how to skin.

[stevo]

Do any of you know of a good tutorial to teach me how to skin charactors and weapons? i've searched google and all the halo sites i know of and havn't found anything. help would be apreciated. thanks.

[kenney001]

tahts because its a long process that is only learned through time spent.

You need 2 things to skin:
-knowledge of photoshop or correl PSP
-how to successfully UVW unwrap and wrap in max

Both of which are long-time consuming lessons that are learned through practice.

Go here: Its the best tut. place ever.

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/3DS-MAX/1

[stevo]

thank you. i know somthing of photoshop. not much of UVW unwrap.

[stevo]

ok well how do you skin? but really does it matter if its got my names as the creator of the topic it probubly means i need help with somthing. and hopfully you guys can help me. but next time i will do that thank you.

[Con]

Great gun skinning tutorials:
http://st.burst.cc/tutorials.htm

[stevo]

Where do you guys find this stuff i looked all over and didn't find anything.

[Btd69]

Google isn't usefull for detailed tutorials.. i'll eventually upload the tutorials I have for UVW mapping.. just need to get around to it :P

[DaneO'Roo]

Heh, skinning tutorials?? no thanks, they do more damage than good, in a creativity sense.

I find texturing is probably the hardest aspect of game content creation, and I doubt its a coincidence that the people who can do it have been drawing/doing/have a passion for art since they were young, and are very good at drawing/painting on real paper and canvas. Modelling has many certain rules, guidlines to follow, steps etc. Texturing is more of a creativity thing. Hence why we have so many damn modellers in this community, and shit all skinners. And those few skinners have a vast background of art i.e. did it in school, all their life as a hobby, or just likes to draw and/or paint (that I'm aware of).

If your not a drawer/cannot draw at all I wouldn't even bother. Try modelling or animation. If you are a drawer/painter, have a well grounded knowledge on art and a good creative mind, by all means go ahead, but don't even think of tutorials. Tutorials create a forced mindset. Go at your own pace and creativity, and do things completely thought up from your own head, and learn that way. You'll find it sticks with you more, and you won't have a more narrowed creativity because of trying to "force yourself to learn", and you won't be creating the same cookie cutter skins by using the same methods you've "learnt".

ONLY do it if you have passion for it, otherwise your just wasting your time, wich could be spent on furthering a skill you could be much better at.

[stevo]

well im not that bad at art but then again im not that good either. i am modeling and animating but im still very new to this stuff. you see i need to make a skin for a beretta 9000 because when i put it in halo i dont want it to be white with no texture. maybe if somone could make a skin for me that would be AESOME but if you dont want to then thats perfectly fine. like i said im VERY new to all of this so the more about it i learn the better but for skining i think it would be good to know how to do it not the full thing but just say the rules or somthing and if anyone could tell them to me then that would be great.

[Leiukemia]

Heh, skinning tutorials?? no thanks, they do more damage than good, in a creativity sense.

I find texturing is probably the hardest aspect of game content creation, and I doubt its a coincidence that the people who can do it have been drawing/doing/have a passion for art since they were young, and are very good at drawing/painting on real paper and canvas. Modelling has many certain rules, guidlines to follow, steps etc. Texturing is more of a creativity thing. Hence why we have so many damn modellers in this community, and shit all skinners. And those few skinners have a vast background of art i.e. did it in school, all their life as a hobby, or just likes to draw and/or paint (that I'm aware of).

If your not a drawer/cannot draw at all I wouldn't even bother. Try modelling or animation. If you are a drawer/painter, have a well grounded knowledge on art and a good creative mind, by all means go ahead, but don't even think of tutorials. Tutorials create a forced mindset. Go at your own pace and creativity, and do things completely thought up from your own head, and learn that way. You'll find it sticks with you more, and you won't have a more narrowed creativity because of trying to "force yourself to learn", and you won't be creating the same cookie cutter skins by using the same methods you've "learnt".

ONLY do it if you have passion for it, otherwise your just wasting your time, wich could be spent on furthering a skill you could be much better at.

I agree with pretty much everything you said there. I really envy those who have learned howto make beautifal skins, and really just any type of photoshop art. Although, I don't really agree on giving up if you're not already an artist. There are lots of people out there that are artistically inclined, and don't even know it. I just started creative type of art this february, and I'm glad I did. Even though I'm 17, I think it's a great experiance to start learning to use photoshop. Also, 3d modelling kind of gave me jump start of understanding a few things that can be applied to hand drawn and photoshop art. So yeah, I'd encourage everyone, young or old, experianced or not, to try out photoshop. It's really a load of fun.

[Con]

Heh, skinning tutorials?? no thanks, they do more damage than good, in a creativity sense.

I find texturing is probably the hardest aspect of game content creation, and I doubt its a coincidence that the people who can do it have been drawing/doing/have a passion for art since they were young, and are very good at drawing/painting on real paper and canvas. Modelling has many certain rules, guidlines to follow, steps etc. Texturing is more of a creativity thing. Hence why we have so many damn modellers in this community, and shit all skinners. And those few skinners have a vast background of art i.e. did it in school, all their life as a hobby, or just likes to draw and/or paint (that I'm aware of).

If your not a drawer/cannot draw at all I wouldn't even bother. Try modelling or animation. If you are a drawer/painter, have a well grounded knowledge on art and a good creative mind, by all means go ahead, but don't even think of tutorials. Tutorials create a forced mindset. Go at your own pace and creativity, and do things completely thought up from your own head, and learn that way. You'll find it sticks with you more, and you won't have a more narrowed creativity because of trying to "force yourself to learn", and you won't be creating the same cookie cutter skins by using the same methods you've "learnt".

ONLY do it if you have passion for it, otherwise your just wasting your time, wich could be spent on furthering a skill you could be much better at.

I don't completely agree, tutorials are great for learning if you really understand what's going on, not the cookie cutter you described. It's like the difference between copying someones notes at school, and doing them yourself. You're right, it does take someone with artistic ability and visual understanding, but tutorial's still help. I use tutorials for that reason alone; to learn, not to copy.

[DaneO'Roo]

^ I spose. I however choose not to use them, it's really just a trial and error thing that way, and, I feel like I have more fun doing it. Plus I feel a great satisfaction by learning bymyself :P And what Leukemia said is also correct, didn't think of it that way. Some people are art inclined and haven't exposed themselves to it, and when they do, it opens them up creatively.

[stevo]

Well i do have photoshop skill. I just need the basics i think like how to make it look like a stock or look like the buttons and stuff like that just to make it fit. heres soem of my work.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7218/diablodl9.png
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7228/freestyleae2.png
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7540/rustyio5.png
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/4793/stevo51wn6.png

[DaneO'Roo]

did you draw all of those??

cuz if it's just a few filters on pre images, bleh....you've probably got the wrong idea about skinning lol.

[stevo]

No i used brushes and in a few i used c4ds, some renders and yes a few filters. But if i have the wrong idea about it can you give me the right idea?:) But all of those are made from scratch except for the pictures of the people they have been cut from a background and pasted into my background.

[SnaFuBAR]

skinning is absolutely nothing like that. at all. i would hardly even call it related.

first, you create a "base". this is what emulates a material's texture, be it synthetics, cloth, skin or metal. next, you need to know about how these materials react to light and lack of light (as in highlights and shadows/cores). you need to add these into the skin from ONE light source. next, you have to know about how the object interacts with it's environment so you can add realistic damage/aging to the material and material edges. scratch? dent? flake? also adding insignia and engravings. making your own custom brushes and such.

there's quite a bit you need to know, and if you can't emulate materials, don't even bother until you DO.

[stevo]

Do you know of any tutorials that can explain this to me?

[SnaFuBAR]

yes. sign up at www.sourceblog.org

you'll find all that there.

[stevo]

Thanks guys. I just think the more i learn about all this modding the better so then i dont need to rely on other people as much. Thanks.

[Con]

Great site snaf :)

[stevo]

Yeah thanks again dude.

[SnaFuBAR]

no problem.

[stevo]

If anyone has a site that they know of thats good for tutorials and things like that would you please give me a link. Thanks.

[SnaFuBAR]

www.pixel2life.com (http://www.pixel2life.com)
www.3dtotal.com

[stevo]

thanks. And if anyone has any models they want to sell there is a site where you can do that and because you guys are very good at all this i thought i would show you.http://turbosquid.com

[SnaFuBAR]

we're all very familiar with that site :) a lot of noobs try to download the free models and say that they made them. they get busted every time. it's pretty comical.

[stevo]

I donwload the models. Alot of the free ones suck though:( so now im attempting to make my own and its going well. Just a squestion, when i make somthing the faces look fine in the viewport but when i render them they have problems like part of the face is normal and then another part is black. Whats wrong?

[DaneO'Roo]

smoothig of the normals. Dunno how you fix it in max, I'm a Maya fanboy ^_^

[SnaFuBAR]

select all of your polies, go to your modifier tab, and scroll down to where it has a bunch of number buttons, should be smoothing. then hit clear all. select the faces that need smoothing, go back to the smoothing area, set the degree to 45 and hit autosmooth, or select one number which defines that smooth group.

[stevo]

Dont i save the smoothing for whne im totally finished the model?

[Leiukemia]

Depends on you really. I know some people save it for the end, I personally always smooth as I go. I'd recommend smoothing as you go, as it helps you see where a smoothing error will occur, and you'll be able to fix it sooner. Instead of having to go back and fix things that might affect other parts of the model. Also, if it's on both sides you'll need to fix both sides, and it's much easier while you have the one half of symmetry.

[stevo]

it's much easier while you have the one half of symmetry.
So i've learned. I'm still new to it all so could you guys sugest some guns that are easy to model for me to start off? Thanks.

[SnaFuBAR]

go to www.world.guns.ru or www.modelguns.co.uk

you'll find plenty of guns there. you might want to explore and search for yourself. nobody can say what gun will be easy for you. it really depends on how well you understand the shapes of the gun.

[stevo]

Do you know where i can get magazine pictures? google has failed me alot with this.