3D Creative December 2015

3DCREATIVE MAGAZINE | Creating textures for sci-fi spacecraft
Keeping that knowledge in mind, I start to build
all the maps simultaneously in Photoshop,
adding details, damage, dirt, and so on, step by
step in different layers while constantly checking
the process in Marmoset Toolbag 2.
Establish the different colors: To start
06 the texturing process, I first establish
all the colors of the ship. I create a base layer
of solid color that is the base color of the ship
(in this case, blue). On top of this one, I start to
create more solid color layers with all the different
colors, and mask the desired pieces of the ship (I
use the mask map I previously made in 3ds Max
to help me select the areas and mask them). I
basically make variations of blue, some black
pieces and some different tones of gray.
To learn about the PBR Metalness/Roughness workflow in depth,
look up Allegorithmic’s comprehensive documentation
The colors in this case represent the paint on the
metal, so the roughness map should be the same
in all the colors, even though I prefer to add some
variation to break the homogeneity.
Establish the different colors of the ship and add some variations in the roughness map
The metal map is all black for now since I haven’t
established any raw metal yet.
Add metal textures: Once I set up all
07 the colors, I move on to add the metal
textures. I choose one metal map from www.
textures.com as my base metal and duplicate
it to fill the whole canvas. I use it in Overlay
blending mode to get a very subtle effect.
On top of this, I add a scratch map (also found in
www.textures.com, and modified by me) at 60%
opacity so the scratches are not very strong and
evident in the render.
In the roughness map, I desaturate the metal
texture and use it in Multiply mode. I also move
the arrows inside the Blending Mode option
window so only the darker tones remain visible.
I want the metal texture to be dark here, so these
areas look shinier. For the scratch map, I invert
the colors so they become black and use it in
Multiply mode.
I use a similar process for the metalness map to
make it white (suggesting the metal underneath
is the paint colors) and I duplicate the scratch
map several times in Screen mode to get them
very white.
Adding the panels map: To add even
08 more variation to the different colors, I
add a panel texture from Total Textures v7: Scifi.
I use it in Overlay with a very low opacity and
modify the Levels to add more contrast. I only use
this map in some blue areas, so I make a mask to
specify it.
For the roughness map, I desaturate the map
and use it at very low opacity, tweaking Levels
for more contrast. The metalness map remains
unaffected by the panels. I also convert the
desaturated map into a normal map to create
more distinctions in the render.
At this point you should feel that the ship is made
of metal and has been painted, and the damage
should look natural. If it doesn’t, go back and play
a bit with the albedo, roughness and metalness
maps, changing the values and balance of colors,
and so on. In this tutorial I’m showing you the
final result, my final colors and roughness values,
but they took me a lot of time and testing until
they looked good and natural. Feel free to change
them as much as necessary until they give you a
great result.
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