'ZBrush, 3ds Max & Photoshop'

Cool texturing and awesome materials :

My texturing process goes like this. First I fill the model with the basic color and then do a rough polypaint (all in ZBrush), not caring about the resolution or the details a lot and just finding the right color scheme for the creature.

From time to time I export the texture as a low res PSD file and render it in Max, then paint more to try and get the look I want – I find this approach gives me the best and most predictable results.

When I’m more or less happy with the result I export it as a 4k texture, open it in Photoshop and apply hue/saturation to correct the color, curves and to raise up the contrast. Then I apply this fixed texture to the model in ZBrush and start painting on it using projection master – now working on fine details. I often mask the model by cavity and brighten or darken the details I need. From time to time I also open the texture in Photoshop and add extra textures using different overlay modes. These layers are often only 10% visible but I find they add the needed vibrancy and variety. The standard color evolution looks something like this (Fig.06).

When happy with the result I export the texture from ZBrush, open it in Photoshop and add some sharpen and just whatever I feel will make the texture look better. As you can see there’s pretty much additional layers on top of exported from ZBrush diffuse texture (Fig.07). There’s no recipe – it’s unique every time. I usually add a cavity mask on top of the diffuse channel set it to multiply and make about 20-50% visible. I also like to lighten up some details with the layer set to soft light and add extra textures or just draw the details trying to avoid the seams.

That’s pretty much everything about texturing. In the case of Franky I wanted to color different parts of his body in completely different contrast colors, but soon found out it was a bad idea as the character looked very unnatural. There’s still a color variation between the different parts but not as vivid as I intended from the beginning. I also created maps for reflection, sss, bump and normal bump (Fig.08).