How can I improve this method to add a more 3-dimensionality to my textures?

[Deathbliss]

Ok, bear with me as I try to describe what I'm doing...

As I'm making a tileable brick texture I first take two textures, one for grout and one for the bricks, and I put them on different layers. Grout is first, bricks next.

Then I darken or lighten the grout texture as needed.

The third step is to add a vector mask to the brick texture. I then Alt-click on it, show the grid, and draw out my bricks. Once I have what is basically the pattern for the grout, I click back on the texture I use for bricks.

Now I double-click on it and uncheck transparency shapes layer (dunno what it does). Then I check the first two boxes (inner and out shadow I think), and bevel. Under bevel I increase the depth and set the bevel to 2 or 4, I usually use a soft chisel, and I set the first of the two drop-down boxes to overlay.

I then save the PSD, and then I collapse everything and save as a DDS.

Now what comes out looks pretty good, but I have no idea what many of these settings do. I learned to set them using this tutorial:
3D CAD Resources | Photoshop - Creating brick texture - Tutorial for beginner

Because I found a method here I like, and which I can easily use to create tilable textures, I'm looking only to improve on it. I'm trying to make textures that can be used in 3DS Max and UT 2004. I'd like any help at all that I can get explaining all these options, helping me understand how to create better bricks, and adding more depth and realism to the bricks I create. I figure trying to learn Photoshop while working on a project like the one I'm currently working on (making a gothic/castle texture pack for UT 2004) is the best route to go.

So any help is appreciated, and I would especially love any links to free video tutorials that will help me with this. I just seem to learn better that way. Thanks!
- Deathbliss

[kidlizard]

Heres a freeware download I use to generate tileable textures. Its pretty neat

Spiral Graphics - Genetica Seamless Texture Editor

[greeney]

for recent games normal maping is the way forward in my view

if you dont know what normal mapping is...check here

Normal mapping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't believe that the retail version of the game UT2004 supports the Normal Maps even though the Unreal Engine 2 does have the underlying code for them.
The texture packages look more like tests done by the developers. Chances are they didn't have the code fully tested/integrated with the release of 2k4.

Other games developed on UE2+ such as Tribes:Vengeance actually used the Normal Maps along with additional shaders such as Glow and cool things like Macro Textures for the terrain (which gives awesome looking terrain), which the engine can do but is not "supported" directly in UT2004.

so i guess texturing for ut2004 id stick with standard maps made in photoshop and work on your photoshop skills.

An easy way of getting a bump map is to create a tileable texture....up the contrast clightly and then lower the brightness.....turn it to greyscale....voila...a perfect bump map ^_^

[Deathbliss]

Thank you! So it looks like I still need to understand how to use the settings in my method to make the textures pop out more (still need help with this), but I can also add a bump map to the texture. I just gotta figure out how to add a bump map to a texture within UnrealED - any help here is appreciated but I figure I'll have to go to more UnrealED specific sites. I wonder if a person can take a texture into 3DS Max and bake it? Add more detail to it and so forth? Any thoughts?
- Deathbliss

[greeney]

tbh m8 thats probbaly delving into some of the unreal code to fetch the bump mapping processes.....which i dont know how to do tbh. Best thing Id say is to have a look at the unreal levels themselves and have a look at how they have become not so linear.....for example a tunnel isnt just a simple box.......the tunnel is covered with pipes and archways to make it appealing to the eye


the baking of textures does not make it bump mapped............baking f textures means if you create the scene within 3ds max...then light it as you would want....then "bake" all of the textures this adds the shadows etc to the texture files themselves then when aplying the textures in game you will need less lights to light the area and no shadow map because the textures have the shadows within them thus incresing fps as less processes are needed to be running

Im currently working within the unreal engine making a piece of machinima so i prolly could answer questions u have lol

On a side note id ebay a copy of the unreal 2004 editors choice edition its got loads more features and comes with like 30 hours of tutorial video's

[Deathbliss]

Sorry for the long-in-coming reply! Looks like I need to figure out how to do a Light Map and a Specularity map - according to Hourences, in a thread a read somewhere. Anyone have links to tuts?

Thanks again!
- Deathbliss