Custom Texture Needs Critiquing

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TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96
First of all let me say that I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong place. There doesn't appear to be a sub-forum for posting WiP textures and models, as the Showcase seems to be for finished pieces only. Feel free to move this as necessary. :blushing:

All right, on to business. This is my first finished texture for any game (well, almost finished. It doesn't tile yet), but feel free to be as critical as necessary. Personally, I'm extremely proud of it, but my opinion isn't the one that matters, after all. :)

So, what do you think? Good? Decent? Meh? Bad? Awful? Whatever your opinion, be sure to tell me why you feel that way and how I can improve it.

Here's my texture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqto56axc5ybfcj/Grey Brick Finished.png

And here's an official Valve texture for comparison: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...i7LUYnmLsKHqgGUm4CIDQ&ved=0CFEQ9QEwBg&dur=223

I am aware that Valve's bricks look rougher than mine, but that is intentional. I wanted mine to be smoother.
 

deadsource

L3: Member
Jul 11, 2011
121
55
Made a better version of your work
Grey-Brick-Finished_zpsfb191be0.jpg

Well, compared to Valve texture, your is more detailed. That means that there's a possibility that it doesn't fit in with other stock textures. I can't actually comment much unless I see this texture used in a map.
 

Beetle

L9: Fashionable Member
Aug 17, 2008
627
178
yea, show us these textures in a test map or something.
 

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
Your texture is pointed in the right direction.. it just needs more "dirt" added to it. Notice how the Valve texture has almost every brick irregularly shaped, none of them have sharp corners. There's also many stains on bricks and in the mortar.

The drop shadow on your bricks is out of place, I get that you want it to look like the bricks are sticking out from the wall, but that's a very "un TF2" style.

edit - one trick you can try is to take the Valve texture and convert it to greyscale. Is a quick and dirty way to get a grey brick wall if all you care about is the end result. If your interest is in the process of making a texture, I wouldn't recommend trying this.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
The drop shadow on your bricks is out of place, I get that you want it to look like the bricks are sticking out from the wall, but that's a very "un TF2" style.
On this subject, the bigger issue is that textures are painted as being perfectly flat/equally lit, and things that might have shadows like bricks use a normal map to be shadowed accurately. You can see this on valve's bricks, along with stuff like the corrugated metal. Shadows and 3D appearances should never be in the albedo portion of a texture in modern engines
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96
Thank you so much for the feedback, everyone! You surprised me with how quickly you all responded. Everyone's comments were specific and genuinely helpful. Already the texture has come a long way:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7fbd58ywbdqh30n/Grey Brick Finished 3.tif

Addressed:

Drop shadow removed
Mortar completely redone
custom dirt overlay applied to top
added a brush stroke filter to the bricks

To be addressed (probably)

Remove the darkest bricks if they don't look good in-game
Make the bricks less square
add some brush strokes throughout to add texture
add additional dirt and grime if necessary
make it tile (I'll do that last)

I'm still open to any and all comments, but I don't think I'll change anything until I've tested the texture on some BSPs in Hammer. I'll get a screenshot up tomorrow, and then some proper constructive criticism can take place.
 

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
Doesn't source support a dedicated monochrome detail texture?
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96
Finally, here's a shot of it in-game: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2k3s02qtfaar4wl/TextureInGameTest1.png

Looking at the texture in the game, I'm not sure if the bricks being too square (they're not really that square) or the dark bricks really cause an issue. I think it just needs some textured brush strokes and a better dirt overlay to break up that "flat color" look, and then it'll be ready for Normal Mapping and Tiling. :D

Edit: On second thought, I think I ought to lose the darkest three bricks.
 
Last edited:

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
How big are those bricks? Looks a bit overscaled to me.

But they look like paint strokes. Not bricks.
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96
I agree about the bricks looking like paint. That's because they are flat colors and have no brush strokes to give them texture. The lack of a Normal Map and proper dirt layer doesn't help, either. As far as the bricks' sizes go, however, they should be fine, as I compared the original source image I painted over to Valve's brick texture as I was scaling it up. If you mean that the bricks are too long, however, that is intentional. That's how the source photo was, and personally I think it makes my texture different from Valve's (which is a good thing).
 

Beetle

L9: Fashionable Member
Aug 17, 2008
627
178
shouldn't it have a normal map?

edit: oops, I didn't read your last post.
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96

Beetle

L9: Fashionable Member
Aug 17, 2008
627
178
Yea, you're heading in the right direction. I still think a simple normal map would boost it up quickly a few points :p

...unless you already tried it and it looks bad.
 

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
Great, now it looks like overlapping brush strokes.
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
This would be easier to do if we had a reference for what TF2's red bricks looked like before they were compressed to all hell.
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96
Update:

Added additional Dirt Layer

Added second Mortar Brush Stroke Layer to smooth transitions between light and dark.

Applied "Heavy Smear Wax Crayon" Brush (can't remember if I downloaded that or it was already in Photoshop) to mortar to add texture

Added brush strokes to bricks

Applied Heavy Smear Wax Crayon Brush to bricks to bricks to add texture

Texture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9qtwowuihyld3r/Grey Brick Finished 10.tif

In-Game: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrdadlkqqlrtvus/TextureInGameTest3.png

Obviously there's a huge difference between the last update and this one. I'm incredibly proud of what I was able to achieve on my first ever texture. I'll get this tiled and bump-mapped two or so days from now. I'll be sure to put it up for download in case anyone wants to use it.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me through this. It sounds corny, but I really couldn't have done it without you guys (especially Beetle). If any of you still have any feedback to share, feel free to let me know what you think. At this stage I'm just itching to call this a "finished piece", though, so I may not follow all of your advice.
 

henke37

aa
Sep 23, 2011
2,075
515
Still looks like paint strokes.
 

TheBestUsername

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 25, 2013
151
96