About the
Class
This course is
being taught 'live' in the Developers
University Group starting the end of May 2009,
If you would like
to participate in the back and forth aspects of this course
feel welcome to join the group and participate. I am duplicating
the course here to my site so that those who cant join the
group can also follow along as well as to keep it available
for latter self study but it will not include the interactive
class sharing components that will be happing during the course.
Overview:
This is an open
attendance Lab study course based on my 'Tips
on How to Texture a Kick A$$ Room' guide, but instead
of just a guide I will be slowly take the attendees through
exercises to learn these techniques over several weekly
installments. When applicable there will be take home assignments
for self practice and study. I will be encouraging participants
to share their work along they way, while this will not
be mandatory, sharing helps everyone learn from other’s
successes as well as their woopsies.
The timeline
for the Lab will be left open ended so it can be paced as
needed. I imagine the whole thing will take at the least
a couple months to get through but I will not be staying
to any strict schedule in case we need to slow down in some
areas.
Who this class is for:
-The newer developer
who has a basic understanding of developing, knows how to
use their image making program and who wants to texture
furniture and rooms.
-The established clothing texturer who is tentative about
making the switch to furniture and rooms
-The room texturer who wants to learn texture creation techniques.
-The furniture and room mesher who wants to better understand
the needs of those who make their own textures for products.
Prerequisites for the course:
-Must own name,
be a registered dev, and have submitted at least a few items
to the catalog using the Previewer.
-Must have an understanding of the deriving process
-Must have installed as well as have a basic understanding
of Photoshop (PS7-CS4) and its tools, inducing Toolbars,
Layers and Filters. (non Photoshop users are welcome to
join but they must have enough knowledge of their graphics
program to be able to improvise as I will not be able to
help them)
-Must have a digital camera, no fear of going out and looking
foolish taking weird pictures, and a way to import those
images into their computer.
-Must have an image hosting account such as imagshack or
photobucket for sharing work. (and know how to use it)
Please be up
to speed on these prerequisites. Due to the number of topics
being covered and the number of folks interested in the
course I will not be able to backtrack over basics. Please
use the normal DU course threads or the IMVU public forums
to resolve any basic issues.
Outline of topics that will be covered
(subject to change to the needs of those taking the course)
Introduction
to furniture and room retexturing:
Design Concepts:
-Theme
-Mood
-Color Choices
-Developing in Sets
Mesh
Selection:
-Being aware of UV mapping
-What makes a good mesh
-What makes a bad mesh
Texture
Making:
Photosourcing
Seamless Texturing
Baked Lighting
Opacity Issues
Using UV Maps
Room
Lighting and Fog: How all those settings work
Final
Project: Putting it all together
Class Structure:
I will open each
session with a lecture on the topic. When applicable I will
give examples and/or tutorial(s) to further explain the
topic and techniques. Take home self study suggestions/projects
will be provided at the end of each session.
For the week
following that session the thread will be open to discussion
and sharing of assignments between participants.
All questions
asked and comments in this thread may be reprinted in part
or in whole (names omitted) in the off site Lab/Lecture
materials that will accompany this coarse to answer questions
and clarify issues that may come up.
This thread will
be occasionally purged of any superfluous and/or off topic
conversations to keep the course on track and easer to follow
along.
The ‘week’
structure will be loose as it will need to be flexible to
my availability (so don’t shoot me if I’m not
positing on the dot, lol.) I will try to maintain some sort
of regularity but there will be times when I simply can’t.