Texture mapping Daz meshes??

[Diane]

As I have worked out, you have to texture the Daz meshes (Victoria, Michael and co) in 2 stages, head and body. Well, is there a way to do this so the colours, textures etc appear seamless when applied? Not sure if I am explaining this right? If I import Michael's head and use Texture Master to do a texture map, how do I then import his body mesh and be able to apply the same colours etc.. so when the maps are applied they appear seamless??

Thanks for any help/hints/advice etc..

Di

[Stonecutter]

Aurick has posted some excellent tutorials and threads on this subject...
Try a search, and I think you'll have all the info you require... :)

[aurick]

I haven't covered that particular issue, though, and it's a good question.

My solution would be to do the texturing in two stages. For the first stage, I'd focus on the skin's base texture. This is the part that needs to be a careful match between the body and the head, since a difference in skin tone would be obvioud.

For the second stage, that's when you'd go in and add the details. If you simply avoid putting in details that would cross the line between head and body, you'll be fine.

Of course, how best to do the matching skin tones?

Use 3DCopy! Create a nice skin texture on the canvas, or import a really large square texture that you already have from somewhere. The idea is to fill the canvas with it.

Next, use the techniques in this thread (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000124) to transfer the skin texture to the head and body. Be sure as you do so to set the new texture size that you're creating to something very large (like 2000x2000). Like any other texture, the larger the map the better the details will be.

When you've created your base skin texture in this way for both the head and the body, they will be a very close match in tone and look. Now use the TextureMaster to take your texturing to the next level and add your details.

Hope that helps you out!

[Diane]

Thank you Aurick. I think a tutorial for this subject would be great. Not that I am asking you to do one ;) Just an observation really. It would also be good to fine tune a technique for it. I assume that this is only an issue with the Daz meshes, since other meshes i.e the ones that come with Poser 4 only have 1 texture map.

Which brings me onto my next question. When I import a mesh and put it on the canvas, does it matter how large it is (the mesh and canvas) since the texture map dimensions are done in Texture Master?

Sorry for all the questions - steep learning curve going on here! ;)

Thanks
Di

[aurick]

Well, you want a mesh and canvas size that is big enough that you can easily see the details that you'll be painting. As a rule, I use about 800x800 canvas or 1000x1000. And I draw the mesh big enough to fill the canvas. But I also work with a texture size around 2000x2000 or 3000x3000 so that it transfers cleanly.