Creating Decals With Keegan M

[Wings]

Creating Decals with Keegan M
Today in this tutorial you will be learning how one goes upon creating decals for their MX Simulator track using Adobe Photoshop to produce a high quality finished product.

Programs Required

Adobe Photoshop
MX Simulator (full version)
Internet

Overview of Process

 Making an image 1024 x 1024
 Then finding a dirt decal to use as a base texture
 Adjusting settings for your likings
 Make another image 1024 x 1024 grayscale 16bit
 Add tyre marks
 Save both images with a file extension of .png

Begin Process

Now there are many different places to source base textures from like Google Images, CGTextures etc; So the first step were going to want to make is go to
http://www.cgtextures.com/ and go to the sub category soil located on the left hand side, next click on sand. Now your going to want to find a nice looking texture not worrying about the colour just the nature of the texture. I found one I like http://www.cgtextures.com/login.php?&te ... 4de150e5f0 so im going to copy this into photoshop and resize the image to 1024 x 1024 by going Image>Image Size and entering the appropiate size. Your going to want to desaturate this layer now go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate it should now have no colour in it. Now it will be a little bit blurry so theres a few things you can do, 1 being using the smart sharpen filter 2 being the brightness contast sliders and 3 being the curves. All this will just work together nicely, here is my image before and after.



So now let get this show on the road, the first thing we want to make sure we do it be organised, do this by creating a group, to do this go to layer>new>group and then name it texture like so.



Now move the texture into the group by dragging and dropping it in the group. Why we made the group is so that we got back up when we change stuff and so theres no need to erase stuff, a layer mask will work fine. Ok now let make a new layer CTRL + N and fill it with a dirt like colour 3a301f. Now put the groups blending mode to colour dodge this time, depends on personal preference and on the texture. Now lower the opacity of the group to 60 and select the layer which has the dirt colour and go to image>adjustments>brightness contrast and put in the top box -100 and in the second -15 now press ok.

I think DJs onto something with the sharp edges and dont really understand it so im waiting for a reply. I will update it once i know what more i should do.

Things to add

More variety
The pictures
and the rut lines

[Garasaki]

There is no need to merge your layers, ever.

Instead, create a new group. Move all your dirt layers into this group.

Create a mask for this group. Click on the mask, and instead of using an eraser brush, use a regular paint brush with color black to perform the operation of giving the decal smooth sides.

Also, I would suggest immediately duplicating your desaturated dirt texture. It's nice to have that handy if you want to try doing some different things with it.

This also allows you to experiment with changing the contrast/brightness/levels of the desaturated layer - always knowing, if you screw it up, you have the original already in your file ready to reduplicate and try again.

Oftentimes, several layers set to low opacity is more effective then a single layer set to high opacity (when your goal is to create a sense of texture and depth).

I like to use some "difference clouds" layers, set to various blending modes, at low opacity, to give some additional variation

[Wings]

jlv can you please unlock my post so i can edit it, i need to update a few things and add in what garasaki said also i found a few mistakes and need to add some more steps.

[Garasaki]

Also, I would suggest a different decal for the tire ruts, because they are obviously direction dependant, and you don't want your base dirt decal to always be facing the same direction.

[DJ99X]

Lately I've been avoiding soft edges with my decals. It keeps the decals sharp when they overlap, and looks more realistic when it lies over other decals

[Wings]

Yeah, could you please expand on that, im not really catching on?

[DJ99X]

Look at the dirt decals on Sorento. See how the dirt doesnt fade over the grass?

[Motoboss]

One thing everyone should try to avoid though is useing real pictures of dirt sand grass ect... It doesnt look good and very fake....There are great tutorials on making textures from scratch...that look better for a video game..

[ddmx]

and don't put your rut decals on the main dirt base. make a new decal in grayscale 16bit with the tire tracks and that decal will get set to multiply in game. overlapping them makes for nice effects, as in maresia

[Wings]

Ah ok, i wondered how you did that, i will update this real soon for better knowelge or others to resluts in better quality tracks. THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR GENOROUS SUGGESTIONS

[DJ99X]

One thing everyone should try to avoid though is useing real pictures of dirt sand grass ect... It doesnt look good and very fake....There are great tutorials on making textures from scratch...that look better for a video game..

I beg to differ. All of my textures are made from real images. I tamper with them enough that they end up looking great in game

[Garasaki]

My textures also feature images of real dirt.

You just have to use it right.

[Motoboss]

No offense DJ ,but yours are the ones that came to mind when I mentioned that.... Real images will never work...This is a game...In order for textures to look right there going to have to be made ...In a different perspective...This would be like taking the bike and rider out of the game and putting them in real life...Its not going to work.

[DJ99X]

Sorry, I'm standing by the use of real images. I think they look great, and many others would agree. Real images are used for many textures in industry.

[jlv]

Lately I've been avoiding soft edges with my decals. It keeps the decals sharp when they overlap, and looks more realistic when it lies over other decals

Definitely agree. Sharp edges are harder to do but they look way better than a fade when done right.