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Maya Texture - RMIT Visual Effects

2-3 minutes

Once you have made a UV map, the object is ready to receive a texture map. Maya
and other applications offer the option to paint the texture directly onto the 3D
object. However, we shall be painting onto the map itself using Photoshop. For a
regular object this is acceptable, though for an organic object this can be difficult.
The first stage is to export your UV map as a reference. This is done via xxxx.
There you will be required to decide the dimensions of the exported file. It should
be square (height = width). Though any dimensions are acceptable, the standards
are: 512px x 512px, 1024px x 1024px or 2048px x 2048px. How much visual
attention your model require will decide which option you choose.

Having exported the UV map, you are to make a .psd file of the same dimensions.
Name it something rational. This will be the master file from which your textures are
exported and outputting from this file will be all your texture maps. Though many
attributes of a texture can be mapped, we will only use the following:

rgb: the color of the object.

spec: the specularity (shinyness) of the object.

bmp: the bump value (texture) of the object.

The file itself should be organised into clear layer groups. Each group is to
correspond to a different map, and should inherit the name of that map. This makes
turning maps on and off very easy, which in turn makes exporting them easy. It is
advised to start with the RGB map, and once this is finished, duplicate it to make
the other maps. I shall go over the details of making maps in class, but in the
meantime, you might wish to browse my Photoshop website:
http://opticalenquiry.com/photoshop

Export the texture maps as flat tiffs. It is highly likely that in order to get the map
looking as you wish, you will be required to go back and forth from Photoshop to
Maya, each time overwriting the texture files from Photoshop, and reloading the
files in Maya.