Before I entered the career field of texture artist, I went and did 3 years on a BA course in ‘computer game art’. Ultimately it isn’t essential in getting a job as a texture artist but it can be a good motivation to learn the basics of 3D applications and how to approach your work. The biggest problem is that the teachings can be based on methods and technology that is a few years behind, while I can only say that about the course I attended, I do still often hear that many other similar courses still share that very same problem today.
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In Adam Capone’s last two entries, Know Your Assets and Diffuse and Normals, he covered the basics any texture artist should know about the process of making textures and the skills you’ll need. In this final how-to piece, he covers specular extra map techniques with a closing on final stages and more advice about how to get ahead in your career.

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Last week I talked about assets, mapping, and light bake in Know Your Assets. Currently in industry, meshes are far more complicated and require various other maps, which in some cases require different tools from one another, so I’ve put together a breakdown of how I generally work. This week, I’ll talk about Diffuse Map and Normal Map.

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What is a game texture artist? The most basic answer to that is to say a texture artist’s job working for a game developer is to bring meshes created in 3D to life. The roles of a texture artist has expanded quite a bit in recent years since back in the early days of 3D graphics (Sony PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64) texture artists were only really required to paint colours onto one single map which would wrap around a very simple 3Dmesh. The difference now is that meshes are far more complicated and require various other maps which in some cases require different tools from one another. I will provide a breakdown of how I generally work with regards to current technology.

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