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Hey Jindi and thanks a lot! I was wondering what Hexagon is like but I´m finally getting used to Blender so I won´t be trying it out anytime soon. maybe in the future! Anyways, here´s my latest progress with the swimsuit. I had to rearrange all the UVs because I figured It would be difficult to make texture maps for the object if they weren´t in order so now I finally have a decent set of basic UVs for all parts of the object. I have created a bump and specular map that only consist of the fabric pattern to make the object look like it´s made of woven nylon.
Then I decided I´d leave the displacement map for the end and I will create diffuse (textures, I hope I´m getting it right) maps first.
So I tried painting a zebra like texture and then using it on the object and I have a few questions regarding these types of maps.
(Anyways I will definitely edit the zebra texture because I don´t really like what it looks like in the middle so this isn´t the final version )
- So I was checking out the daz store to see how other people create textures for swimsuits and I noticed that they always say for example that they have:
6x Textures and then they say they have 20x texture and bump maps included.
- So I was wondering does this example mean they have like 6x basic texture pattern (like one of them being zebra for example) and then they have several different color versions for each basic pattern that make up the 20 texture maps included?
- And then I was wondering, why do they need to make 20 bump maps?
Because I was checking out the swimsuit-like pieces I have in my wardrobe that came with the Daz Studio and all the texture versions that they have are using the same bump and specular maps. These textures arent complex or anything though so maybe the additional bump maps are for some kind of a pattern that is supposed to be standing out a bit on the surface of the object?
Then I was wondering while I was painting my first texture, should I leave it like that (just the black and white color) or should I mix it with the fabric pattern as well because I noticed that the diffuse map of for example the pink top that came with the daz studio has the clothing pattern on it and I was wondering, why does a diffuse map need to have the fabric pattern on it when the pattern will show up in the final render via bump map anyways? is it just for better pre render preview purpose or does it actually have any other function?
I´m including a preview of the diffuse, bump and specular maps so let me know what you think about it and what can be improved! : ) All the maps are 2000x2000 I think that should be enough for an object like this, right?
The render looks a little flat and un-shiny for swimwear - maybe a second bump map that is larger in "grain" for middle-distance renders like the one shown, and reserve the smaller one for closeups. Was there a specific reason for the heavy gray bump map?
As for the numbers:
6 texture/material sets should be around 18 maps total - 6 diffuse, 6 bump and 6 spec. You could also get that count by having one bump, one spec, and 18 different diffuse color patterns sharing that bump and spec, which is not unreasonable with swimwear (which often has complex fabric patterns that don't affect its bumpiness or shininess much).
That's assuming a spec map is necessary. I don't see that it is if your item has a level of shininess that should be uniform over its surface. It's more useful if you have for e.g. buttons or studs that are only on the texture but need to be shinier than fabric, or if you need to fake iridescence with a colorful spec map.
I think the zebra pattern looks very nice, especially the way it interacts with the front hem.
Hey there Sickle! So should I create a new bump map that is smaller? like 1024x1024? I decided to go with 2000x2000 because I tried 5000x5000 and it seemed like too big to me.
No need to worry about Hexagon if you are comfortable with Blender. I'm a Blender convert now, but I also found Hexagon very capable and I know there are PAs here who produce professional work with it. It's also handy in that it has the DS-Hexagon bridge.
But now that you've learned to import/export between Studio and Blender, and are familiar with all the additional Blender things such as sculpting and physics, it's a tool you can do without.
If on the other hand you want to get a painting program, I recently picked up Blacksmith3D for a great price (50% and then extra discount from a coupon). I just checked and the sale has finished but there will no doubt be another one before long. :)
Very glad we are of it too. I learned some useful new things from your tutorial even though it wasn't the first tutorial I've worked through (first Blender one though and would have saved me 3 days of pulling out my hair trying to export the right way).
Oh and the transparency thing worked well. I'm using it right now on a clothing fit for a custom character. :)
Hey Jindi! I´ll definitely check that program out! I have only created one texture using Gimp so far but I will definitely do plenty more for this swimsuit I have a lot of texture in mind! Right now I am back to the modeling part of the process where I decided to add some details like lining on the edges and maybe completely redo the strings that keep the swimsuit together. I will post more pics as soon as I get something done.
Also you created a custom character? Show us!!!
here is the latest version! The more improvements Im trying to make the uglier it seems to me so I guess I´ll stop here and try to make some maps : D
I love the piped edges and the other detail like the knots. This is going to look very good, can't wait to see the finished swimsuit.
Custom character in Blacksmith3D? Not yet, I only just bought it and haven't fully learned to use it yet. So far I've only edited human textures in GIMP but if I can get my hands on some of those 3d scans I'll definitely have a go at painting a human in Blacksmith3D at some point. I've been watching the videos and they make it look easy, but I'm not deceived. :)
Edit: oh, that custom character I refer to above... That's one I've morphed into something new in Studio using dials and used my own GIMP-altered textures in the surfaces tab. But not something I made from scratch. I'll leave that for a future project. ;)
I made a new texture today but I´m having problems with the bump map. I can´t seem to get the right size. I need the look of the base body part be similar to the smaller string part in the back but 2000x2000 seems too big and 5000x5000 looks better but the bump map itself is too big resolution. Then I guess the problem will be the size of the texture in Gimp.
I was looking at the black and white bikini maps and they are all 2500x2500 and it works very well with the object.
As for specular map, I think it doesn´t really matter which one I use, they both look the same (5000x5000 and 2000x2000) versions.
Is this a simple tiling pattern? You may need to adjust the scaling on some areas, so that it repeats a roughly equal number of times, which will be easiest if you have the areas in different material zones/surfaces. Alternatively, scale the pieces on the UV map so that they are scaled in proportion to their size in space.
<--What he said. </p>
Sorry for not responding, somehow I got unsubscribed again, darn it.
Hey Richard and Sickle! I dont think its tiling. Its an image of fabric 450x300. I just did a couple of renders comparing the bikini top which is using 2500x2500 and I figured I will probably go with 5000x5000 with the base. Where exactly should I adjust the scaling? And yes, I do have the areas split. Each area (the base, the lines, string and so on) has its own materials and UV maps.
Oh wait. it is probably tiling if it repeats right? I was thinking about the seamless pattern again : D
To make the pattern look bigger, crop to a smaller area of the texture, then scale the crop up to the desired size. To make the pattern look smaller, use the GIMP's Filter--Map--Make Seamless to make it seamless, then Filter--Map--Tile to tile it to a larger texture size.
This is why it's necessary to start from a good, hirez fabric base, so that it can survive being blown up or shrunk for tiling or enlarging and still look nice.
Ultimately everything should be the same size (all 2048x, all 1024, whatever), and I always use a power of 2, but not all DAZ artists do that. It's probably not technically necessary in a 3delight render but probably affects loading speed in the viewport (if I've understood correctly, and again, very ready to be corrected if someone knows otherwise).
Powers of 2:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?251834-Texture-image-resolution-as-powers-of-2
Thanks a lot Sickle! I´ll look into this tomorrow! Anyways, by everything being the same size you mean the maps for all parts of the outfit? Like the map for base should have the same resolution as the map for the edge lines for example? Or did u mean something else?
Normally you want the bump, the diffuse, the spec, etc. to be the same size. The only real exception is if you do a very complex displacement, you might have that be bigger.
I think I found the sizes that work for each part of the outfit now. However I was wondering, in the string bikini, you can see that even the black areas of the object have the fabric pattern on them but my black areas like the zebra pattern do not seem to show the fabric via bump map like the lighter areas do. Could it be that the string bikini diffuse map has the fabric pattern on the black areas while my diffuse map doesnt?
Today I decided to finally put the swimwear on Genesis, actually Victoria and give it a render.
The displacement map is almost finished and all thats left to do is more texture options and my first custom piece of clothing is complete! I had a real struggle with the displacement map. When I finally got the displacement folds right they turned out to be barely visible on the object in renders so I decided to leave it like that for now. I think I will come back to it later. You cant really see the displacement in this render but it is there.
I also posted it to the art studio section hoping to get feedback from other people as well.
Oh I just noticed this topic is in the same section, I thought it was a different one : D Well never mind I´ll leave it there for people to see just the almost finished object so they dont have to look for it here.
Very nice work. Looks good!
You may need a more aggressive displacement sculpt with a bold print. It's not really showing in the above pics.
Today I finally fixed the issue with black/dark colored textures not showing the fabric pattern. In these renders if you look closely you can see that the dark parts of the texture are now also showing the fabric material! I also finished the cheetah texture, that one was pretty hard and made a giraffe texture. I plan to make a few more wild life inspired textures before I get into fixing the displacement map and theres this one problem that needs to be fixed before I fix the displacement map which I will post tomorrow or after I finis the whole tutorial.
I don´t know whether I should also post the images to the other topic as nobody replied yet so please let me know what you think here and what could be improved! The lighting needs to improve I know, its a real struggle lighting up the scene so it looks good. Also these renders are not edited.
And I also need to fix the obvious line in the middle of the cheetah texture. I kinda regret I made a seam there now since the textures are almost symmetrical.
Good progress!
Art Studio is something people mostly use for finished renders, not so much for meshing and texturing projects.
The pattern gap on the middle front doesn't work as well with the cheetah set as the others - I might pull those spots together a little more if you can.
Hey Sickle and thanks! It has been quite busy in the house and I was without wifi for a while and didnt feel like progressing with the swimsuit so I started modeling a dress! But today I continued with the tutorial, I´m almost at the end now, I managed to create custom icons for materials but now I´m at the part where you explain how to create custom morphs for the item and I cant figure out what you mean by "dial in an FBM" in Daz Studio I think?
Dial in a character morph from the "Full Body" heading on Genesis 2 Female or Genesis 2 Male with your clothing item conformed to it. (Always Full Body, never People.) And yes, in DAZ Studio.
This transfers a basic version of that morph into the clothing. That basic version often will not look good if the figure has thighs or breasts bigger than the default ones (as most official characters do, all but Josie and Giselle, not sure about Gia). This most strongly affects snugly fitted skirt areas and any top or dress without a plunging cleavage, which is why you see a lot of items in the store with a. plunging cleavage or b. a corset-style top that fits separately over each breast from beneath, thus avoiding this issue.
(This is one of the reasons we make so much skimpwear - the more an item covers and the looser it is, the more work it is to make it look right.)
Then go on from there with the other instructions.
Okay so I am trying to create a body morph for Victoria 6. I have noticed there´s some overlapping in the breast area that needs to be fixed so I put the clothing on Genesis 2 Female in Daz Studio, load the V6 body morph, hide the figure and export the swimwear, load it into blender but then the tutorial says - "Once you have the scene set up with a morphed figure and the morphed clothing, save it"
So, should I load the morphed body (V6) separately into Blender as well?
Yes, you need to have an obj of every morph you're working on for this purpose. I have a blend file saved with all the FBMs on different layers.
Again, make sure you use the morph dial from Full Body, the one that does not affect the head or height.
I see and for exporting the genesis with V6 body shape I should use the same settings while exporting her from Daz Studio to Blender that I used for the basic genesis 2 female earlier when I was making the item?
Yes, that's right.
Okay I think Im finished for now with the custom morph for V6 since I am still one version away from the final object so I wanted to export it from Blender and in the tutorial it says overwrite the first one and make sure the morphs name is correct to the morph's real name, not its pictured one; you can see this if you have Show Hidden checked in your Parameters options and look at the clothing item instead of the figure.
So I guess you meant in the parameters tab in Daz Studio? I am in Daz Studio and have the swimsuit selected but cant see any Show Hidden option in the parameters tab.
You need to select the morph and click on the little gear by the name. It will pop up with the Presentation editor and that will show the real name and the label.
I must be missing something, I cant see the gear. I bet this step is so simple but I really feel stupid now : D I am in Daz Studio, have the swimwear the V6 body is wearing selected in the scene tab and I also have it selected in parameters tab but cant see any gear there.