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[Unofficial] Mudbox Texture Tutorials


blabba

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Hello folks!
 
As you may know, not all meshes contain the same UV's and trying to transfer texture maps between such things can be painstakingly hard in a normal 2d texture application. Or sometimes trying to fix hand seams can be painstakingly difficult.
 
Today I bring you some solutions to these common problems by advocating a great app (that is free under an educational licence!) that I hardly see used in modding for some odd reason.
 
Why get Mudbox?
- Small Filesize and easy removal (It's 1 GB and it's not as 'involved' an installation as full 3D software packages)
- Easily Paint textures in 3D, fix seams in 3D. No more guess work with UV shells and
- Extends into Photoshop easily for even further customization.
 
Required Tools:
Mudbox 2014 - Get a free education version. (If you have 3dsMax/Maya/Softimage installed with a different year, then install that version of Mudbox)
Photoshop (GIMP) - Make sure you have the .DDS texture add-on installed!
 
Terminologies:


 
.DDS = Direct Draw Surface, What most game textures use. Varying levels of compression.
.JPG = Default format for camera pictures usaully. Highly compressed, DO NOT USE FOR TEXTURES OR MUDBOX!
.BMP = Default format for ENB screenshots. DO NOT POST THESE ON THE FORUMS DIRECTLY! They are very large and uncompressed for quality.
.PNG = Portable Net Graphics, Can be left uncompressed. Very good quality and can be posted on forums directly.
_msn = This is usually the Normal Map. For body's it is an Object Space normal map, for all others they are Tangent Space.
_sk = Subsurface Scattering Map. Used in conjunction with ENB's usually to replicate how light reflects from underneath skin or other materials.
_s = Specular Map. It controls glossiness or shine
 


 
Guide 1: Converting textures between different UV Maps (CITRUS Hand example)


This first guide will be specifically geared towards converting UNP hand textures to the new Citrus Hand UV Layout.
But the method is extensible for converting any texture to new UV's.

 

There seems to be a lot of steps, but this guide is meant for totally new people that have never opened a 3D application before or done even the slightest texture editing in Photoshop or similar.
In actuality the total length of doing this shouldn't take more than 10 mins. (Which is a lot less time than it took me to figure this method out :dodgy: )

Step 0: If installing Mudbox for the first time, and you are a veteran of 3dsMax, it is highly suggested you use the 3dsMax control scheme on first

             install and application launch. This setting can later be changed if you so desire.
 
Step 1: Download your favorite texture replacer.
 
Step 2: Extract the Archive somewhere and navigate to the texture files.
             a. In this example we're only looking for the hand textures. They are usually named: "femalehands_1"


S6spimj.png


 
Step 3: Open up the relevant files in Photoshop or Gimp.
             a. If a dialog pops up asking what size, just hit "Load Default size".


ys242B4.png


 
Step 4: Hit File -> Save As and Export the texture files out as either .BMP or .PNG


7U1E0lH.gif


 
Step 5: Open up my attached "CITRUS Hands" Mudbox file (.mud) if you are converting textures between UNP hands to the new CITRUS hands.
             a. If doing other transfers, all you need is to open up two obj's that have the same topology but have different UV maps
             b. You can also transfer textures between two different objects with different topology (but same shape!) as well as UV's, but some manual
                cleaning up will be needed in Photoshop.
 

EMwnSZV.png


(Optional) Step 6: On the bottom panel of Mudbox click "Select/Move Tools" and then select the "Objects" button. You can now use the brush in the
                                Viewport to select objects if the following method seems slower to you.


2YkLNfc.gif


 
Step 7: On the Right Hand panel select the "Object List" Tab (second tab down)


yKADPAS.png


 
Step 8: Select the "UNP Hands UV" it should now be highlighted blue.


eVVnJFG.png


 
Step 9: On the Right Hand panel select "Layers" Tab


BzWWQPd.png


 
Step 10: On the Upper Right Hand panel, select the "Paint" Tab.


MT8RCgQ.png


 
Step 11: Right Click in the boxed area below the "Paint" Button and select "New Layer" and hit "OK" on the dialog box.


leSKQFi.gif


 
Step 12: Right Click under the new layer tab and select "Import Layer" and navigate to your selected texture files you saved as .BMP or .PNG
               a. Repeat this for ALL your hand textures, like the specular, the normal map and the diffuse texture.


TqfZ4Qv.gif



Step 13: If your importing the Diffuse Map, select the Diffuse channel, if importing Normal Map, select the Normal channel etc...
               a. You should have 4 tabs on the right hand side (Mine's has 3 because I forgot the normal map)


1Vqyjaj.png


 
Step 14: Delete the "Paint Layer 1" tab by right clicking on it and selecting "Delete Layer"


w1mJQnV.png


 
Step 15: On the Toolbar at the top, select "UV & Maps" then hover over "Extract Texture Maps" and select "New Operation"


JORPd8u.png


 
Step 16: Select "Transfer Paint Layers"


zNtnwHC.png


 
Step 17: Under "Targeted Models"
               a. Select "Add All'
               b. Select "UNP Hands UV" and then select the "Remove" Button


qrhXHRA.gif


 
Step 18: Under "Source Models"
               a. Select "Add All"
               b. Select "CITRUS Hands UV"


WJc16Ak.gif


 
Step 19: For "Method" Tab select "Subdivision"
               a. This method only works for Models with exact same Topology! (Like in this example!) It produces flawless results automatically.
               b. If not using the same topology, you must use Ray-Casting! I'll make a detailed guide about this later.


DItQoRF.png


 
Step 20: For the "Image Size" Tab make sure the box says "Same Size". You never want to upscale the resolution of a raster image texture.
 
Step 21: For the Anti-Aliasing Tab, Set it to the highest possible value!


VdejeOH.png


 
Step 22: Double check your setting that they match the following image, and then scroll down and hit "Extract"


4bTxlJW.png


 
Step 23: Don't do anything in Mudbox until the operation on the bottom right corner says "Done" (This may take awhile depending on your computer
              and quality of textures). Your viewport should change and show the new textures now on the CITRUS UV model when done.


Roh5u4i.gif


 
Step 24: On the Right Hand panel select "Object List"


1AjRbWw.png


 
Step 25: Select "Citrus Hands UV"


BPfSz8z.png


 
Step 26: On the Right Hand panel select "Layers" and make sure the "Paint" button is still highlighted.


iKnHKfG.png


 
Step 27: Right click on each texture tab (You should have 3 total, remember I forgot my normal map so example pic is not accurate in that regard)
               a. If using GIMP, go ahead and select "Export Selected" and choose either PNG or BMP again, name texture, save and open in GIMP.
               b. If using Photoshop, go ahead and select "Export Channel to PSD...", Name file and save it somewhere. Photoshop should open.
               c. Repeat this step for ALL texture maps, when switching back from Photoshop to Mudbox, hit the "Close Dialog" button.


vhInKt3.png



Step 28: In Photoshop, click on the eyes of the layers on the right hand side except for the middle one (Or the one with actual colours/details)


KpzHKtO.gif


 
Step 29: Hit File -> Save As


sfkjur2.png


 
Step 30: Select .DDS, Overwrite your original texture pack's texture file and hit save. Depending on what type of texture and quality your going for
               set the settings and export.
               a. For Diffuse/Speculars you can use DXT1, DXT3 or DXT5 compression (I usually just leave the alpha in)


cF9FbsJ.png


               b. For Normal Maps, depending on quality you want to use any of the ARGB modes (I usually just select 8.8.8)


EoPPNVD.png


 
Step 31: Feel free to not save your work and quit Mudbox. Or if using my template .mud file, at least make sure you hit 'Save As' so you do not
              overwrite the template file.


 
Permissions:
Feel free to translate Guide
Feel free to Download and Re-use images
Feel free to Re-post or share guide on another site
Just be sure to give credit please!
 
Feedback:
I would love it if someone could tell me a good method of making tutorials that could be faster and better than forum guides I seem to be making these days. Or if there should be a better place where I make such guides.
I am also looking for image hosters
Also, if someone could take the time to make an Offline PDF form of the Guide in order to protect it from 'Mishaps' I would be much obliged.

 

Credits:

Vioxsis - My partner in crime, and the creator of the hand meshes :)

CITRUS Mudbox Hands.rar

Mudbox Texture Guide 1.rar

CITRUS Mudbox Hands v2.rar

Unihand OBJ's.rar

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MudBox is what I wanted to use next for creating some normal maps on something nifty I'm making. CrazyBump just doesn't give me what I want for that. But instead of moving vertices around in Roadkill to reallign stuff, maybe I'll give this a try.

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MudBox is what I wanted to use next for creating some normal maps on something nifty I'm making. CrazyBump just doesn't give me what I want for that. But instead of moving vertices around in Roadkill to reallign stuff, maybe I'll give this a try.

 

It's a great tool for that, and I often find myself amazed at the things you can do with it.

 

You can even convert normal maps into Bump maps using another program (like ShaderMap 2) or even just using some Photoshop trickery.

And then have mudbox re-sculpt a high poly body using the bump map, which you can then edit and have export out a new customized normal map.

 

But I get ahead of myself, I'm too much of a mudbox fanboy recently, even though there's plenty of area for improvement.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Blabba, just a quick question, can this be used for older games, like FNV or Oblivion?

 

yeap same method will work for any game really.

 

Just import models into 3dsmax and then transfer them to mudbox.

 

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I keep getting file too new or corrupt error messages when I try to load your mudbox hands in there. Are you using Mudbox 2013? And if so do you absolutely have to have the same version as 3ds max?

 

No, you don't need to have Mudbox as the same version as your 3dsmax. You only need them to be the same version if you want make use of the 1 click transfer feature from 3dsmax to Mudbox and back again.

 

I made the /mud file in Mudbox 2014, so either try that or try Mudbox 2015, should work fine.

Or I'll try to export out the obj's and attach them later so you can just load them that way with any version of Mudbox.

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Something to do with lighting effects on the skin if I'm on the right track. But I was unable to find a satisfactory explanation through google.

 

Probably use the diffuse channel in mudbox.

 

The preview might not look correct. but meh, It should work for converting it.

 

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Something to do with lighting effects on the skin if I'm on the right track. But I was unable to find a satisfactory explanation through google.

 

Probably use the diffuse channel in mudbox.

 

The preview might not look correct. but meh, It should work for converting it.

 

 

Sir Master Blabba, I have run into the same problem medic975 concerning Mudbox seemingly "calculating tangents" without any hint of end. I was wondering if you knew a way to circumvent this or why the program does it, again, a seemingly indefinite amount of times. 

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Sir Master Blabba, I have run into the same problem medic975 concerning Mudbox seemingly "calculating tangents" without any hint of end. I was wondering if you knew a way to circumvent this or why the program does it, again, a seemingly indefinite amount of times. 

 

 

I actually have no idea how to troubleshoot the issue as I have never had it myself :(

 

How does this even occur, or what step does it happen on?

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Between step 23 and 24. Mudbox will hang there indefinitely. I've left it overnight before just to be sure it wasn't just something that took a long time.

 

I tried to load my own obj as explained in step 5, but I'm unsure what I did wrong there. Loaded the Citrus hands in 3DS Max, Exported them as an obj file, repeated with unp hands, but the citrus hands look really weird when I open them in mudbox, like the palm swallowed the fingers up to the second knuckle. and I get a high valence vertex and degenerated face pop up error.

 

UNP hands came across nicely.

 

What would be all the steps to do this with our own obj files?

 

 

 

post-136727-0-39514100-1405400347_thumb.jpg

 

post-136727-0-71212500-1405400341_thumb.jpg

 

 

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Between step 23 and 24. Mudbox will hang there indefinitely. I've left it overnight before just to be sure it wasn't just something that took a long time.

 

I tried to load my own obj as explained in step 5, but I'm unsure what I did wrong there. Loaded the Citrus hands in 3DS Max, Exported them as an obj file, repeated with unp hands, but the citrus hands look really weird when I open them in mudbox, like the palm swallowed the fingers up to the second knuckle. and I get a high valence vertex and degenerated face pop up error.

 

UNP hands came across nicely.

 

What would be all the steps to do this with our own obj files?

 

In 3dsMax, make sure the hands are converted to editable poly with no other modifiers on the stack.

 

Then when you export to .obj, make sure you select the mudbox preset.

 

Also, for best quality transfer of textures, It's best that you use the SAME mesh with the different UV Maps.

 

I'll upload the obj's for people here in a little bit.

 

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I could be wrong but step 17 and 18 in the guide is reversed of what it's suppose to be? Also the default is 'only the selected paint layer' not 'all layers'.

 

Nah, correct order at least in my mudbox.

 

But yea to be honest the order doesn't matter. As Long as you select the correct source and destination objects.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok, the tutoorial is excellent.

 

Now, if I could just get MudBox to work properly I could have done this already.

 

Slight rant, but Autodesk has probably one of the most irritating sign up, download and installation procedures I hgave ever seen.

(srs, asking to accept the use lisence agreement 3 times among other things)

 

 

But I managed to install MudBox, and teh tutorial is excellent. I still run into a problem at step 22, since MudBox apparently never got to "done". I'll retry it later on.

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Ok, got the time and tried it again.

 

Three times.

 

For some reason MudBox kept getting stuck right after Extracting was done. It did this twice (second time I left it running for 2 hours, just to make sure it wasn't realy, realy slow).

 

Third time it worked with no trouble. No idea why.

 

The tutorial is excellent, as I wrote.

 

One question only. "a. Repeat this for ALL your hand textures, like the specular, the normal map and the diffuse texture."

 

I tried this with Realistic Girls texture. There is only one hand texture. Am I doing something wrong and the specular, diffuse and normal maps are extracted somehow from that? If so, how?

 

I checked Mature skin as well, and it is the same.

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Ok, got the time and tried it again.

 

Three times.

 

For some reason MudBox kept getting stuck right after Extracting was done. It did this twice (second time I left it running for 2 hours, just to make sure it wasn't realy, realy slow).

 

Third time it worked with no trouble. No idea why.

 

The tutorial is excellent, as I wrote.

 

One question only. "a. Repeat this for ALL your hand textures, like the specular, the normal map and the diffuse texture."

 

I tried this with Realistic Girls texture. There is only one hand texture. Am I doing something wrong and the specular, diffuse and normal maps are extracted somehow from that? If so, how?

 

I checked Mature skin as well, and it is the same.

 

I know for sure Mature skin has multiple maps, 1 for specular, normal and diffuse.

Since that's what I converted in the tutorial.

 

Some textures might only come with 1 map, but most complete overhauls should have the full set. I'm fairly sure Real Girls should have a complete set, unless it's still in beta/alpha and the creator hasn't finished them yet.

 

The textures should show up in the texture folder with _s, _msn names usually.

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Ok, got the time and tried it again.

 

Three times.

 

For some reason MudBox kept getting stuck right after Extracting was done. It did this twice (second time I left it running for 2 hours, just to make sure it wasn't realy, realy slow).

 

Third time it worked with no trouble. No idea why.

 

The tutorial is excellent, as I wrote.

 

One question only. "a. Repeat this for ALL your hand textures, like the specular, the normal map and the diffuse texture."

 

I tried this with Realistic Girls texture. There is only one hand texture. Am I doing something wrong and the specular, diffuse and normal maps are extracted somehow from that? If so, how?

 

I checked Mature skin as well, and it is the same.

 

I know for sure Mature skin has multiple maps, 1 for specular, normal and diffuse.

Since that's what I converted in the tutorial.

 

Some textures might only come with 1 map, but most complete overhauls should have the full set. I'm fairly sure Real Girls should have a complete set, unless it's still in beta/alpha and the creator hasn't finished them yet.

 

The textures should show up in the texture folder with _s, _msn names usually.

 

 

 

Ok, now I am confused.

 

I triple checked, thinking that Windows might be hding files from me.

But no.

 

After unpacking the archive, this is all I see in the folder:

 

post-309997-0-21553200-1408204724_thumb.png

 

I used the highest resolution one, so now I'll try anotehr one when I have the chance.

 

But unless I am seriously derping here I have no idea what could be wrong.

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