am not trying to be a pain in arse! :red:

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    You don't lay the bump map onto your texture. You make a separate map for the bump mapping and or displacement mapping, So if you save your texture as "mytexture1.jpg, then you svae the bump map as mytexture1 bump.jpg and mytexture1 displ.jpg. These are applied in different plcaes when you are changing the texture on your moddel, in the mat room. (or whatever it is called in DS.)

    I assume that you are using DS.

    So mid grey is the flat area of the map, anything lighter than mid grey will rise and anything darker that mid grey will sink, thuus giving you a two way displacement.

    Bump maps only simulate the changes in the fabric, but displacement maps actually do change the fabric structure when you render it.

    I need someone who uses DS to tell you where to put them when you apply them to your model.

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited November 2013

    chohole said:
    I need someone who uses DS to tell you where to put them when you apply them to your model.

    Here's a screenshot of the Surfaces pane in DAZ Studio (yours might look a bit different, depending on your layout and style). You can plug an image map into any of the channels that have that little downward-pointing triangle icon, but the most typical places are Diffuse Color, Bump Strength, Displacement Strength, etc. (a specular map could be plugged into either Specular Color or Specular Strength, or even Glossiness--see this thread--though some people prefer not to use them at all). Transmaps, if you're using them, are plugged into the Opacity Strength channel.

    To apply the map, click on the icon with the downward-pointing triangle and browse to the location of the image file.

    surfaces.png
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    Post edited by Scott Livingston on
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