How to Create 2D Texture Skins

Texture adds character to virtual objects.

Texture skins are images representing three-dimensional textures that you apply to virtual objects to give the objects more character. Designers often apply these textures to make objects more realistic, but they can also be used to produce cartoonish or other nonrealistic effects. Making texture skins involves obtaining an image from a material library or producing your own image, then applying that image to an object. Fitting the texture to the object may require some adjustments.

Things You'll Need

• Design application with texturing features

Instructions

1. Download a texture skin from the Web. One source is Wikimedia Commons (see Resources). Type the name of any texture-related image, such as sand, grass, or rocks, in the search field. Select a resulting image that contains just the texture you want, minus any nontexture elements (e.g. a seashell in your sand texture).

2. Open your design application and create an object to apply the texture to. Blender users can use the default cube that appears at the start of each session. Select the object once you've created it.

3. Open your design program's tool for applying textures. Sketchup users can choose the "Bucket" tool under the "Tools" menu.

4. Load the image you downloaded from Wikimedia to your design app. Users of 3ds Max can do this through the small button next to the "Diffuse" color swatch in the Material Editor. Apply the "Bitmap" texture, then navigate to and select the downloaded image file.

5. Apply the texture to the object. If you're using Sketchup, the "Add to Model" menu item will transfer the selected texture to the model.

6. Render the textured model. Blender users can render the textured model with the "Render Current Frame" item of the "Render" menu.

7. Evaluate how well the texture you applied fits the rendered model. If some tailoring is required, go to Step 8. Otherwise, your work is done.

8. Adjust the UV map of the object to better fit the texture you applied. The UV map is a set of coordinates or instructions that tell your design app how to transfer a two-dimensional image onto a surface that differs from its original one. (The letters U and V don't stand for words, but instead correspond to the Cartesian coordinates X and Y used in geometry and design.)

   3ds Max users can adjust the UV map in various ways, including adjusting the spinner controls in the "Coordinates" rollout of the Material Editor. Change the U and V spinner settings as you watch the texture on the object. The texture will shift based on your changes.

   If changing the U and V settings doesn't produce satisfactory results, apply the "UVW Modifier" to the object and adjust the parameters in the modifier's "Parameters" rollout.

References

• Blender 3d Content Creation Suite: Applying Materials
• Google: Sketchup: Paint Bucket - Applying Materials

Resources

• Wikimedia Commons