How to edit or paint textures the right and easy way?

[dremwav1]

Hey, so I'm trying to edit or paint over the textures of a model I downloaded. I unpacked the var to access the texture jpgs, put them into photoshop, and paint over it using brush. After that I save it and use it in game, the thing is there are noticeable seams like in legs and arms where the highlights I made does not really blend well. Is there a way of editing textures correctly? I did find a guide but it was confusing for me and it didn't really explain how to setup the model in photoshop -

https://imgur.com/a/xQxSkdH

- is there a similar guide to this? I want to simply load in the model with its textures and paint over it without having to worry about the seams. I know there is also another software possible for this like substance painter, but I have no clue how to use it.

 

[TToby]

Hi,
that are the seams between the different body textures, as you may have allready known.
These are a bloody hell to edit. I am doing this kind of stuff for many years in DAZ before VaM,
and it was never easy. There are some very few texturing tools that can paint over those UV seams, or so it was some months ago when I was looking into this the last time. I am not quite sure, maybe Substance Painter can do this, for instance.

Ther are some seam guides, one is in the "Ressources" section. With those guides, you can find the borders of the seams a bit more easy, but still...

What do I suggest: If you want to do some basic texturing, then keep away from the seams as much as you can. Plan your textures in that way. I usually do my texture, then I erase the seams in a way, that the underlying original texture comes through. Then I adjust the colors to fit.
For complete textures, it is a very much try and error in Photoshop. Even if you are sure that you have done it perfect... you will still see that dam seams in game. This is because those textures are not only lying flat together, but additional to this they are twisted and distorted in different ways. Think of the seam at the back of the legs, for instance.

Here are the seam guides:

Textures - Seam Guides by SnowSultan

😍 Like this? Consider gifting the community a creation in my name or even a private gift to me. * I choose not to have a Patreon (love all you who do) Seam Guides These textures can be loaded into your favorite paint program as a layer to help...

hub.virtamate.com

 

[dremwav1]

thanks for the suggested guide, I was also thinking of using blender or another software but those are too complex and takes too much time to learn. I did try exporting the model as an obj using vam export and load it into photoshop, only problem the model is white no textures, just a complete blank model. I guess photoshop and opening the jpg textures is the only way.

 

[TToby]

I don't like the 3d funktions of Photoshop, they are so slow and bulky. But that strongly depends on different taste, I think. Even if you use the texturing functions of some of the 3d modeling tool, like maybe Blender, ZBrush orSkulptris, and the 3d mode of Photoshop, the seams will still be an issue. Those are UV map borders and most tools can not paint over those borders. There are only some very few texturing tool which are able to do this and still keep the original UV layout. Because of this, and because I am too lazy to learn those new tools, I perferctionated my imperfect style of cheating my way around those seams.

 

[Sp0_0ns]

Using Substance painter is probably the "easiest" way to do something like this as it supports UDIM texture tiles which means you can seamlessly paint over different UV's. Obviously Substance costs money and there is that aspect of learning it, but if you come from a PS background then SP should be nothing since it uses a layer system like PS does.

You can use this which is a Daz base model for SP (.spp) since VaM uses Daz UV textures, it works perfectly:

Textures - Updated substance Painter Template

An issue had appeared when I was using Substance painter where the UV maps wouldn't align the right way. Example: I created a new template which has fixed the issue. So for the people using Substance Painter, if you had this issue like me...

hub.virtamate.com

All you'd have to do is change the textures to the ones you want to edit in the "base textures" folder > make your edits > file > export textures. The hardest part is deciding what textures you want to export and which ones you don't need as by default it'll export all of them.

You can also make decals in seconds using that method and export the texture out with alpha to apply on your model. To make decals you'd need to export the textures w/alpha so it doesn't just fill it all in with black.

Spoiler: SP Template

Textures can be changed using the folder/layers on the right or disabled completely if you want to make decals instead.

example of seamless painting:

 

[dremwav1]

Using Substance painter is probably the "easiest" way to do something like this as it supports UDIM texture tiles which means you can seamlessly paint over different UV's. Obviously Substance costs money and there is that aspect of learning it, but if you come from a PS background then SP should be nothing since it uses a layer system like PS does.

You can use this which is a Daz base model for SP (.spp) since VaM uses Daz UV textures, it works perfectly:

Textures - Updated substance Painter Template

An issue had appeared when I was using Substance painter where the UV maps wouldn't align the right way. Example: I created a new template which has fixed the issue. So for the people using Substance Painter, if you had this issue like me...

hub.virtamate.com

All you'd have to do is change the textures to the ones you want to edit in the "base textures" folder > make your edits > file > export textures. The hardest part is deciding what textures you want to export and which ones you don't need as by default it'll export all of them.

You can also make decals in seconds using that method and export the texture out with alpha to apply on your model. To make decals you'd need to export the textures w/alpha so it doesn't just fill it all in with black.

Spoiler: SP Template

Textures can be changed using the folder/layers on the right or disabled completely if you want to make decals instead.
View attachment 92727

example of seamless painting:

View attachment 92730

my god thank you so muchhhh, that was surprisingly easy, I had to learn substance painter for a bit though. Textures finally look great with no seams!!. Also, I'm confused with creating decals, how do I go about exporting the textures with alpha?

 

[Sp0_0ns]

my god thank you so muchhhh, that was surprisingly easy, I had to learn substance painter for a bit though. Textures finally look great with no seams!!. Also, I'm confused with creating decals, how do I go about exporting the textures with alpha?

On export in the settings tab you can change the "Output template" to "document channels + normal + AO (with alpha)" to export w/ alpha

On the same screen, you can also change the res "size" of the textures that'll be exported. By default it's based on each texture set and that's 2k, but you can bump it all the way to 8k if you want the extra res. 8k is probably overkill and 2-4k is more than enough, but to each their own.

 

[dremwav1]

On export in the settings tab you can change the "Output template" to "document channels + normal + AO (with alpha)" to export w/ alpha

On the same screen, you can also change the res "size" of the textures that'll be exported. By default it's based on each texture set and that's 2k, but you can bump it all the way to 8k if you want the extra res. 8k is probably overkill and 2-4k is more than enough, but to each their own.

thank you once again!