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Getting textures to tile.

  • Tequila
  • April 24, 2005 at 3:58 PM
  • Tequila
    • April 24, 2005 at 3:58 PM
    • #1

    Now, I don't consider myself a texture artist, far from it - level design is my game - but I have a good digital camera and an even better eye. So, I feel taking source photos and converting them to game textures is a viable enterprise for me.

    Problem is, all the good stuff needs to be made tileable, and I have no idea how to do this. Any of you texture impresarios got any tips, tutorials or resources to help me out? I really want to strive towards custom content rather than chestnut HL2 stuff, and this is the first step.

    Below is an example of the kind of pictures I've taken that need tiling:

    [Blocked Image: http://img143.echo.cx/img143/2669/p10003195kk.jpg]

  • Zacker
    • April 24, 2005 at 5:11 PM
    • #2

    http://whosyourdaddycool.com/tutorialps01.htm

    Note: For older versions of PS the clone tool can also be used.

    Some also use a filter which does the seaming.

  • Lee3dee
    • April 24, 2005 at 5:16 PM
    • #3

    I found this tutorial for tiling a texture, works for some things

    http://www.twisted-strand.com/ut_tutori ... index.html

  • Phlek
    • April 24, 2005 at 5:16 PM
    • #4

    If you're willing to put some money on the table check this out:

    http://www.seamlesstexturegenerator.com/

    I found it over at cgtalk.com in this thread:

    http://cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=222747

    Apparently people are saying it's pretty damn useful.

  • Lee3dee
    • April 24, 2005 at 5:21 PM
    • #5

    that seamless texture generator looks sweet! 24.99 isn't bad for the pro version that also does PSDs and DDS.

  • Tequila
    • April 24, 2005 at 6:49 PM
    • #6

    Great tuts., thank you amigos.

  • von*ferret
    • April 24, 2005 at 8:06 PM
    • #7

    check out the thread in the 2d WIP forum for more tutorials and such, also contribue in any way you can!

  • Tequila
    • April 24, 2005 at 8:26 PM
    • #8
    Quote from von*ferret

    check out the thread in the 2d WIP forum for more tutorials and such, also contribue in any way you can!

    Will do.

  • DaanO
    • April 24, 2005 at 10:52 PM
    • #9

    Just offset, clone and patch (for some reason i like healing brush for this) won't do the trick. Look for artifacts and get rid of them. Those ruin tiling.

  • JynxDaddy
    • April 25, 2005 at 12:55 AM
    • #10

    I just had a try using the tuts on your photo, wasnt too bad for a near complete novice like me. (not good enough to post though )

  • Tequila
    • April 25, 2005 at 1:23 AM
    • #11
    Quote from JynxDaddy

    I just had a try using the tuts on your photo, wasnt too bad for a near complete novice like me. (not good enough to post though )

    I'll be giving it a try tomorrow (once I get this damn essay out the way ).

  • hamst3r
    • April 25, 2005 at 2:21 AM
    • #12

    I dont really care to use it but Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 at an seemless tiling feature, all you have to do is plug in a couple of settings:

    Your image, no hand work at all:

    [Blocked Image: http://img244.echo.cx/img244/1323/smeeless5mr.jpg]

  • kleinluka
    • April 25, 2005 at 3:35 AM
    • #13

    Yeah but that one would repeat like crazy cause it just duplicates one part of the image and places it somewhere else so it blends....

    i usually just do Filters>Offset and then use clone or healing brush to fix seams...

  • DaanO
    • April 25, 2005 at 3:43 AM
    • #14

    Copying the layer, using highpass filter and then choose fade highpass = god. Works great for when parts of the image are darker than others.

    Besides that, that 'seamless' texture will tile terribly because of those double rocks, those will be terribly obvious and ruin the tiling.

  • mikezilla
    • April 25, 2005 at 5:05 AM
    • #15

    Alright I take a lot of crap for never posting tutorials or tips. So here you go. This is what I would do if I needed to use that photo. So I'll cover tiling and finishing touches. Total time for this was like 10 minutes.

    Alright so Step One :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step1.jpg]

    Basically all I did here was tweak the colors a bit to take out some the hideous and confusing blue and give it a more appropriate earth tone.

    Step Two :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step2.jpg]

    I found a really good color using the color picker magical wand of awesomeness and just made a new layer of it. Then set it to softlight on a low opacity setting. This will help to bring out the natural color of the piece.

    Step Three :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step3.jpg]

    Pretty subtle step here. I cloned out a bunch of things that will be distracting and cause obvious tiling artifacts... basically stuff that will make people scream "AVAST TIS A PHOTO TEXTURE" and not really know why they hate it.

    Step Four :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step4.jpg]

    The tiling begins. You won't actually draw pretty lines like this on your texture. This is to show how we're going to tile this. We need those area to appear like no cloning ever took place. You have to carry surface to surface... basically fill in the blanks logically so the human eye doesn't go NU UH SHANIQUA.

    Step Five :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step5.jpg]

    The finished product of the tiling step. There's still a few things that bug me but I'll fix those as I charge ahead.

    Step Six :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step6.jpg]

    This might look really ugly but it'll serve my purpose well. This is a tiled source photo I have lying in my source directory (I make all my source photos tile to save me time later, you should too!)

    Step Seven (The sexy step) :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step7.jpg]

    So all I did was set it the layer value to "difference" and dropped the opacity to 23%. You'll notice it unifed the whole texture and gave it a crisper look. It also made it a bit bright.

    which brings us to STEP EIGHT :

    [Blocked Image: http://www.mapcore.net/pics/mikey/step8.jpg]

    Levels that bad boy. Basically brought out my blacks and brought down the highlights a bit.

    and we're spent.

    Tune in next week where I might do this again.

  • von*ferret
    • April 25, 2005 at 5:10 AM
    • #16

    "might do this again"

    lol nice

    I like your technique about using a layer for difference just to unify the piece. An angle I never thought of.

  • theiggsta
    • April 25, 2005 at 5:49 AM
    • #17

    nicely done mike!

  • JynxDaddy
    • April 25, 2005 at 6:19 AM
    • #18

    Thats really awsome, makes me feel like I could texture ;o

  • skdr
    • April 25, 2005 at 11:03 AM
    • #19

    Awesome mike! I'm sure that helps alot ppl

  • Tequila
    • April 25, 2005 at 5:52 PM
    • #20

    Well holy shit, Mike has a heart after all!

    Really appreciate it, guy.

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