VFX | Textures | What would you tell your younger self?

General Discussion
#1

Hi, first I have to say that I always find help here and can’t say how much I appreciate it…

Im trying to learn how to create textures for VFX first I was thinking of hand-painting them but realized I’m not as good of a hand painter as I was thinking, so I went to the procedural making of textures in substance designer, I think it’s nice to learn the procedural thinking to make good textures:)

But I can’t find a good step-by-step tutorial for texture making in VFX in games…also it’s my second day in substance designer, so yeah, but What would you tell your younger self? in making of Textures, something you wish you would have known earlier or in the designer as well, thanks to all who will reply! take care

#2

Hi Mystvfx!
Number one I would say to me:
The bold truth: you only get better while doing a thing.
Do not let yourself discouraged if “you are not a good hand painter”, because with just doing it you will get better (faster than you think!).
Number two:
For Textures I can recommend setting up a simple effect (like texture panning on a sphere and plane) and experiment with different textures to see what works. I always had a hard time initially as well to know “what works for this kind of effect” but I made more progress by throwing different things in, analyzing and iterating on them. Now I have a better feeling for what kind of texture I would need for specific things. (I would still need to iterate on them to polish it up!). So I would say to my younger self to start doing this sooner! No amount of reading and watching tutorials/guides has helped me as much as this.

That out of the way, @simonschreibt has made a great presentation and resource list about how to (not) create textures for VFX: GDC/ADDON 2022: How (not) to create Textures for VFX | Simonschreibt.

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#3

Thanks for mentioning my talk :slight_smile:
@Mystvfx It comes with a Resource Database just for VFX Textures: http://vfxtexdb.simonschreibt.de/

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#4

That’s how I make some textures: https://youtu.be/oq_nSah5jGI?si=MfiUtkb7Z9QtECtE

Just imagine how it should look and paint the same. You can start with low quality textures and then redraw it to high quality.

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#5

I watched the presentation and can’t even describe how good it was, and to have @simonschreibt here in the talk I feel honored, I was scared of textures but after the presentation, I feel much much more confident, thank you :heart:

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#6

oh wow…the fire but especially the water texture? looks so nice! stylized yet advanced, I love that you focus more on how you painted it which as I mentioned was kinda of scared of doing, so I went to the procedural making, but with your video, Im excited to try both!:slight_smile:

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#7

That’s great to hear! VFX Textures are a problem for me as well and I wanted to make the talk to help people - so hearing that it helped you, is exactly what I was aiming for! <3

In the VFX Tex DB you will find nice resources for paining/proc gen/etc

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#8

been scrolling through the page and found everything I needed, can’t describe how much I appreciate

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