Decals are great!

To continue where we left off from yesterday, we looked at UVs and decals. I set up my panels in Maya so I can view the UV editor and the perspective view. It is possible to assign different materials for different faces in the same mesh. I used the wall texture created yesterday to create a simple wall. Simon then went through all the features in the UV editor, how to move shells and adjust the UV. We will be learning more about the UV editor throughout this week. Simon explained what texel density is and why it is important when UV-ing. It is basically to ensure there is enough image information when it is projected onto the model and the faces.

I gathered images of signs (see pic1) to use as decals for the wall. But firstly I had to edit the images, remove the white background in some images. To do this, I used the alpha channel technique to ensure the images are clean. Remember. White = opaque/solid and black =transparent. Then I assign the image file (Targa) to the material in Maya. Decals are useful in conjunction with the tile texture and it breaks up the repetition on the pattern and creates variety for the player. In pic3, I added some dirt using the same technique on the wall as well which looks pretty convincing.  

Useful information:
Textures.com