Texturing, Skinning, Etc.

[Osmose]

Well, In about two hours I had gotten down re-texturing items in Oblivion. (The  results   of   my   testing ) It isn't really that hard, especially with a nifty tool called NifScope.

Now, my problem is that, for all the time I've spent trying to improve my spriting abilities to a point that I never thought I'd reach (and is still not even that good), I never once really got my hands dirty in REAL graphics design. You know, the kind that involves lots of fancy fonts and filters and such. I mean, I've messed around a bit and found a fet little tricks here or there, but I'm more or less useless when it comes to decent-quality imaging in that aspect.

Hence why I've made this topic. Anyone who has done this kind of thing before, I'd love to hear any input you have on how to learn. Trial and error I already know, and I've already gone through that and plan to continue messing around until I find my own way of doing things. However, any help given would be greatly appreciated.

One thing is that I use Fireworks. I've used it for over 4 years now, although, admittedly, I only really KNEW how to properly use it the last two years, and not even as properly as it sounds - again, my focus on spriting has left me dead in this field.

Everyone else seems to use Photoshop. I tried it once, and frankly didn't like it, but that was because I was 12 at the time and barely knew how to do anything beyond adding simple effects to text - not the good looking kind, either. I would be willing to try it again *IF*, and I use this term very lightly, it would be near-impossible to replicate any technique in Fireworks. Hell, they're both under the same company now that Adobe bought Macromedia, and in a few versions they'll probably be merged, or at least similarly constructed. They both use generally the same tools and have generally the same interface options

Any help on this is greatly appreciated - I'm looking forward to the day I can create a fully reskinned armor that looks pretty decent.

[ZeroKirbyX]

So you want help in PS, Fireworks, or textures, etc?

[Twysted]

graphic design is actually alot easier than most ppl try to make it out to be. since you can blend and all that nice junk without cramping your wrists and break 20 differant pencils. all you gotta do is picture it and the draw it. not very hard.

thogh if you want some sites that have tutorials then just speak up and i will give ya a nice long list

[Darkfox]

And practiceing with it. Thats a big one.

[Razor]

Well, your shield looks awesome.

[Osmose]

Originally posted by Razor
Well, your shield looks awesome.

My shield looks like crap because all I did was do a crappy recolor of the original skin for it. If you thought I made it from scratch, then I can see why you'd think that, though.

So you want help in PS, Fireworks, or textures, etc?

Texturing. My goal is to be able to make textures that can be used in Oblivion, and that don't look like crap, AND aren't just edits of the originals.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. The attached jpeg is the skin for a guard's cuirass in Oblivion.

[Razor]

When you figure out how to make things look that good, tell me.

For the most part, I suggest Photoshop. Because I always suggest photoshop.