Hi folks.
I'm gonna explain to you, through this tutorial, how I created "Boulevard". I will focus specially in the texturing part but in addition I'll refer to the whole scene creation process. I won't repeat some concepts you must have read in other tutorials. The idea is that I will show you the way I face a project, and tell you about the way I turn ideas into reality. Just from my experience.

I hope some of the principles, tips and techniques I'll explain below will be useful for you. I tried to use in this tutorial, 3D concepts that you can apply in any 3D package. Maybe you can find some tools that are not available in all 3D programs, but sure there's an analog tool or way to get that in your software.

Before starting I have to thank to Tom and Chris, and all the guys from 3D total team, for their support, trust and patience.

Let's start...

I've organized this tutorial in several parts:

Part 1 - Intro and Conceptualization

Part 2 - Modelling

Part 3 - Texturing

a) Bitmap Processing

b) Material Design

Part 4 - Lighting and Rendering

The genesis of this model was an image I found in an English book for Spanish students that I borrowed from my girlfriend (picture in the right). That was the starting point.
From that point onwards, I just used references from real world, pictures from magazines, books, internet, and so on, and my imagination.

In the first part of the project, what I call "planning", you usually set the general parameters for the whole process. For example, in this specific case, I decided it was going to be an outdoor scene, based on an initial picture of an old style building. It was gonna be lighted by sunlight, maybe using GI, and it was going to look like a picturesque old town scene. I think you always have to imagine how it will look, and the impression it's gonna produce in the spectator. Of course that sometimes, the project take another course during the creative process because of different and multiple events, but you have to keep in the way you set at the beginning so you won't lose general overview and you can choose the best approach to the problems and difficulties you'll find.

A point that I always take into account is the following: You always have to know what your work is for. I mean, if you create a scene for getting a still picture is not the same as if you want the scene for animation. A scene that will be rendered with high quality settings is not the same as a scene for low quality output.

For example, in this scene I created, I didn't use textures with a bigger size than 1200 pixels (height or width). That quality was not necessary because when I began, I knew that I'd render a long camera take, and the output resolution wouldn't be higher than 800 x 600 pixels. I think it's a good point to take into account, 'cause you can be working for nothing, because you won't see the difference.

When I set up all the initial parameters, I pass to the next step: modeling the geometry.

Modelling in this scene is quite simple. In fact, the object organization in 3D space was more complex than the modeling process.

Most of the objects in the scene are parametric primitives, sometimes with subtle modifications. The buildings are boxes turned into meshes and modified through sub-object selections (extruding faces, moving vertexes, cutting, and so on). The building in the center is an extruded shape, and then modified at sub-object level. I used Boolean to generate the windows and interiors.lose general overview and you can choose the best approach to the problems and difficulties you'll find.

The stairs, cornices, stair-steps, rafters, the balcony, and some bricks are all boxes or beveled boxes. I usually get complex parametrics adding subdivisions and then, using a noise modifier to give more irregularity to the geometry (remember that things are no perfect in the real world). The windows were made with boxes, boolean and sub-object modifications.