How Much of the Model Should Have a Texture Map?

[Fox Raptor]

Greetings again everyone,

once more, the long time lurker(I swear I'd contribute more if you guys around here weren't so good at helping, ya just beat me to the punch 10 out of 10 times.) rears his head while looking to pick the brains of the Animation: Master community. Anyway here's the pickle I've got. I've been working on and off on a model I started late June and I've gotten to the point where I've finished the mesh and now it's time to make it look more like a someone. Yeah, time to texture map this thing.

 

So while I'm gradually frustrating myself flattening pieces out(The tutorial on the Virtual Media Studios site was very useful), I start thinking "Ya know... AM does allow us to simply apply a flat color to a group. Wouldn't it be easier just to texture the parts that need extra detail, like where that solid color transitions to more complicated things?"

 

Which is why I'm here right now. I wanted to know if there are any particular pros or cons about this approach. I mean, alot of the models I've dissected to learn what I have about mesh design have been textured from head to toe. Is that just the best way to go?

 

If requested, I can provide screenshots of my model and the reference sheet I was using for her. Not sure if that would do any good, but I know for some people it helps to see what's being worked on.

 

Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you guys again soon.

 

-Fox

[StormedFX]

Sup Fox! (crazy like a FOX?)

 

I am new to A:M and not a brain of AM, but I just would like to share my point of view. There are lots of aspects involved when it comes to animation... and texturing is one of them. There are always pros and cons on everything, including texturing itself, but my single rule of thumb about texturing is this...

 

Details of texture is only needed when that part of the body will require a close-up scene during an animation...

 

just my 2 cents

 

Can I see what you are working on?

 

CHEERS!

[Gerry]

You can also create materials, which is a good middle option between solid color and texture maps. The great advantage to texture maps is that you can create a much more realistic appearance by creating textures for as much of your model as you feel capable of doing. the drawback to materials is that they tend to look mechanical and repetitive, especially if you rush it or don't know quite what you're doing and settle for a material that's "just okay".

 

Also take some time to learn about all the settings under "Surface". Adding a little roughness and tweaking its settings can do wonders. But if you take your time and create texture maps you'll see a real difference in the finished piece. And the sense of accomplishment alone is worth it!

[Eric Camden]

It all depends on what you are trying to get across with your finished product. Obviously if you are doing a very simple animation or still with stick like figures, then texturing may not be as important as something more involved. I prefer to do stills (hobby) that have a lot of textures/decals on them because I want the end result to be like a painting of sorts. I also prefer to use decals because I have so much more control over them vs materials. When I first started out, I used to do a lot of wandering in the AM stills gallery to get inspiration. Once you look through there, you'll get a better idea of what other people do and what you tend to lean towards.

 

Hope that helps

 

Eric

[Fox Raptor]

Sup Fox! (crazy like a FOX?)

 

I am new to A:M and not a brain of AM, but I just would like to share my point of view. There are lots of aspects involved when it comes to animation... and texturing is one of them. There are always pros and cons on everything, including texturing itself, but my single rule of thumb about texturing is this...

 

Details of texture is only needed when that part of the body will require a close-up scene during an animation...

 

just my 2 cents

 

Can I see what you are working on?

 

CHEERS!

 

As a matter of fact, "crazy like a..." is part of it.

 

Anyway, the character is Fairy Leviathan from the Rockman/Megaman Zero games.

 

This is what I've got so far with just going with the flat colored groups for some parts, she's otherwise untextured.

 

And this is the reference sheet I've been using for her.

 

So as you can see, it's nothing that requires photo realism in the least. As a general rule of thumb, I prefer to make my work look more drawn when possible(I still fail hard at trying to use that one ink material properly). Which is also part of the reason I'm asking this; for something that doesn't require much detail, is it really that efficient to basically texture the whole thing?

 

@Gerry

Thanks for the encouragement. Do you happen you know any good tutorials for using the Ink Stroke material plug-in? I've had almost no luck getting it to do what I want on my own.

 

@Eric

Your intent doesn't sound much different than mine, do you have anything posted? I checked your profile, but I didn't find a website or gallery listed.

 

@Everyone

Sorry for posting this under one reply instead of replying individually, I didn't wanna clutter things too much, ya know?

[Gerry]

By ink stroke I assume you mean Toon Line render. It's not a plugin, it's a render option you'll see when you render to file. Under Options, click Toon Render to "On" and you can access different options, like thickness of line, whether to make the line black, a color, or a percentage of the object color, whether to render just lines or lines and color, shading options(partial, full shading, flat color), etc. etc.

 

There's lots of settings to look at and play with. You might want to look at either help files or the manual if you've got it. I can see from the manga style you're going for why you're wondering about texturing, and you're right, for this style you don't need to knock yourself out with texture maps! But like I said, under Surface settings you can set specularity and falloff, stuff like that that will give your "flat colors" more roundness and depth if you want.

 

I think there's also a "manga style" option for eyebrows,( at least there used to be) where the eyebrows lay on top of the bangs. If you look through the image galleries there's tons of manga style images for inspiration, and maybe you can direct questions to the guys who do that style, or at least ask how different effects are achieved specifically for manga.

 

EDIT: Hm I see there IS an InkStroke plugin! I'm completely unfamiliar with that!

[Eric Camden]

Fox:

 

if you want to see some of my work, go to the stills gallery home page and do a search with the key word: Camden. Also check out my "Enterprise" September contest entry and my July "Mohawk Mini Mart" entry.

[StormedFX]

Fox,

By looking at your character, my answer is "NO, you dont need to texture the whole thing". I think both Gerry and Eric have brought up some good points regarding your question.

 

CHEERS!

[Fuchur]

Fox,

By looking at your character, my answer is "NO, you dont need to texture the whole thing". I think both Gerry and Eric have brought up some good points regarding your question.

 

CHEERS!

 

Textures give you the abillity to create very realistic models if oyu know how to handle them.

But they are the possibility which is most troublesome.

 

If you are after a manga-style you dont need too many of them so.

Well place materials with surfaceproperties will do the job as well

 

*Fuchur*

[Fox Raptor]

Thank you everyone for your input. It really does help. So I'm figuring at least for this one, that just groups + materials and some selectively placed decals should suffice for my needs.

 

On the note of materials, I did have one question. Hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to export the model so a friend could use it with their copy of 3DS, would the materials kinda get 'baked' into a texture map for the model and be saved along with the export data? Or would my friend have to re-texture the thing on their own?

 

I should hopefully have a finished version of Leviathan up reasonably soon.