Post by Haubing on Mar 24, 2015 21:14:59 GMT -5
Soo, if the admins/mods had a different idea of how to organize tutorial posts...do your thing haha.
Just wanted to make this post available to new hexers.
Just wanted to make this post available to new hexers.
Hexpainting Tutorial on the Manda V1
[PW dummy use, textures, paintballs]
This tutorial assumes you already know the basics of PW and LNZ Pro. All of this besides specific ball numbering can be applied to any horse file!
Step 1.) Choose a reference. Carefully. Some horses cannot be hexed and made to look nice just due to the file's limitations.
Manda V1s have quite a few belly balls which can make paint patterns difficult.
Manda V2s are pretty easy to hexpaint just due to the structure.
Manda V2.7s are hard for intricate paint patterns due to shoulder balls and belly balls.
Rafa V2s have belly balls that can make things tricky.
Appy patterns look steller when belly balls are abundant. When the horse moves in game, you'll get different belly balls showing up- more opportunity to show off those spots.
BUT. A creative hexpainter can get around all that with external textures and tricks that you'll just learn as you go.
Dream was hexed from a simple Sorrel Breyer model.
Manda V1s have quite a few belly balls which can make paint patterns difficult.
Manda V2s are pretty easy to hexpaint just due to the structure.
Manda V2.7s are hard for intricate paint patterns due to shoulder balls and belly balls.
Rafa V2s have belly balls that can make things tricky.
Appy patterns look steller when belly balls are abundant. When the horse moves in game, you'll get different belly balls showing up- more opportunity to show off those spots.
BUT. A creative hexpainter can get around all that with external textures and tricks that you'll just learn as you go.
Dream was hexed from a simple Sorrel Breyer model.
Step 2.) Open the PW Dummy and if you need to, open up Notepad to record what colors you used and where. I used 50 for the main body, and darker colors for shading.
If I were to stop here at a simple ball recolor, Dream would come out of the AC like this foal.
Step 3.) Paintballs. Layer them. They'll look amazing.
I started with the muzzle. If you look back at the reference, the nose has a bit of pink with gray/black spots.
I started with the muzzle. If you look back at the reference, the nose has a bit of pink with gray/black spots.
And now for the rest of the face.
Gray/black to pink blending done.
Face stripe close up.
More blending. Added nostril marking to the face. Changed nostril line outlines to 180.
Step 4.) Legs. Blend them. Do a base layer first. This ensures that no matter what the ball outline will be covered.
And now blend like crazy. This is time consuming, but I promise it will make your pony pretty.
And do the same to the other side. Depending on the horse, you could "cheat" and copy the paintball codes and flip-flop them to the other side. I didn't do that for Dream because this is a tutorial. XD
And do the same to the other side. Depending on the horse, you could "cheat" and copy the paintball codes and flip-flop them to the other side. I didn't do that for Dream because this is a tutorial. XD
Step 5.) Making everything look right. Very subtle stuff now, but it does make a difference.
BEFORE | AFTER |
Face is done. Legs are blended. Tail is blended. [Make sure you leave the fuzz at 3-4 for the tail.]
And the shading is started. I say started because you can add highlights.
And the shading is started. I say started because you can add highlights.
[For this pic, I took away the other paintballs so PW would run faster.]
Technically, you could be done now. You could texture everything but the tail as 1, anchor the paintballs, and then adopt. But. This is an advanced tutorial, so there's a couple more steps. XD
Step 6.) Texturing. Dream is going to have SIX total textures. That sounds like a lot, but really, it's not too bad for a hex like this.
Let me break it down and tell you what everything is.
0 covers all the white areas
1 covers the main body and last level of shading on the legs
2 covers the first level of shading
3 is the mane and tail
4 covers the hooves
5 covers the high lights
0 covers all the white areas
1 covers the main body and last level of shading on the legs
2 covers the first level of shading
3 is the mane and tail
4 covers the hooves
5 covers the high lights
Here's how to work this onto the paintballs. The last -1 on the line stands for the texture number. Change that to the texture number, then anchor.
BUT WAIT. The actual body balls aren't textured yet. Here's how to do it quickly.
The first number is the ball number, the second is the color, the third is the group, and the fourth is the texture.
The first number is the ball number, the second is the color, the third is the group, and the fourth is the texture.
Step 7.) The last step is to copy all of your overrides and paintballs over to the regular MandaV1 file. Remember to change the left nostril's line outlines to 180 in LNZ Pro!
Bring your horse out of the AC. You should notice something odd.
Just recolor those in your overrides with the appropriate color and texture.
327
328
330
116
329
Next. Depending on which V1 you're using, you'll see that the mane is not connected to the forelock.
You have two options:
Ommit ball# 331 from mane.
OR
Reattach the line in PW or LNZ Pro.
307, 331, 0, -1, -1, -1, 100, 100
You have two options:
Ommit ball# 331 from mane.
OR
Reattach the line in PW or LNZ Pro.
307, 331, 0, -1, -1, -1, 100, 100
Example:
Just change
31, 47, 0, -1, 244, -1, 100, 100
to
47, 31, 0, -1, 244, -1, 100, 100
If you try to change the line's color directly, you'll lose the texturing. This is the best compromise I've found,
Now, bring out another horse from the AC with these changes.
Compare the simple ball recolor to the hexpainted version.
Maybe it's just me, but I love that extra dimension that shading can create lol
Compare the simple ball recolor to the hexpainted version.
Maybe it's just me, but I love that extra dimension that shading can create lol
[The adult horse shown here had the line reattached, but it's colored 90 instead of 50s. >_> Ignore that, please. Haha.]
As a V2, the shading is even more noticeable. I bothered to blend the tail, for example...
Congrats! You have hex-painted a horse. This is not the only way or the best way. It's only meant to serve as a base for you to build and create your own hexing style. =D NOW go forth and hex pretty ponies. xD
This was a basic shading tutorial. If there's interest, I'll create more tutorials on how to achieve certain markings like appy patterns or just texture mischief on other freely available horse files.
