Creating a Lowpoly Concrete Barrier – part 02

by Jonathan Williamson

In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial we go through the process of modeling, UV unwrapping and texturing a lowpoly concrete barrier.

Part 02 of this short series covers texturing process using Photoshop and Blender’s paint tools. This tutorial covers creating of the diffuse, bump and spec maps.

The tutorial on Seamless Texture Painting in Blender referenced in this video by Porter Nielsen can be found here: http://vimeo.com/24370271

Lowpoly Concrete Barrier<

You must be logged in to upload images. Register

Discussion

43 Responses to “Creating a Lowpoly Concrete Barrier – part 02”
  1. CGEffex
    Posts: 11

    Nice :) I like low-poly stuff. It’s just fun to make, and when it’s all done it looks pretty cool!

    #
    1
     Jun 16, 2011 at 9:24 am
  2. thiago kolb
    Posts: 136

    thx

    texturing using GImp
    :D

    #
    2
     Jun 16, 2011 at 9:51 am
  3. Tweediez
    Posts: 5

    Ahh Been waiting for this! :D Great idea, and really useful, cheers guys :) I think more low-poly/game related models would be really useful ;)

    #
    3
     Jun 16, 2011 at 10:17 am
  4. Roberto
    Posts: 5

    I think the first part was awesome, this last one was not so good. You could definitely make a normal map with high-poly model, and give some tips in using alpha brush’s in blender to add some cracks and so…
    By the way, since blender as its own Game Engine there should be more tutorials in “Low-poly Art”.
    Still very nice tips in the seams.

    Thx for the tutorial :) keep going!

    #
    4
     Jun 16, 2011 at 10:43 am
  5. Robert Gardner
    Posts: 5

    The issue you were having with photoshop was you were attempting to overwrite a file that was open in PS already.

    #
    5
     Jun 16, 2011 at 11:00 am
  6. Andrew Pace
    Posts: 59

    Very nice. It’s been a while since I’ve done bump and spec mapping. This kinda makes me want to take another whack at it. You’ve probably demystified the process for a lot of folks out there.

    #
    6
     Jun 16, 2011 at 11:08 am
  7. B M
    Posts: 15

    Jonathan, you wanted to know where to find the laser beam tutorial?

    Go to https://sites.google.com/site/thenewblendermaterialsarchive/laser-beam-tutorial to find it.

    P.S. Got any ideas on how to group the three laser components into one for easier animation? I’m kinda intermediate level in Blender.

    #
    7
     Jun 16, 2011 at 11:11 am
  8. B M
    Posts: 15

    Hey, why not do a skyscraper tutorial?

    #
    8
     Jun 16, 2011 at 11:21 am
    • Stanislav Simovski
      Posts: 47

      Agree! I needed to create a realistic skyscraper quite a few times in fact for school projects, and always had to use that clunky 3Ds Max. I would like to use Blender! Please make a tut on how to do a nice skyscraper with glass windows and stuff.

      #
      8.1
       Jun 17, 2011 at 1:16 pm
      • fhtagn
        Posts: 1

        Andrew Price did a great Tutorial about skyscrapers\n\nhttp://www.blenderguru.com/the-complete-architecture-series/

        #
        8.1.1
         Jun 18, 2011 at 2:58 pm
  9. john mervin
    Posts: 95

    B M, there is a nice tut on making a high rise building on blender guru.
    cheak it out.

    #
    9
     Jun 16, 2011 at 12:51 pm
    • Stanislav Simovski
      Posts: 47

      Thats not a proper modern “glass-like” skyscraper that reflects the world and stuff. Basically I need help with the texture work, similar to this tutorial.

      #
      9.1
       Jun 17, 2011 at 1:18 pm
  10. Meikel
    Posts: 12

    hey jonathan,

    very nice tutorial. fun to watch :-)
    however, you said png shows more compression than targa which is correct in general. interestingly the png format is a lossless compression and targa can be stored in raw uncompressed fashion as well as in rle compressed fashion. you may find a much more in depth information on e.g. wikipedia on this topic.
    I only wanted to make clear that png is lossless, too ;-)

    so, keep it up! it’s great stuff you guys deliver to the community.
    regards,
    meikel…

    #
    10
     Jun 16, 2011 at 3:47 pm
  11. AE
    Posts: 55

    Can’t say I like the result…

    #
    11
     Jun 16, 2011 at 4:29 pm
  12. Erik Scott
    Posts: 42

    Please use GIMP. Many of us feel strongly about using exclusively free software.
    Otherwise, thanks for another awesome tutorial!

    #
    12
     Jun 16, 2011 at 8:44 pm
    • Jalik
      Posts: 11

      I have nothing against Gimp or Adobe’s, I use Gimp myself but why should they use Gimp just to make people happy ? really don’t understand :S

      And if you say because these tools does not exists in Gimp, you still can do it in an other way, but not as simple of course.

      #
      12.1
       Jun 17, 2011 at 3:03 am
      • Michael Dawkins
        Posts: 21

        Blender is an open source symbol, like gimp.
        Some people only see a tool, and it’s fine.
        But others (including me) want to push open source movement as far as possible and believe in the freedom that comes with it.
        And yes, make people happy is important for blender cookie since it’s a way to gain the loyalty of the customers.
        Plus, I really cannot afford photoshop, and that’s the case of lots of blender users.

        Beside that, this tutorial is awesome, thank you Jonathan for this!

        #
        12.1.1
         Jun 17, 2011 at 11:35 am
      • Jalik
        Posts: 11

        I understand and agree totally.

        But I’ve noticed that on Internet nowadays, people ask always more and more even when it’s free, and they act as if we owe them something.. I have absolutely nothing against someone and I am not pointing someone, it’s just a fact, I would like people to be more resourceful because they will not always be able to ask for help.
        Peace & Blend

        #
        12.1.2
         Jun 17, 2011 at 2:09 pm
      • Michael Dawkins
        Posts: 21

        You’re right, some people really don’t realize the amount of effort involved to create training resources and develop applications.
        Also I noticed that some people don’t understand whether a tutorial required effort to produce or not and ask for new ones matching their personal needs.

        The good thing about blender cookie (and blender guru IMO), is that we have passionate people making high quality tutorial for free.
        That’s why I bought Jonathan’s book and think about becoming a citizen : when I arrived on the site for the first time I said to myself “all that awesome content for free? I need to contribute for that”. The ending is the same, they will earn money (hopefully) but I think it’s more compatible with blender’s vision of education and it gives access to knowledge even for those who cannot afford it right now.
        I hope to see more open source in industry and more good training websites for them in the future. I think there is a place for each type of model.

        But yeah, all in all, you’re right : peace and blend :)

        #
        12.1.3
         Jun 17, 2011 at 8:37 pm
      • Mike
        Posts: 7

        I was able to do the entire tutorial in Gimp without any major problems. Gimp has all the tools he used in the video, even if they are a bit lacking compared to PS. You’ll just have to poke around the interface a bit to find the similar tools. It was hardly an issue at all for me.

        #
        12.1.4
         Jun 20, 2011 at 2:23 am
  13. Jalik
    Posts: 11

    I noticed that the white was interpreted as black in blender.. that’s strange, I tough i was wrong and it was the normal behavior.. damn !
    hope they will fix that soon, should be simple to fix.

    And the tut is good, interesting result, but more focused on beginners.
    Thank you CGcookie, I should buy something in your shop to thank the team for the free tutorials, but I find the free stuffs more interesting than priced one :S

    I am looking for a good rigging and character animation training, what do you advise me ?

    #
    13
     Jun 17, 2011 at 3:00 am
  14. Laurent CHATELLIER
    Posts: 15

    Thanks a bunch, the technique for getting rid of visible seams will be very helpful to me.
    Cheers.

    #
    14
     Jun 17, 2011 at 7:06 am
  15. Michael DeLuca
    Posts: 8

    Jonathan (and BlenderCookie at large),\n\nRoberto touches on an interesting idea — can you put together some tutorials on making high-poly meshes and then apply whatever magic is required for recreating that in low-poly? I’ve seen some spectacular work done in high-poly to low-poly, but it always seems something of a black art.

    #
    15
     Jun 18, 2011 at 5:23 pm
    • Michael DeLuca
      Posts: 8

      Strike that request, BlenderCookie! I just found the Ben Simonds tutorial. Excellent job of anticipating my needs!

      #
      15.1
       Jun 19, 2011 at 2:27 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      This is an excellent suggestion! I have added this to my list. \n\n-Jonathan

      #
      15.2
       Jun 19, 2011 at 4:18 pm
  16. Jeff
    Posts: 5

    Verrrrry helpful tips about getting rid of seams using Texture Painting. I had no idea about how Texture painting in blender worked until now. i can think a so many possibilities to use it, now. Also, creating spec maps using your method gives much better results than what i used to do.

    Low-poly modeling is surprisingly fun to me. It’s up to you, but more tutorials like this would be a awesome.

    Thanks a whole lot.

    #
    16
     Jun 19, 2011 at 10:50 am
  17. Tom
    Posts: 1

    Anyone know how to do the colour map filter in gimp 2.6, aparrently the plugin has been removed and I haven’t been able to find one.

    #
    17
     Jun 19, 2011 at 3:41 pm
  18. James Gledhill
    Posts: 14

    This 2 part tutorial was awesome. I have been struggling to understand texturing and bump mapping but this made it quite clear. Also the low poly modeling was great as I have had a few requests from friends to make models for games. Could we get some more low poly tutorials?

    Keep up the good work, you guys are doing an incredible job.

    cr0wb4r

    #
    18
     Jun 21, 2011 at 8:25 am
  19. Litterate
    Posts: 9

    Just a comment. PNG is a lossless format, i.e., it has no compression unless you want it to.

    #
    19
     Jun 29, 2011 at 3:34 am
    • Adam M.
      Posts: 1

      PNG is always compressed, but in a lossless fashion.

      #
      19.1
       Jul 3, 2011 at 7:05 pm
  20. Patrick
    Posts: 7

    Awesome stuff Johnathan! I have been working on creating models for a game I am working on using Blender and Unity and this is very helpful!

    Are you planning any more low poly modeling tutorials? I am finding that with more complex models, projecting the UVs like you showed in this series is very difficult and I end up falling back to using seams, which works, but can be troublesome.

    Also, some tips for rigging and/or animating models for games would be helpful. I have managed to muddle my way through it, but I am sure there are better ways.

    Thank you again for another great series.

    #
    20
     Jun 29, 2011 at 10:45 am
  21. Pablo Rethemias Vazquez
    Posts: 4

    Exelent!
    detail in RGB intensity for specular map, I do not know.
    this was very instructive
    thanks

    #
    21
     Nov 20, 2011 at 5:03 pm
  22. Jeremy Deighan
    Posts: 263

    Posted mine on my site. Woot!

    Jeremy

    #
    22
     Dec 22, 2011 at 2:42 am
  23. John
    Posts: 4

    Merry Christmas

    #
    23
     Dec 24, 2011 at 1:45 pm
  24. Fabian Thiem
    Posts: 3

    thanks for that wonderful tutorial!

    #
    24
     May 19, 2012 at 2:09 pm
  25. Voodoo Radek
    Posts: 1

    Thank you!

    #
    25
     Jun 25, 2012 at 10:53 pm
  26. Roblins
    Posts: 2

    When i get to the GLSL point when i texture it and use UV map it still remains black. What might cause this

    #
    26
     Jul 17, 2012 at 9:56 am
  27. Daedalus
    Posts: 2

    I know this is a fairly old video, but…

    16:30 : You get more compression with PNG?

    Actually, png is a lossless format, so you don’t get any compression artefacts. Did you mean you get lossy compression with JPEG? Or did you mean more compression means more computing power to uncompress? Because I don’t really think that matters much. And I would guess that less compression actually is worse, if you’d just have bmp textures, that would be pretty bad in filesizes as well as memory usage.

    There is nothing wrong with png, I would actually not use tga if at all possible, since png nowadays is more accepted.

    #
    27
     Feb 20, 2013 at 3:40 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      That would have been a mistake, png’s are larger less compressed files.
      I would however point out that targa’s are considered an industry standard render, especially in larger studios such as Weta Digital where they render to Targs’s and exr’s
      -Alex

      #
      27.1
       Feb 21, 2013 at 6:13 am
      • Daedalus
        Posts: 2

        Thanks. I remember, a couple of years ago, pngs were much harder to use, tga was much more accepted. But png has become more used over the years, internet browsers work with it better, games have their textures as png, OSes have better preview possibilities for pngs than for tga.
        I can see why openEXR is a good format to use.
        The fact that tga is industry standard probably is because it has a longer history than png. And since png doesn’t offer much, if any, advantages, why change?
        I don’t think it matters much how you learn it. If you work with png for your personal projects now, then get a job where they want you to work with tga, there’s no difference in workflow there. Just instead of typing .png, you type .tga (well, with GIMP, the file format is determined by what you type, which is faster than having to find the format in a dropdown menu. I suppose professionals use Photoshop, which lacks this time saver afaik :P )

        #
        27.1.1
         Feb 21, 2013 at 11:43 am
  28. anonymous
    Posts: 1

    For the love of god stop saying ‘such as’!!!! I wouldn’t mind if you were using it in the correct context, but you’re just tossing it around!!!

    #
    28
     Mar 27, 2013 at 12:02 pm

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.