Introduction

Did you hear the one about the nun and the irish cop? No? Who cares, this is about making textures. Specifically, the stuff a beginner should know before they jump into that big digital photo texture lake I'm so fond of.

Choosing a Camera

I bought a camera for the sole reason that it's a very useful tool. I have no interest in capturing life's special moments. If you have an interest in actual photography, you may want to spend more and get yourself something with bells and whistles. If you are like me, though, you don't need to spend a lot. There are plenty of really good cameras in the $100 - $150 range that are more than adequate. They're even less if you get something refurbished. I had a Canon Powershot A60 until I lost it in Montreal. It was a great camera. Now I have an Olympus D-540. It too is great. Neither one cost me more than 150.

What you do want to spend your money on is a memory card with a lot of space. I have a 256mb card. It's only slightly more memory than I've ever used on a texture outing. I used to use a 128 Mb card and on several occasions filled the whole thing. These aren't too expensive either, though. For both your camera and your memory card, I recommend a service like PriceGrabber.com. It doesn't cost anything, and you can usually find what you are looking for at a tremendously reduced rate (compared to a physical store).

Taking Photos

Here are some hints, tips, and suggestions to help guide your photography.

Hard light is our enemy

When taking shots, we don't like the sun. The sun makes hard shadows, which we don't want. Granted, the final in-game version my have hard shadows on it. But you want to have total control of them. It most cases, shadows in your source photos are things you have to edit out, so it's best not to have them there to begin with.

With this in mind, overcast days present the best days to take outdoor shots. Dawn and dusk also work as long as you are shooting something that is in the shadows (like a wall facing away from the sun, for instance).

If you are shooting inside, a variation of the rule applies. You still don't want shadows, but instead of shooting in darkness, you should shoot in a well lit area.

You can also just shoot interior objects with your flash on if you don't have enough lights in the room, but I tend to steer clear of this as camera flashes tend to make everything washed out and colorless.

also keep in mind, that your flash is just as the sun. it will create nasty glares on your subjects.

Our hands are our enemies

If you're camera doesnt have image stabiliaztion (which it probably doesn't) consider using a tripod. Most digital cameras on the market are rather small. This means that they are harder to hold on to, which in turn means that shots can end up blurring more often than is desired. A tripod helps stop that.

Cover your ass

Always take more than one shot. This is especially true if you don't have a tripod, although its a good practice to get into even if you do have one. I never take less than 3 shots of something I want as a texture. I take more if it's something really important. The reason is because it usually takes me that many to get a perfectly crisp, clean, non-blurry shot. This is why its important to have a large memory card. Remember: Time you use to go back and re-shoot something is time you aren't spending making new art.

Shoot as much as you can

Here's the scenario: you are shooting a brick wall of a building. Rather than shooting one section and then leaving, take shots from the entire length of the building. The different sections will have different stains and marks and grains, which is good for variation when you take the shots back to your computer to edit them. It may look wierd if you are in an urban setting, walking down a building taking straight-on shots of the wall. Hold your head high, though; doing wierd things in a city gets you street cred.

Angles matter

If possible; hold your camera at a 90° angle, or perpendicular to the subject. This will help when applying the textures in game, as there will be no distortion. If your pictures are taken at an angle, the perspective will still appear to be from that angle, and may not be appropriate for the surface.

Have you're own tips? Push the edit button and add them to the list!