The Process

Thought I would do a quick write up on my process for texture / model creation. This isn't THE way to do it, this is just how I go about building assets. This also isn't every single step and meant to be just a general overview:

1. Concept and Reference
   This step usually consists of a concept artist handing me drawn artwork or me going into Photoshop and cooking up some ideas. Sometimes I'll draw or paint over existing models or models that have similar shapes / silhouettes to get a general visual going. I'll also search around for pictures of materials, colors, and other designs I might want to incorporate.
   
   
2. Initial Model
   Here I block out the model shape and proportions. Try not to define things too much and just get a general feel and layout for the model.
   
   
3. Model Refinement
   After I have the model blocked out I go in and start refining sections piece by piece. It's important to not going into extreme detail on one part while another part is still in block form. You want to massage the entire model phase by phase so that it works into a more detailed form together instead of one part at a time. Not unlike how you would work with clay.
   
   
4. Model Detail Refinement
   Here is where I clean up the model, make sure polys normals are the right direction, weld where needed, smooth out topography and mesh flow. I'll also add accessories and other misc. details in this stage as well.
   
   
5. UV Layout
   Layout out UVs tends to be about 30-50% of the model building process. It's extremely important as it will determine how well your texture will look on your model. I UV the model in sections, using a UV Alignment Pattern (click save as to download mine). Bad UVs can make a great model look horrible or good UVs can make an "ok" model look fantastic. There are several UV tools out there to help with the UV process one really good one is Headus' UV Layout. Even with auto layout tools and helpers I do a lot of my UVs by hand. Keeping UVs straight and clean helps reduce seams and keeps the texturing process quick. It also reduces texture stepping as well. If you're going to texture in a program like ZBrush or Body Paint automated tools for UVs work quite well, and cause less concern but give you less control. Based on your concept and time constraints you have to decide what will work best.
   
   
6. Skinning (if required)
   Next it's time to skin and weight the model. Once this is done it's handed off to the animator and you can begin texturing. Some studios have the animators skin, some have the modellers do it, so it depends on your studio situation.
   
   
7. Normal Map (if required)
   There are several ways to generate normal / displacement / occlusion maps. One way is by hand. I often times create gray scale normal maps (like height maps) and use the NVidia filter tool for Photoshop to process the results. This works great as I can then use that gray scale image as a base for all my other maps. Another way to do this is to use ZBrush or MudBox to generate a very high polygon mesh and cook out normal / displacement / occlusion maps from that. This works great as well especially if you're working in an engine that supports these things. I use my base mesh to build off of and sometime go back and rework my base mesh to fit my changes (if required). If you plan on reworking your base mesh you will want to skin your model after this step (otherwise you'll have some very unhappy animators to deal with).
   
   
8. Specular Map (if required)
   I use my gray scale height map for this and make it fairly dark. Then I go in and paint in the highlights/dark areas where I want them with textured brushes to give the shine some variants and randomness. Some engines support specular color as well, I will do this at this stage or generate it from a program like ZBrush or 3DS Max.
   
   
9. Other Maps (if required)
   Here I create Alpha, Environment, Glow, SSS, Refraction, Gloss, Animated, Dual UV, etc. Whatever other maps you need to for your respective engine.
   
   
10. Diffuse (aka Color)
    The Diffuse map is your color. When I'm working with normal maps I try to keep lighting detail out of my diffuse, because it will interfere with all the other maps I've created. I do put in a lot of texture detail and use a lot of blending modes along with my gray scale height map I created earlier. Tonal variants and "world color" are really important to help make your model not look like a cartoon or it was made from ice cream (unless that's the look you're going for).
    
    
11. Ship It!