This article is for beginners looking to become 3D artists. By the time you finish reading, you will know three ways to color your model, eleven types of texture maps, and six common beginner mistakes. A careful study of the text will take about 10 minutes.

This is the fifth and final part of the AAA Pipeline Series. Here are links to all five; choose the one you need:

0. Introduction to AAA pipeline
1. Blocking-out
2. Mesh optimization
3. UV unwrapping
4. Baking
5. Texturing (You are here)

What is Texturing?

Texturing is the process of digitally dyeing a 3D model. Textures bring not only colors but may also add roughness details to the surface, set up reflections, and turn a colorless shape into a believable piece.

The texturing process has three key techniques: Procedural Texturing, Photo Projecting, and Painting. These techniques are often combined to achieve visually rich results.

Texturing techniques:

Procedural Texturing

Procedural texturing uses mathematical algorithms to create textures. Instead of designing every pixel or using pre-made textures, designers write algorithms that generate complex patterns. The main benefit of this technique is its ability to create intricate textures that would be extremely time-consuming or impossible to make manually.

For instance, procedural texturing can be used to create realistic damaged textures. Rather than manually creating corrosion and bumps and peeling paint on a metal surface, you can automatically generate these irregularities using algorithms.

Popular software: Substance Designer, Quixel Mixer, Houdini, World Machine

Photo Projecting/Photogrammetry

This technique involves projecting a photograph or image onto a 3D model. The photos capture real-world objects' details, colors, and lighting, producing highly realistic textures.

A typical use case of photo projection is creating accurate and realistic textures, especially for natural objects like rocks, trees, and foliage. It can also help recreate a historical monument. Designers would take photos of the object from various angles, capturing weathering and color nuances. However, photo projecting is time-consuming since the artist needs to select and manipulate the photographs.

Popular software: Mari, 3D-Coat, Substance Painter, Photoshop, AgiSoft MetaSphere, PhotoCatch, RealityScan.

Painting

Painting is about manually painting textures onto a 3D model. The artist can apply brushes and other tools to create various textures and effects, including bumps, scratches, and further surface details.

For example, if an artist creates a character for a video game, they might use painting to give the character unique features, like tattoos or battle scars. However, this technique is labor-intensive, especially for complex models or large environments. It also greatly relies on the skill of the artist.

Popular software: Substance Painter, Photoshop, Blender

Types of Material

While texturing provides visual detail to your model, materials define how the surfaces of these 3D objects interact with light. They determine surface properties such as visible color, roughness, reflectivity, and transparency. There are two major types of materials in computer graphics: basic and PBR (Physically-Based Rendering).

Basic materials

Basic materials, while simple, cannot simulate the physical properties of surfaces. Their functionality is limited to defining parameters such as base color and highlights. These materials have a low impact on system performance and are used mostly in indie or mobile games.

PBR materials

PBR materials have become the industry standard for AAA game development. This approach is more computationally intensive, but you can create more realistic 3D models using it. The texture maps used along with PBR materials often include:

• Albedo Map provides the material's basic color, devoid of any lighting information such as shadows or reflections. For example, this could define the flat red of an apple's skin, before adding any shine or texture.

• Normal Map generates an illusion of intricate surface detail on a 3D model without increasing the polygon count. This could simulate the bumpy texture of an orange's skin on a perfectly spherical 3D model. We have already been told how to create a normal map in the previous part of that guide.

• Roughness Map informs the light scattering or reflection on the material's surface. For instance, it can differentiate between the smooth, shiny surface of a polished wooden table and the rough, matte surface of an unpolished one.

• Gloss Map determines the shine or glossiness of a surface. It is somewhat similar to the roughness map but inverted, and the choice between the two often comes down to software compatibility or specific technical requirements.
• Metallic Map identifies the metallic and non-metallic portions of an object. Using a grayscale representation, it can specify the metal trims on a leather-bound book, where white indicates metallic and black indicates non-metallic surfaces.

• Emission map makes a 3D object appear as though giving off light. It can create effects like glowing buttons on a control panel. The emissive map controls both the color and intensity of the glow.

• Specular Map controls the reflectivity and shininess of a surface. It defines the color and intensity of reflected light on a surface. This texture map is less commonly used in PBR workflows as the metallic and roughness maps often determine specularity.

• Height Map adds more significant, visual depth and detail to the 3D object's surface. This map contains data that displaces the geometry of an object, effectively creating height variance.

• Opacity map regulates the transparency levels of a 3D object, allowing you to create materials that range from fully opaque to completely transparent. This can make the window glass appear transparent while its wooden frame remains opaque.

• Ambient Occlusion Map identifies areas on a model that receive less ambient lighting, providing shading information. This texture map can enhance the sense of depth and volume in the creases of a crumpled piece of paper.

• Refraction map modify the angle at which light hits the surface. Often used to simulate the bending of rays as they pass through transparent objects, like making the water in a pool appear to warp the tiles beneath it.

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