Texture Painting - Game Character Development with Maya - page 536

FIGURE 9.3 Block in the base colors. (See page C1 for color version.)
2. Continue around the page, blocking in the base color for each element. First select
the area using the Lasso tool, and then fill it using the Paint Bucket tool and the ap-
propriate color ( Figure 9.3 , right).
Now save out two versions of this file, one to work on and a combined, flattened
version to view in Maya. Note that if you are running Maya 6 or higher, you can
use the .psd file directly. There is no need to save out a separate Targa file to use in
Maya.
3. Go to File > Save As, saving the file as KilaHead.psd. This will be the main file
that you work on. Saving it as a .psd (Photoshop) file means it keeps all the layer
information.
4. With the .psd version saved, remove the UV Layout layer. You can make it invis-
ible by clicking on the eye icon to the left of the layer, or delete it by dragging it to
the trashcan at the bottom right of the Layers window.
5. Next go to Layer > Flatten Image. This will flatten all the layers, baking them onto
the background layer. If you turned off the visibility for the UV Layer, you will be
asked if you want to Discard Hidden Layer; select yes.
6. Now save this version as KilaHead.tga, saving it as a Targa file. After you click
OK, you'll be given the option to change the file's bit/pixel setting. Since we don't
have any alpha channels, 24 bits/pixel is fine (we will discuss bit depths later in the
chapter).
Follow this procedure for all the other texture pages you have, saving them in both Pho-
toshopandTargafileformats.YoushouldhavesixpagesforKila,a.psdanda.tgaeachfor
KilaHead, KilaBody, and KilaHair. At this point, you can also work on the pages for Grae,
calling them GraeBody, GraeMisc, and GraeWing and saving a .psd and .tga for each.