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Materialize, a free and open source texture creator

kobaltkween

Brilliant
Contributing Artist
Well, sorry to tell you, but your worldview is provably wrong. :p

I didn't suggest the tutorials because you need to learn the _software_, though it would help with that. I suggested them because your statement about a "create all maps" button shows you don't understand a) what the software does and b) why a texture artist would need what it does. Hence the suggestion to think a little more about how maps work. And all that extra stuff about pro texture artists pretty much always painting textures from scratch.

Tutorials don't just show how software works. They show how work is done at all. Just because I don't use power tools doesn't mean I wouldn't need to look at a tutorial by a power tool user to be able to make my own bookshelves with hand tools. While modeling tutorials are easier to follow if they're in one's chosen tool, it's much more important that they show you how to make the correct topology and use methods that give you a clean mesh (and often one that can take subdivision).

It's very unlikely that you are the smartest person in the whole world (just going by odds- I'm definitely not, either), but even if you were, other people would still think of solutions and methods you would never come to even if you had thousands of years to think about the problem. Which none of us do. It's also very unlikely that you're aware of every single addon and tool out there. Tutorials show not only what methods other people have come up with, but what tools they've discovered that make things easier for them. Tutorials show how to solve problems in general, not just how to use a particular tool.

But if you want not to learn or try anything new (understandable- we all have limited time to create), don't care about burned in artifacts in photo textures, and want to just assume that dark and light on a diffuse map equals dark and light on every other type of map, then you don't need Materialize. Just generate your other maps by converting to greyscale or normal space with your image editor of choice, and you're good to go. The whole point of Materialize is to make it easier to create maps that work correctly (flat diffuse maps without burned in shadows and highlights, normal and displacement maps that accurately understand height, etc.) , so if you don't want to bother making good maps (or you're lucky enough to have resources that don't need any help), then you don't need it.

If, on the other hand, making good maps sounds appealing or you just want to see for yourself what I'm talking about, I'd suggest you look at their tutorial on making brick textures. Not to see how Materialize works, though it will show that, but why just slapping a photo texture on something and using greyscale and normal map converters on that unedited map can give you terrible and just plain wrong results, and what you can do to get around it without having to do a whole lot of work by hand.

You haven't made any projects, so there are none to load. Closing the window is as simple as clicking Cancel, like with most popup windows. To start, click the "O" in the Diffuse Map to open an image.

I wish I could help with the interface issues. I've had similar problems in Marvelous Designer. For ages, and across computers. You're probably right about just not having the power, but my MD experience has nothing to do with power. And I know most people _love_ MD. I've never figured the problem out, because when I asked for clarification on their licensing, they not only didn't clarify it but threatened me with legal action if I violated their licensing. Otherwise, I'd at least have suggestions to try. It does sound like a graphics card/3D acceleration issue.
 
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3dcheapskate

Engaged
... your statement about a "create all maps" button shows you don't understand a) what the software does and b) why a texture artist would need what it does...
Didn't you spot the little ;) after that comment... ? You're preaching to the converted - I just love winding people up !:)

P.S. I once worked as an idiot tester - and I'm proud to say that I was (and still am) very good at that !
P.P.S.and I am the samrtest person in my world ! :p ( <--- yes,I know already ;) )
 

Rae134

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
I put the folder for Materialize on an external to run from there (got hardly and space otherwise). I thought that perhaps I didn't click it to start, so clicked again, didn't do anything, left it a while clicked again and when I came back had 3 open. So yes, it took a loooooonnnnngggg time to open for me lol
 
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