TEXTURING AND MAPPING
A fairly typical workflow might to start with a
sketch, go into a 3D app and then do the post work
in Photoshop. Ifthikhar Abdul Nasser (www.
ifthikhar.com) certainly does something along
these lines, noting, “I then use textures as overlays
and also to create specific environments in
Photoshop to suit the mood/idea complimenting
the main render, transforming it into the way I
intended to create in the first place. Other editing
tasks like colour corrections, lighting, shadow/
highlight, toning etc are also involved.”
Mier Lee’s (www.miershine.com) main 3D tool is
Cinema 4D. He uses it to model “objects as basic
structures for my work. If there is any texture that I
need to put on, I edit it with Photoshop or Illustrator,
and then I save it onto Cinema. Therefore, I always go
back and forth during this process. Even though
Cinema 4D renders models, lights, textures and
colours for you, there are still a lot of things to be
finished up with Photoshop after you render out all
your frames. When I design style frames, I always
use Photoshop to retouch colours, to edit textures
and values, to exaggerate highlights and shadows,
and to mix with 2D images and 3D renders to make
them look more realistic.”
Staiger often starts by building a background
composition with Photoshop: “This will be used as a
scene that carries the 3D content. It could be a
carefully composed aerial shot from several
photographs of clouds and landscapes. Then I place
the already rendered 3D object onto that scene.” He
uses Cinema 4D to create his 3D, and Photoshop is
used in various ways: “I take psd files as 3D textures.
The good thing is that Cinema 4D supports the full
range of Photoshop psd, even typo, patterns and
correction layers. I can choose which layer I want to
assign to which texture channel. Later in the process,
I render in multipass mode. When I open theTexture time:All your textures
appear in the Layers panel, and –
just like working in 2D mode – you
can apply them in different waysMake a matte:Later on you can fill
this part of the image with a
background painting. It’s probably
best not to do this straightaway,
because you might decide to change
your camera angleLine it up:Bringing your model into
Photoshop and set the Surface Style
to Line (from the 3D Scene menu) so
you can line it up with the grid
however you want, is the method
that Juri Jablokov recommendsPaint it:Now you can paint. “Switch
between 3D and 2D views in difficult
areas and remember to make new
layers according to your needs,”
says JablokovMove in 3D:Want to Rotate, Roll,
Pan or Slide your shapes? Those
controls are accessible hererendered file in Photoshop, all the lights, reflections,
speculars and shadows are on separate layers and,
very cool, all alpha channels are there already. Also, I
use Photoshop for building a general overall look.”
Texturing and mapping are where Photoshop canreally shine. Müller explains the different techniques
depending on the object: “I might have to map an
existing texture onto the flat UVs (for example leather,
wood, scratched metal images, etc) in Photoshop. In
this stage, Photoshop is a very important tool since itTHE POWER OF LIGHTING
JURI JABLOKOV SHOWS HOW ENVIRONMENT MAPPING POWERS UP LIGHTINGJuri Jablokov worked on the sculpt of this fantasy axe in 3D-Coat tocreate the basic shape and detailing of the weapon Then he brought it into Photoshop to map (maps used includeDiffuse, Normal, Ambient Occlusion, Specular), texture and lightTECHNIQUES 3D & PHOTOSHOP: THE COMPLETE GUIDE
© Juri Jablokov© Frédéric Müller© Juri Jablokov