AO MAPS / UV MAPS

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Style,

Here's a (very) concise tutorial for using ambient occlusion (shadow) maps in Photoshop...

http://mesh-agency.blogspot.fr/2013/10/tutorial-easy-way-to-use-ambient.html

The AO map is usually a black/white image (possibly with variable transparency) that overlays your texture to add shadows that remain independent of your texture editing.

UV maps are like layout patterns for cutting fabric to cover something, whether a body (clothing) a house (siding, brick, paint) or another object (a vase, automobile fender, baseball, etc.). Those may contain mask layers or overlays to precisely control or guide your texture design. Hopefully any mesh objects you buy will have a notecard explaining the maps and how you are to use them.

The hard work of designing the mesh object itself has been done by the mesh creator, and their mesh design tool will export a map, and potentially even mapped textures, to be used in external image editing tools for creation of final textures. Robin Wood's excellent avatar UV template tutorials should help you understand the basic approach for mesh maps as well...

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLTutSet.html

Good luck, have fun!

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Style,

Here's a (very) concise tutorial for using ambient occlusion (shadow) maps in Photoshop...

http://mesh-agency.blogspot.fr/2013/10/tutorial-easy-way-to-use-ambient.html

The AO map is usually a black/white image (possibly with variable transparency) that overlays your texture to add shadows that remain independent of your texture editing.

UV maps are like layout patterns for cutting fabric to cover something, whether a body (clothing) a house (siding, brick, paint) or another object (a vase, automobile fender, baseball, etc.). Those may contain mask layers or overlays to precisely control or guide your texture design. Hopefully any mesh objects you buy will have a notecard explaining the maps and how you are to use them.

The hard work of designing the mesh object itself has been done by the mesh creator, and their mesh design tool will export a map, and potentially even mapped textures, to be used in external image editing tools for creation of final textures. Robin Wood's excellent avatar UV template tutorials should help you understand the basic approach for mesh maps as well...

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLTutSet.html

Good luck, have fun!