[starbug]

So i have managed to learn modelling and Uv mapping pretty well through practice and uni. I am ok at texturing organic stuff but when it comes to doing hull plating ect i struggle. I have a couple of ships i want to have a go at texturing, but i need advice for the hull plating. Can anyone recommend a site or has any tips for making hull textures in photoshop. I have looked at some websites but they are not very good on give tips on how to make your own, they just seem to use photos of naval vessels.

[mjn.mixael]

Here's what I do.

I paint the plating area the base solid color I want (usually a shade of grey). Then I apply a metal texture on a new layer using a blend mode like soft light or something. (Good place to get metal textures is cgtextures.com)

Then on another new layer, I'll paint my plate lines with a black brush. (Hold shift to paint straight lines.) Next, I add a Layer Style to emboss the lines to make them look recessed a bit and give them some shading. (I keep this layer separate so I can add it to the Normal map too.)

Finally, I create another new layer. I go back to the previous layer with the lines and select all the pixels. I expand the selection by... 2 or 3 pixels and feather it by 2 or so pixels. I go back to the new layer and use a grungy looking brush (Photoshop has several) and set the flow to 7% or less. I then randomly paint in the selected area to give the impression of dirt buildup around the panel lines.

That's the Cliff Notes version of how I do it.

[Rampage]

Following mjn's advice, I'd also add a new layer for each texture that deviates from the base.  For example, for a Terran ship that is mostly gray but has blue stripes and greebles, I'd have one layer for the stripes and another for the greebles and then superimpose them on top of the base.

An example of my layer hierarchy would be (from highest to lowest):
Glow (for glow maps; optional)
Dirt (for grime, oil, etc)
blue (or whatever color; useful for stripes or secondary color; can also be a texture)
bevel (a style layer that bevels the shapes and lines of the vector layer)
vector (lines, shapes, etc.; can be brushed or vectored)
texture2 (for second texture that deviates from norm)
texture1 (for first texture that deviates from norm)
texture0 (base texture that superimposes its pattern onto the base color)
base/background (the solid base color; usually gray for Terran/Shivan or brown for Vasudan)

R

[starbug]

Cheers guys that has been really helpfull!

[MatthTheGeek]

Randomly, since we are talking about stripes, we have team colors working (not in trunk yet possibly ? but there should be a patch available somewhere).

Don't worry about it now if you're just starting to texture, but maybe keep it in a corner of your head for future usage.

EDIT: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=79743.0

[Kobrar44]

This is what I've found when I researched the topic myself. It seems o be a good tutorial. Haven't fully tested it so far because I'm learning baking right now.

[mjn.mixael]

Decent tut... though he spends waaaaaaaaaaaay to much time making a "base metal texture" from scratch when you could use a real metal texture for the same job in seconds.

[--Steve-O--]

great scott! cgtextures.com is a freaking gold mine!! i was wondering where sage found some of those texture pieces. oh man the things you miss living under a rock out in the middle of the sticks. 

[mjn.mixael]

<3 cgtextures.com

[starbug]

Cheers guys these have really, really been helpful in fact more helpful than my tutor,  when i asked him for help in creating base metal textures in Photoshop in the first week of texturing,  he said i should already know, despite the fact i had never done any proper texturing before and he knew that lol

[Scooby_Doo]

Ya cgtexture rocks!

I seriously need to do another texturing tutorial, but I'm too lazy 
Also setup your stuff so that it can be automated as much as possible... Scripting FTW!

great scott! cgtextures.com is a freaking gold mine!! i was wondering where sage found some of those texture pieces. oh man the things you miss living under a rock out in the middle of the sticks.

Yup, a vast majority of the game textures come from there.  Look at confed_details_* a good chunk of it was from there.

[mandobardanjusik]

boy this is great for me too in some areas, I never seem to be able to get some of the more detailed stuff finished, I know how to bake an AO and use photoshop, but making a texture has always been a pain