Is there anyway to make texturing less of a bane?

[Cryocasm]

I'm a very visual person, which is why 3D modeling appeals to me so much, but the texturing part is really, really annoying and difficult because I can't even remotely imagine what the texture will look like while I'm making it in Paint.Net.

Is there any program which allows me to paint-bucket the surfaces directly? This would help a lot and streamline my process, currently I'm only 3D modelling and barely texturing for my addon pack of miscellaneous parts.

Please...save me from the bane of texturing 3D models in 2D with no preview.

[nothke]

Hmm, yes, there is, but it is not for this. In most programs you CAN color individual faces by placing different materials.. Actual per-pixel "painting" is possible in a few programs, but it is not how textures in game [optimally] work. Per-pixel painting is used for rendering, not real time applications

The process of "mapping" (aka unwrapping) is much more important for games, so you have to think more how to unwrap, will you use planar, cylindrical, flatten mapping, or unwrap by hand, what faces to reuse on the texture, and you kind of have to imagine all this in your head. What I do is, while making the model, I think all the time of how it might work with texture, I look at surfaces and imagine what texture they will have, where the edges will match, etc.. After I get the model to a reasonable detail (but not final model), I unwrap it and render the uv map. I take the map to Photoshop and paint over it. Only then, when I apply this map to the model comes the visual part where I ACTUALLY SEE the "paint" on the model. And then I can switch from Max to PS, paint a bit to correct texture, save, switch back to Max and you see it right away. So, this is how you do the visual part.

When I started making models, I had the same problem, I could do models to incredible details, but then I couldn't map, it was just a huge barrier in front of me. Primarily cause models become unmappable due to detail and impossibility to map some surfaces cause it's difficult to isolate them. And the thing is you just have to think about it while you model. And you just have to LEARN to think like that. Now it's relatively easy for me.

Edited May 4, 2013 by nothke

[Cryocasm]

Thanks man, I'll look into thinking with portals.

[Technical Ben]

I'm a very visual person, which is why 3D modeling appeals to me so much, but the texturing part is really, really annoying and difficult because I can't even remotely imagine what the texture will look like while I'm making it in Paint.Net.

Is there any program which allows me to paint-bucket the surfaces directly? This would help a lot and streamline my process, currently I'm only 3D modelling and barely texturing for my addon pack of miscellaneous parts.

Please...save me from the bane of texturing 3D models in 2D with no preview.

Blender allows you to paint directly onto the model. You can also set it up in blender, then paint the details again in paint.net (I recommend Gimp as it's much much more feature complete).

My next video on youtube will be UV mapping in Blender, I'll also quickly show how to paint directly in that. Not sure when I'll get to do it. Right now, I just want to go to bed from the busy holiday weekend!