So I just got Photoshop Elements for Christmas and I want to use it to paint textures, especially UVW textures so that I can use them on weapons, vehicles, characters etc.

How do you paint textures for specific models? I have Googled and Googled and haven't really found anything that works for me.

Is there a way I can get a 3D model into a format like this so that I can paint textures for that model like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKIvsn2K2Gw&list=UUcBlmEJStNge5WhyMnxPudg&index=8&feature=plcp

oh my gosh if i could find this out i would have so many maps right now lol. does anyone know how to do this?

you mean this sort of thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIsRttmA8-Q&feature=related

with mudbox http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=13565063&siteID=123112

although he is using 3ds max in this i see.

edit: you might want to lower the volume on that you tube vid, it's a bit loud.

Edited by ally on Dec 31, 2011 at 01:41 AM

Wow that's so cool!

You uvw unwrap the faces of the model to a flat texture.

http://tinyurl.com/83ce36a

So could I just take a screenshot of the little windows in Max as seen here. And then paint my textures on that and size it to 512x512 or 256x256 or whatever I want and unwrap that? :)

go to the tools tab in the edit window.
render uvw template (or similar).

As others said you have to render UVW template. Edit uvw's window> Tools> Render uvw template. What you get is image with your unwrapped wire frame on top.

However if you want to paint directly on your model and render texture out of that then you would need a sculpting software (mudbox, zbrush, Not sure if blender supports it)

Another thing. If you want to texture weapons, vehicles then I suggest you baking ambient occlusion map from high poly. You can't get photo realistic results by hand painting everything.
Here, a tut which helped me to get my first proper textured model done.
http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/next-gen-weapon-creation-day-1-the-high-poly-model/

So what if you're using Gmax?

It doesn't have flatten mapping in it or render UVW template as far as I can tell.
Edited by Xoronatus on Dec 31, 2011 at 07:03 PM

Get 3dsmax. It's free from their website.

Is this a complete-looking template for this default elite?

So but imagining that I wanted to unwrap this elite from scratch for some reason, then this template wouldn't work. Then I should get 3ds max then.

So to do that I would register with their education community, and 3DS 2012 doesn't work with Halo right? Most people use version 8 I think.

I use 2010.

FYI in the video he is using blender SO I assume there is a crossover mode or something. Also you could check out Deep Paint 3d , which allows you to paint the texture directly onto the model.

i didn't even think to mention the right hemisphere deep paint.
i have had it for a good while now and still have really done all that much with it.
time to reinstall and get back into it.

Ally, all right hemisphere products are great, good find there.