A Beginners Guide to Blender Texturing.

Part 1

One of the fastest, easiest ways to bring your images to life is with jpeg textures, but the Blender interface can seem extremely complex to the uninitiated.  So, let's simplify it and take a look at some commonly used material and texturing buttons and the process of texturing.

First off we need some jpeg textures to use.  A good place to start looking is here.

http://www.3dlinks.com/

Scroll down to the free textures link on the left and pick a site.  All most all of them have bricks.  Select one and save it.  I recommend creating separate folders for textures, i.e. Wood, Brick, Metal etc.  Once saved open the texture in a image manipulation program such as Gimp or what ever you have, convert the texture to gray scale and save it in the same folder as a bump map. The reason for this will be clear in a few moments.

I am assuming that you have a start up screen saved so that when Blender opens you have basic lighting.  If not right click on the plane, press X and select Delete Selected. Now press the Space bar and left click on Lamp.  The lamps will be pink, that means it is the active object and can be moved by pressing the G Key.  Use the number pad to change your view while setting up the lights.  #1 is the front view, #3 is the side view and #7 is the top view.  Once the G Key is pressed you can move the lamps or any active object with the mouse or keypad arrows.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the basic lighting setup (shown from the top view, Number Pad 7) I use for the modeling process.  This gives me a well-lit screen for test renders.  I prefer to do the final lighting last.  Notice that all the lamps are pink because I have them all selected for illustration clarity.  Once you get a light setup that you like you can save it by either pressing F2 and saving it as a blend file then opening it each time or press Control U and left clicking on yes to save it as your default screen.  That way every time you start Blender it will start with those setting.  If you decide to change it later just hit Control U again and save your new settings.

Let's start with a basic object.  Fire up Blender and create a cube.  Do this by pressing the space bar and left clicking on Mesh then left click on Cube.  Press your Tab button and it will turn pink.  Press the S key and enlarge it some.  Now press the G key and move it up, just so it is a nice size and fairly well centered cube when you render it.  Give it a try.  Press F12.  If it looks good press F11 and we will move on, if not go ahead and play with it a bit.  I'll wait.  Now let's rotate the cube so you can see three sides.  Top, front and one other side.  To do this press the R key and then your middle mouse button or wheel then just move the mouse until you have something like you see in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the Material Buttons.  Bring up this screen by pressing F5 or left clicking on the red ball (circled in red).  Notice the material screen has only four buttons visible at this point.  On the right side of the bar (also circled in red) there are four buttons.  A dash, MA: Material, X and a small Car.  Right now, of the four, only the Dash is visible.  Left click on it and hold the mouse button then move the cursor to Add New, and release.  Now the screen should look more like the one in Figure 2 but the square at the far left will be empty.

Excellent.  Let's move to the Texture screen.  Do this by pressing F6 or left click on the next button (circled in red in figure 3) to the right of the Material Button.

Figure 3

Again we see a screen with only a few buttons but the Dash is there again on the right.  Again left click on the dash and hold, move the cursor to Add New and release.  Now you will have a row of buttons across the top.  The ones circled in red.  Left click on the one that is labeled Image and your screen will appear more like the one in Figure 3 but again the square to the far left is empty.

Let's take a closer look at some of the (for now) more important buttons.

Figure 4

Circled in red in Figure 4 are the buttons we will be most concerned with at this point.  Start by clicking on the brown button labeled Load Image.

Figure 5

This will change the upper screen to that shown in Figure 5.  Scroll down on the left side until you find your texture folder and left click on it.  Your textures will now be displayed on the right side.  You can now either left click on the colored texture and press Enter or left click on the Load button at the upper right, or place the cursor over the texture and press the center button or wheel on your mouse.  Either way will load the texture.  Now the square at the far left will have an image in it like Figure 3.

Figure 6

Looking at Figure 6 we see that the top button on the column of buttons between the image square and the Load Image button now says Tex.  You can put up to eight textures on a single object.  In this case we do need another texture.  The bump map.  Left click on the button just below the one now labeled Tex add the bump map the same way you just added the first texture.

Figure 7

Before we go any further I want to mention the buttons we looked at briefly a bit earlier. The Dash, TE: Tex, X and the Car.  What are these buttons and what do they do?  Well we already know what the Dash is for because we have just added one material and two textures.  The X is used to delete a texture from an object.  Left clicking on the TE: Tex button enables you to name your texture anything that you want simply by typing in a name.  Left clicking on the Car will automatically name the texture what ever that texture file is named.  Naming your textures could save you a lot of headaches as you begin to create more complex models or scenes.

Let's move now to the Materials window again. Press F5 or left click on the RedBall.

Figure 8

As you can see in Figure 8 two of the horizontal buttons on the upper right now say Tex and the preview square at the far left now has bricks in it but they are in black and white and we want color.

Figure 9

Circled in red in Figure 9 are two buttons at the upper right.  One says Col and the other Nor.  Left click on the left most Tex button and then on the Nor button.  Next left click on the second Tex button will notice that the Nor button is no longer depressed.  That is because you can set these parameters for each texture you have put on the object.  Go ahead and press the Col button.  This button toggles the color on and off for each texture.  On a bump map we want the color off.  Now left click on the Nor button.  This button controls how the dark areas will be rendered.  When the Nor button letters are in black nothing will happen.  When the letters are white the dark areas will appear to recess giving the texture the illusion of depth.  If you left click it once more the letters will turn yellow.  In this position the dark areas will seem to come out towards the camera. Now, make sure the Nor button is set with white letters and press F12 to render your cube.

Figure 10

You should see an image that looks similar to Figure 10.  The front looks pretty good but the top and the sides are not quite what we are looking for.  Let's see why.  First close the render screen by pressing F11.

Figure 11

In Figure 11 there are four buttons (circled in red) labeled Flat, Cube, Tube, and Sphere.  One for each of the primitive shapes.  These four buttons determine how the texture is configured and rendered on the model.

Figure 12

Figure 12 illustrates (from the upper left, clock wise) a cube, a flat surface, a sphere and a tube.  They all have the same texture and are all rendered with the Flat button selected.

Figure 13

Figure 13 show the same models and texture but with the proper button selected. Notice how the texture now wraps around the shape of the models.  Now armed with that information select the Cube button (remember we have to do this for each texture we are using on the model, in this case two) and lets render (F12) our cube again.

Figure 14

You should now have a cube that looks similar the one in Figure 14.

Congratulations your have just textured your first model and you are now on your way.  Have fun and experiment with your newfound talent.  Part two will be here soon.

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