Texturing An Elegant Table

Author: Samanthie

Tools Needed

* Table Object and Texture Map

* Paint Shop Pro 9 or Photoshop

* Poser4 or above

Support Files

*dlo_table_text_tut.zip

I have provided the table object as well as the texture map which are yours to keep as a gift for taking the tutorial.

Note: This is a continuation of the tutorials begun in “Model an Elegant Table in Hexagon 2” and “Elegant Table Part 2: Unfolding and Exporting an Object with Multiple Parts”

I am using Paint Shop Pro version 9 for this tutorial so my directions will be specific to that program.

Download the zip file. Unzip the object and map files into the folder of your choice.

Open PSP. Navigate to where you placed the texture map and open it.

Increase the color depth to 16million colors on the texture map for editing.

Click on Image/Increase Color Depth/16million Colors.

Let's have a look at our map.

The two rows of circles at the top are the leg end caps.

The ovals in the middle are the top and bottom surfaces.

The four shapes at the bottom are the legs

These are the Magic Wand and Freehand Selection tools.

Let's begin with the magic wand tool and click on an area outside of the shapes on the texture map.

Invert the selection; Selections/Invert.

Click on Selections/Modify/Expand and choose 2 pixels.

Click on the new layer icon on the layer palette to create a new layer. Name the new layer Color.

Flood fill all of the shapes with a brown color. I chose color#823720

Click on the Freehand Lasso tool.

Deselect everything except the oval shapes. Hold down the Ctrl key and drag to make a lasso around the objects to deselect.

Create another new layer by clicking on the new layer icon again and name it Color1.

Flood fill both oval sections with color#cfd4d7 on the new Color1 layer.

Invert the selection. Selections/Invert and apply a drop shadow with these settings;

Apply another drop shadow with these settings

We need to resize the Ovals. There is going

to be a wood trim around the edge.

Put the color layer on multiply. Lower the opacity of the Color1 layer down to about 60%. You should be able to see the texture map on the background layer. We need to make the oval shapes smaller. They may look it but they are not exactly identical so they need to be resized individually. Also they each need to be on a separate layer.

Activate the rectangle selection tool and drag to select one of the ovals. Go to Edit/Cut and leave the selection active. Create a new layer then go to Edit/Paste/Paste into Selection. The oval is now on the new layer exactly in the right place ready to be resized.

Lower the new layer's opacity to about 60%. No need to name the new layer. The two layers will be merged together in a couple of minutes.

The ovals will need to fit snuggly into the outlined areas.

Activate one of the oval layers and then click on the Deformation tool.

You should be able to see the mesh below so use it as a guide. You should also be able to see the oval as you adjust it. Resize by pulling the corners, sides, top, and bottom inward with the Deform tool.

Repeat for the other oval.

This is how they should look.

Return all layers to Normal and opacity at 100%.

Click on the eye in the layer palette next to the Background and Color layers to turn them off. Then merge the two oval layers. Layers/Merge Visible.

Right click on the merged layer in the layers palette and rename it to Color1.

Turn the background and Color layers back on by clicking on the eye again.

Create a new Art Media Layer this time. Layers/New Art Media Layer and name it Design. Select the oil brush tool and use these settings;

I am just going to draw a simple design within the oval area. There is no need to worry too much if the design looks a little messy and uneven. That will be taken care of when we apply the Kaleidoscope effect in a few minutes. Here is what I came up with.

When you have your basic design finished right click on the Art Media layer in the layer's palette and click on convert to raster layer.

Click on Effects/Reflection Effects/Kaleidoscope and use these settings.

Use the deform tool again if needed to get the design inside the oval area.

Duplicate the layer.

Drag the Design Copy layer below the original Design layer. Just click on the top layer and while holding down the left mouse button move the layer down into position and then click on Adjust/Color Balance/Negative Image and apply.

Click on the Deform tool again and move the layer down and over to the right just a very small amount. See image;

Turn off all layers except for the design layers and go to Layers/Merge/Merge Visible.

Set the Layer mode to Overlay and opacity to 56%.

Duplicate the layer and place the mode to Dodge and opacity to 34%

Your image should look similar to mine;

You have finished your etching! Turn off the background layer and Merge/Visible layers. Rename the merged layer to Design.

Use the magic wand tool and activate the Color layer (the one with the flood filled brown shapes) and click on a clear area of the map.

Invert the selection.

Create a new layer and name it Texture.

Go to File/New and create a new image of 500×500 pixels,

300dpi, white background and 16mil colors.

We need to make a wood texture suitable for our table.

Flood fill the new image with color #ae713D

Click on Effects/Texture Effects/Texture and use these settings;

Click on Adjust/Blur/Motion Blur and apply with these settings;

Here is the texture.

Let's make the texture seamless. Go to Effects/Image

Effects/Seamless Tiling and use the following;

Now click on Edit/Copy.

Save and close the wood texture file for future use.

Return to the table texture map. The selection should still be active. Make sure the new Texture layer is the active layer.

Go to Edit/Paste/Paste into Selection. The wood texture should paste into the selection as shown;

Change the Texture layer to Overlay in the Layer's palette and move the slider down to 20%.

Go to Layers/Merge/Merge All Flatten!

You have textured your map. Now we need to see what it will look like on our model.

Launch Poser and to File/Import/Wavefront obj. Navigate to the folder where you placed the table object named dlo_table_tut.obj and import it.

Choose the following options.

This is what you should see'

We need to do a few things before we can load up our texture map. The image has already been sectioned in Hexagon 2. Now we need to prepare it for our texture map.

Click on the Grouping tool.

The Group Editor will pop up. The section of the object that is listed first will be selected in red. Ignore that and click on the Spawn Props tab of the editor.

Click on the menu just below the table image. Select Props and then click on dlo_table_tut and hit the delete key.

You can close the Group Editor.

Click on the Hierarchy Editor. Window/Hierarchy Editor. Under the word Universe is the word ground followed by the listed names for our table parts. Let's name them something more appropriate. Click on the first part name (Form6) and when the rename box appears type in the new name. I named the parts legs, top and trim.

Close the editor.

It's time to load our texture map. Click on Render/Materials.

The Surface Materials Tab comes up.

Notice the object name in the box at the top.

All three of our object parts are listed there.

Select trim if not selected and change the object color to white.

Where it says texture map click on the load button and load the map.

Now select legs from the drop down object list and do the same thing.

Finally select top, leave the color as it is and use these settings;

Now click on OK and click on render options.

Click on Render Now!

We want to see our top table surface so click on Display/Camera/ View/From Top

Image shows both top and front views;

You can play with the transparency dials and the lighting to see what other effects you can achieve for the top of the table. The render shown here was just to see if our texture worked.

We are very nearly finished but there is a little bit of parenting to be done. This is not so difficult and it will make moving and rotating our table object a whole lot easier.

Let's begin with the trim. Click on the drop down menu below the image screen and then click on props and choose trim. Go to Object/Properties. The Prop Properties options menu will appear. Click on the button that says Set Parent. The Choose Parent Editor appears. Scroll down to the bottom and highlight the word top. And use these settings;

What does this do? Well basically if you move or rotate the top of the table the trim will move and rotate as well. Click on OK and then click on OK again when the Prop Properties menu return.

Now go to the drop down menu under the image and select top. Click on Set Parent as you did a moment ago and when the Choose Parent editor comes up scroll down to the bottom and choose legs. Click on OK and then click on OK again in the Prop Properties menu.

Now when you rotate your table prop select the legs to move and/or rotate it. The top and trim will follow.

With all the parenting out of the way now all you need to do is save everything as a prop.

In the Poser Library under Props click on the plus sign to add the table. Click on the Select Subset box.

The Hierarchy Editor appears with a list of the objects.

Check all of them and click OK.

The set name menu will appear again

So just give your table a name and click OK!

Test your new table by clicking File/New to clear the scene. Now just click on your new table in the Props library and it should appear.

Thank you for taking the Elegant Table tutorial.:o)

Texturing an Elegant Table tutorial by Debbie Overstreet ~Samanthie'