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Affinity Photo for 3D Artists - Normalmap/Heightmap creation - wip


myclay

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Hi all  :) ,

 

So far Affinity Photo is impressive and quite useful for an 3D Artist.

 

I decided to try my luck in making a heightmap/normalmap creation solution for it.

It obviously needs some more work but it already gives passable enough results at least in

the simple setup with Brush input vector support  

post-30091-0-56816700-1481882819_thumb.jpg

 

the more advanced setup:

Shapes, Texts and Brush input are currently supported,

inward/outward is available.

there are two ways of adding shapes available; 

one which is piling them over each other and the other is mixing their height.

You can therefore erase parts of brush work and shapes/Texts -vector data at the same time. 

post-30091-0-42219900-1481882840_thumb.jpg

 

Heightmaps are already useful but the Normalmaps in the more advanced Setup have a strong discoloration.

 

next big steps are corrections and refining the output and creating macros for accelerating the workflow.

 

greetings

myclay

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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Nice to see a bit of a 3d/2d workflow here. Probably should have started a new thread, but thought this was related to the 3d aspect of the post...

 

I have been using Designer to paint textures on a few test projects I've been playing with in Blender. I don't do much with height or normal maps for the type of work I do, mostly I use Designer as an assistant to Blenders internal texture painting toolset when more complicated layering or something specific is required. Both apps talk nice to each other.  ;-) 

 

(You can even export svg's out of Blender to use in Designer, but that's a different discussion)

 

Just export the UV layout out of your 3d app (I use a png for transparency) and in Designer I open that image and add painting layers, having the UV layer on top (it's there just for a guide so you know where you're painting). When you export the png back out to your 3d app after painting or adding type etc... you hide the UV guide layer before exporting so it won't show up in your texture...

 

Here are a couple of screens showing a really simple example of Blender and Designer using a basic cube, sphere and cone models/UV's. I added those little yellow and white circles after updating the texture back in Blender. Any 3d app should be basically the same.

 

I definitely want to get more into this with some upcoming 3d projects... using the power and ease of Affinity's 2d toolset to help create cool 3d stuff!

post-305-0-62835600-1481912391_thumb.png

post-305-0-62927800-1481912444_thumb.png

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My workflow is the following one.

For hand-painted textures:

1) In my case I use AP to import UV map (because of the extension. Gimp can do that as well, but better in AP for me). And export as png/psd.

2) I paint in Clip Studio Paint (my favourite software for that purpose) and save.

If I don't need edition, final export directly from ClipStudioPaint.  If needed, open and edit using AP again.

And, of course, import in the 3D soft for applying and exporting the entire model, ready for real-time purposes.

 

For realistic seamless textures:

In AP I load a photo for creating a squared texture. I use the option Filters>Distort>Affine to "displace" in both axis and fix those areas with cloning stamp. After that, I return the image to the original position using the same filter. and that's all, Ready to export and use it!

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@retrograde 

Its totally fine, in fact its great to know how you are making usage of the Affintiy Product line

and I am of course eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Affinity Workbook to finally be able to read it thru

and to get a deeper understanding of Affinity Designer.

 

 

@rintin

Seamless Textures sounds cool, Will have to try that out soon. :D

 

 

 

In general, it can only help to get more knowledge on how the workflow of other Artists is and what they expect.

 

Today I tried to turn an Image to an heightmap but this process is trickier and the Macros are still limited

so it will be for now a lot of manual work...

post-30091-0-86376900-1481984938_thumb.jpg

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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For realistic seamless textures:

In AP I load a photo for creating a squared texture. I use the option Filters>Distort>Affine to "displace" in both axis and fix those areas with cloning stamp. After that, I return the image to the original position using the same filter. and that's all, Ready to export and use it!

 

Perhaps you could explain the procedure in more detail. Thanks in advance. :)

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Perhaps you could explain the procedure in more detail. Thanks in advance. :)

If you think would be helpfull I can try to make a step by step explained with several screenshots.

 

Give me some time. One day-off with a bit o free time I will search an appropiate base photo (or better, I will take an own one of a ground or similar) and show the entire  process.

 

Mental note: change the AP language to english before starting (more useful for more people).

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Perhaps you could explain the procedure in more detail. Thanks in advance. :)

 

 

If you think would be helpfull I can try to make a step by step explained with several screenshots.

 

Give me some time. One day-off with a bit o free time I will search an appropiate base photo (or better, I will take an own one of a ground or similar) and show the entire  process.

 

Mental note: change the AP language to english before starting (more useful for more people).

As I promise, here you have:

 

Firstly, we have to take a base picture to convert it into a texture. If we take our own photo, better to do perpendicularlly to the “target”. In the following example I wasn’t take it in ideal conditions for a real case (phone camera, bad illumination, etc), but is enought to show us the process.

 

post-44232-0-01169900-1482016744_thumb.jpg

Once we have the image loaded in AP, we crop to obtain a squared canvas.

post-44232-0-26423900-1482016748_thumb.jpg

If we select the layer, we can see that is still existing image out of our squared canvas.

post-44232-0-54356700-1482016752_thumb.jpg

That’s not usefull for our purposes. We need to displace ONLY the inner area. To fix that, just rasterise the layer.

post-44232-0-36102300-1482016757_thumb.jpg

As you can see, the outer area was discarded.

post-44232-0-19630900-1482016763_thumb.jpg

Delete imperfections on the picture you don’t want to be part of your texture. In the example I used the Clonning Brush Tool, selecting a near area as the origin (ALT+LMB)

post-44232-0-06017000-1482016767_thumb.jpg

, and later apply it on the area we want to make dissapear (LMB)

post-44232-0-30354100-1482016771_thumb.jpg

Now, we have the base image ready for the next step. Let’s go to make it a seamless one!

 

 

Go to Filters>Distort>Affine.

In the window’s tool, set the “extend mode” to wrap.

 

Move x-offset to “-50%” and apply.

post-44232-0-14834100-1482016776_thumb.jpg

As you can see, exists a noticeable hardness difference between left and right area (and light changes. In that case, is more pronunced because of a bad photo). The idea is using the Clonning Brush tool, selecting areas from one side and applying in the center and extending it to the opposite side (play with brush size, opacity and hardness) until the center gets uniform in x-axis.

post-44232-0-64333400-1482016781_thumb.jpg

Open again the filter “affine”, and now restore the displacement setting x-offset to “+50%").

 

Now, repeat the same previous steps but working with y-axis.

 

post-44232-0-70333400-1482016785_thumb.jpg

This is just a quick example. Work well (hardness, opacity, size…), and repeat the displacements and correction steps as many times as you need to get a texture without blurred areas (or mores darkness, etc).

 

 

And that’s all. Once you complete the process, you will have a seamless texture ready to be exported and loaded in a 3D model, as part of a real time material in a game engine using the included “repeat x-y” options, etc etc.

If we done  it well, with a single texture we can cover very big areas, without the necessity to use gigant textures and, of course, without visible “cuts”.

 

I Hope will be useful.

Feel free to share if you want ;)

post-44232-0-01169900-1482016744_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-26423900-1482016748_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-54356700-1482016752_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-36102300-1482016757_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-19630900-1482016763_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-06017000-1482016767_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-30354100-1482016771_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-14834100-1482016776_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-64333400-1482016781_thumb.jpg

post-44232-0-70333400-1482016785_thumb.jpg

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As I promise, here you have:

 

Firstly, we have to take a base picture to convert it into a texture. If we take our own photo, better to do perpendicularlly to the “target”. In the following example I wasn’t take it in ideal conditions for a real case (phone camera, bad illumination, etc), but is enought to show us the process.

 

 

Once we have the image loaded in AP, we crop to obtain a squared canvas.

 

If we select the layer, we can see that is still existing image out of our squared canvas.

 

That’s not usefull for our purposes. We need to displace ONLY the inner area. To fix that, just rasterise the layer.

 

As you can see, the outer area was discarded.

 

Delete imperfections on the picture you don’t want to be part of your texture. In the example I used the Clonning Brush Tool, selecting a near area as the origin (ALT+LMB)

 

, and later apply it on the area we want to make dissapear (LMB)

 

Now, we have the base image ready for the next step. Let’s go to make it a seamless one!

Go to Filters>Distort>Affine.

In the window’s tool, set the “extend mode” to wrap.

Move x-offset to “-50%” and apply.

 

As you can see, exists a noticeable hardness difference between left and right area (and light changes. In that case, is more pronunced because of a bad photo). The idea is using the Clonning Brush tool, selecting areas from one side and applying in the center and extending it to the opposite side (play with brush size, opacity and hardness) until the center gets uniform in x-axis.

 

Open again the filter “affine”, and now restore the displacement setting x-offset to “+50%").

Now, repeat the same previous steps but working with y-axis.

 

 

This is just a quick example. Work well (hardness, opacity, size…), and repeat the displacements and correction steps as many times as you need to get a texture without blurred areas (or mores darkness, etc).

And that’s all. Once you complete the process, you will have a seamless texture ready to be exported and loaded in a 3D model, as part of a real time material in a game engine using the included “repeat x-y” options, etc etc.

If we done  it well, with a single texture we can cover very big areas, without the necessity to use gigant textures and, of course, without visible “cuts”.

I Hope will be useful.

Feel free to share if you want ;)

Here is an additional video tutorial covering I think the same thing

https://vimeo.com/134838293

 

 

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Thanks, MBd. That's the one Paekke linked to yesterday, but it's helpful to have the steps written down and illustrated with screenshots as rintin has done. :)

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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I have seen what look like decent normal and UV maps here and I inferred that they were done with AP...

I still have no understanding on the process/flow.

Often, I get pre-made mapped textures that I am to alter (add a belt to some pants, ...)  This is not a standard formula as the raw assets come in differing forms.  However, I cope.

 

However... it would be nice to see how I can make 'simulated' UV and normal maps for the feature changes (such as adding a belt).

 

Is there an AP tutorial on this?

 

Thanks

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Hello fmotta,

 
Affinity Photo is separate from 3D Applications.
the teaser image is just showing one of many workflows.
Other workflows can of course easily be covered.
 
UV maps you would have to make entirely in your 3D application or dedicated unwrapping program.
many Users like to add a transparent wire image to easily find where the UV-islands are.
 
Export the resulting image and open that UV map in Affinity Photo.
 
If you get pre-made images on which you have to add details, 
simply load that texture into Affinity Photo and 
the normalmap solution which gets some more refinements could then be used.
 
 
in this clip,
I am simply working over a pre-made texture (hans sample file)
and am adding details via vectors and the paint brush tool.
the other previously shown stuff with vector shapes texts etc should also be possible for adding ontop.
A belt would then be easy...
 
 
To see it in a 3D application;
either export your finished work from Affinity Photo or Enable "Save" over imported PSD files.
the reloading option of your 3D Application is then loading the new file every time it is overwritten.

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all :) ,  

first I wanted to excuse myself for being so silent the whole time.

Hopefully during the next days, there will be the full *afphoto file(s) so you can start making normalmaps and heightmaps with the help of Affinity Photo.

 

To sweeten the wait, the early and unoptimised version for normalmap painting inside of Affintiy Photo is now available for downloading.

simple_20normalmap-ready_20for_20paintin

 
Many features like finer changes to the painted input via curves or turning vectorshapes to normal maps
and turning normalmaps to heightmaps are not included in this early version.
 

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sort of related but not really...  ;) (should we consider adding another section to the forums for related topics that complement but may not be directly connected to Affinity?)

 

Anyway,... there is a very cool add-on being developed called BPainter for anyone using Blender who wants to paint more intuitively using painting and adjustment layers in a non-destructive 3d workflow. Currently in beta available by pledging on Patreon.

 

This is so cool and really well implemented. 

 

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the embedded youtube link isn´t showing ;)

 

BPainter seems to have some nice features and looks like a viable solution for handpainting.

 

btw;

there is a an edit externally option available inside Blender which makes a bridge possible to

Affintiy Photo/Designer.Osp61AT.jpg

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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Hmm, it looks fine on my end...

 

I can't see it here, Kevin, but if I press the 'Quote' button at the bottom of your earlier post I can see its URL:


Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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