Texture Artists - What's your Tool(s) of Choice?

[IndeedPete 1038]

Good day,

 

first off, I'm a rather mediochre texture creator. I've started taking on this hobby maybe one or two years ago. Modelling is not on the agenda (yet?). When it comes to Arma 3, I'm still more of a coding person. Most of my image work is based on simple re-textures where I can always use and reference the original models and textures. Thus far, I've been using GIMP 2 and managed to take apart and recolour a large part of Arma 3's vanilla assets, plus some community-created stuff. However, while I'm slowly making progress in quality and complexity of my textures, GIMP has been becoming a pain in the ass to use. Probably because of growing image sizes in higher resolutions and with more details / layers, it frequently crashes and is generally very slow - it's just outdated and as it seems the original developers discontinued their work on it.

 

Long story short, I'm looking for alternatives to migrate my projects to. I've picked up the Photoshop trial and thus far I'm happy with the overall performance and the accuray of its selection mechanisms. Not so much with the UI, the out of the box resources, and the vanilla keybindings. But the worst thing from my perspective is the monthly subscription fee which I feel doesn't make that much sense to afford for an amateur like me. Their pricing feels a bit off for non-professional users and older versions of PS / CS are not sold anymore as far as I know. I could use the mighty power of my student ID and they're currently offering a discount for the first year though.

 

So, what are you (professional) guys using to craft textures and is it free / worth the money?

[x3kj 1247]

some time back there was a chance to get PS CS2 for free (although it was a grey area i think). Not sure if that still works.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hm, apparently it's still available but legally only for people who owned it before. In any case, CS2 is ten years old and probably even more outdated than GIMP. :D

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

I use Photoshop CS6 and GIMP 2.8.

PS for creating textures or simple edits; GIMP for edits and "Color to Alpha".

[IndeedPete 1038]

Yes, I will most likely keep GIMP for these simple tasks you mentioned, just because I have developed an efficient workflow by now. Editing large files gets more annoying by the day though.

[x3kj 1247]

 

CS2 is ten years old and probably even more outdated than GIMP

if you only want the latest fanciest shit - then yes. If you just want to create textures that's quite enough.

Better invest into a pen tablet if you dont have one already.

Texturing is all about layers, masks, stamps, brushes and most importantly skill/practice. Not about some fancypants filters, or features etc. stamps, base textures and brushes can be aquired on ze internet (legally) for free.

 

Many modellers use substance painter (standalone) and/or dDo, DDO, nDo, nDo2 (require PS). substance painter wont help you alot as you need source models to texture with it properly. DDO also requires models to be usable properly.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Doesn't have to be latest.^^ I'm just seeing that a GIMP update aired a month ago. Let me check this out...

[IndeedPete 1038]

Better invest into a pen tablet if you dont have one already.

Texturing is all about layers, masks, stamps, brushes and most importantly skill/practice. Not about some fancypants filters, or features etc. stamps, base textures and brushes can be aquired on ze internet (legally) for free.

 

Many modellers use substance painter (standalone) and/or dDo, DDO, nDo, nDo2 (require PS). substance painter wont help you alot as you need source models to texture with it properly. DDO also requires models to be usable properly.

 

Definitely. I doubt PS would give me any advantage in texture quality over GIMP. It would be delusional to believe I suddenly manage to pull off, say, RHS quality just because I moved to a new tool. I'm more concerned about GIMP's bad performance and regular crashes when working with large and complex files. That recent update somewhat increased performance, it's still not as smooth as my PS trial though. Also, I'm (subjectively) seeing more tutorial material on the interwebz for PS as it's probably the market leader.

 

I'm not sure about that pen thing. I saw people using it and thought it might be cool to have. But then again I'm terrible at drawing (and handwriting). What can I do with such thing I cannot do with a mouse and keyboard?

 

I came across Substance Painter a few times by now but as you said, I'm lacking the model(ling experience).

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Hm, apparently it's still available but legally only for people who owned it before. In any case, CS2 is ten years old and probably even more outdated than GIMP. :D

 

lol I'm still using Photoshop 7.  If it ain't broken don't fix it.  I don't mean to call you out but you may need to better manage your layers.

 

Pen tablets allow to easily create graduated marks.  You could barely get by in Photoshop without a pen, but once you start using a pen you'll never stop.  It does make things a lot easier.  A pen is a must if you get into sculpting.

[IndeedPete 1038]

lol I'm still using Photoshop 7.  If it ain't broken don't fix it.  I don't mean to call you out but you may need to better manage your layers.

 

Great if it's working for you. But unfortunately, it's not available for purchase anymore. I wouldn't mind using an older image editing programme as long as it doesn't have the problems GIMP seems to have right now. But adobe, being the EA of commercial software, apparently does not sell older versions of PS / CS. I honestly don't know how I could "manage my layers" better. I've tried tweaking GIMP's options but after a certain image complexity, say ~30+ layers in various groups in resolutions above 2048x2048, it keeps passing out. Mostly on exports, sometimes when performing other actions. Also, the slow performance makes things take much longer than they have to.

[Delta Hawk 1829]

2048x2048 is the biggest you want to go.  Once you get into 4096x4096 you get into a lot of issues.  The biggest is the quality vs practicality.  While 4096x4096 is a high resolution unless the player has the texture quality set on ultra or very high the game engine (or video card?) will automatically mipmap the texture to a lower resolution, negating the purpose of using 4096x4096 in the first place while at the same time giving you all of the headaches handling a 4096x4096 file.  There's other negatives to using 4096x4096. 

 

Depending on what you are making you may want to be creative and use different materials such as the multi-shader or using detail maps.  How you model something will also greatly impact how you need to texture it.  For example, if for what ever reason you cannot add a normal map to your model but you want to create a edge that looks rounded, you can make that part of the model soft instead of hard and reinforce the edge with edge loops to force the model to look rounded.

 

Managing your layers means you collapse or flatten layers than can be flatten, or using procedural layer styles.  For example, when I make my BDU textures, I don't have a layer for each different camo pattern.  Instead, I have a pattern defined in the pattern library and when I'm ready to save a texture as a particular camo I simply set the layer style to that camo pattern.  Also another example if you are making a texture of a machine with a bunch of rivets if you have 10 layers of rivets you could flatten the layers into one single layer.  (keep in mind I'm speaking from the photoshop side.  Gimp will differ)

 

I can post pics of this stuff if you want.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated. Yes, I've been experimenting with 4096x4096 as I created a custom camo with very fine structures. I was hoping to prevent it from becoming blurry in-game by cranking up the resolution which worked to some extend. Similar goes for vehicle textures which look really ugly from up close. (Even the vanilla ones look shite at times.) Also, I'm playing on ultra settings and in 1440p, and since I mostly create stuff for myself, I can somewhat benefit from higher resolutions. However, I think GIMP has issues allocating enough memory. When I have multiple 2048x2048 textures opened, it causes the same problems. It wasn't a problem when my textures were just four or five layers thick. But the more I experiment with different materials, filters, details etc. the more it's becoming a problem.

 

I'm curious about these procedural layer styles. How do they work? And how do you tell the programme how to allign / tile / turn the camo?

 

I tend to logically group layers or merge stuff that belongs together. However, I keep things separated as much as I can for re-usability or if I want to change colours of some details later on.

[x3kj 1247]

I wouldn't mind using an older image editing programme

There are still older versions on ebay. Though you never know if it's legit or just a pirated product.

 

the model(ling experience)

You dont need modeling experience to use substance painter. However, you need to have access to the model files to texture properly. So unless you work together with a modeller, or you can get hold of the model source files legally (e.g. when retexturing A2 assetts) it would be useless. That said, there are many modellers who wouldn't mind working together with someone who wants to solely focus on texturing.

Also, I'm (subjectively) seeing more tutorial material on the interwebz for PS as it's probably the market leader.

Photoshop is extremely popular and world leader in image editing... and it is propably also one of the most pirated software tools out there. That's why everyone and his dog seems to have PS and does PS stuff on youtube. (Propably also the reason why adobe changed to subscription).

[IndeedPete 1038]

Yes, it reminds me of winrar. Everyone has it but no one actually paid for it. :D

 

I mean, I don't think I'd need the full CS. There's a 10 EUR/month option aiming at photographers that offers PS plus Lightroom. (Stand-alone access to a single application is still 20 EUR/month.) Not brilliant but legal at least. And it might be a good occasion to take my old DSLR for a spin again. Still thinking about freeware though. Has anyone tried Paint.NET?

[R0adki11 3949]

Yes, it reminds me of winrar. Everyone has it but no one actually paid for it. :D

 

I mean, I don't think I'd need the full CS. There's a 10 EUR/month option aiming at photographers that offers PS plus Lightroom. (Stand-alone access to a single application is still 20 EUR/month.) Not brilliant but legal at least. And it might be a good occasion to take my old DSLR for a spin again. Still thinking about freeware though. Has anyone tried Paint.NET?

 

I tried Paint.NET just didn't find useful, as it had some issues with file types. I reverted to using GIMP, but certainly would like to have Photoshop but ive been not keen on the subscription model. Especially as i am not great with textures, i am more happy with code. As my job back ground is programming.

[scottb613 283]

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.x - an oldie - but handles both vector and raster - does everything I need it to do - and no subscriptions...

Regards,

Scott

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IndeedPete 1038]

I tried Paint.NET just didn't find useful, as it had some issues with file types. I reverted to using GIMP, but certainly would like to have Photoshop but ive been not keen on the subscription model. Especially as i am not great with textures, i am more happy with code. As my job back ground is programming.

 

Same for me. When I'm thinking about subscription models I kind of want more for my money than just the base software. I understand that one always gets the latest PS version but I'm also looking for samples, materials, stock images etc. Often I'm looking for specific patterns, brushes, or high quality and tileable camouflage samples and all google gives me are these commercial stock images which come with price tags. I'm not sure if adobe runs similar services and whether or not the basic subscription grants access to these resources. Would be a selling point for me though.

 

I did enjoy my PS trial though. Once I got the keys sorted out, it was a relatively good workflow. And no crashes or performance issues. The PSDs I created from my XCFs even consume less space on my hard drive.

 

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.x - an oldie - but handles both vector and raster - does everything I need it to do - and no subscriptions...

Regards,

Scott

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Interesting. But do you know if it can read in GIMP's XCF format? I'd be migrating most of my existing work to the new tool. And PS for example is far too arrogant to allow us GIMP peasants to just read in XCFs. (I mean why would they help smoothing the transition for 10€/month? Duh.) However, GIMP can export to PSD, only layer groups are merged into single layers. A bit extra work but it does function.

[x3kj 1247]

Yes, it reminds me of winrar. Everyone has it but no one actually paid for it.

people still use winrar? 7zip as way superior and free...

 

or samples, materials, stock images etc.

you can get a bazillion of brushes, textures etc for free on the internet. On deviantart there are many for example.

[IndeedPete 1038]

people still use winrar? 7zip as way superior and free...

 

you can get a bazillion of brushes, textures etc for free on the internet. On deviantart there are many for example.

 

Yup, that's my usual source. I was just kind of expecting this from a subscription model: a constant flow of premium content. Also, these commercial sites seem to have way better SEO so they keep cluttering my google searches.

[scottb613 283]

Hi Pete,

Yeah - don't think so - PSP 9 came out long before Gimp I believe... I'll check though... I use Gimp on occasion as well - I usually just cut/copy/paste a layer at a time between the two when needed...

Maybe someone made a plug-in if you really need it...

Regards,

Scott

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Von Quest 1163]

I've been using PhotoImpact for years:

http://www.paintshoppro.com/en/products/photoimpact/

Looks like the price has plummeted down to $30. I think I paid at least triple when I first got it. I can't remember. Maybe more. Got into it sooo long ago. Still works great for me. Cheap and powerful.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thanks, chaps!

 

I now went with the 10€ PS subscription. I will give it a thorough try over the next year and then re-evaluate.

[martinezfg11 334]

You can try Substance Painter. They have a rent to won program that's pretty awesome.

[road runner 4344]

I've used PS for so long that I just can't seem to master the likes of substance painter, I have downloaded a full course on how to use it, and I never get past the first video before I'm back in Photoshop again.

Unlike Delta Hawk, I also have a pen and tablet, and again I just cannot get into using it, old habits etc, I'm so used to looking at the pen, as opposed to the mouse, as it feels like I'm writing !!

I might just take it out of the drawer and force myself to use it.

I also bought the Quixel suite, nearly 18 months ago, and haven't installed it yet either. :O