Mastering Bump Maps
for Curious Labs Poser® and Corel Bryce®

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Part 5

[Return to Part 4]

Now comes the really challenging part - the folds!

I cannot over-emphasize the need for good reference work. Search magazines and books for photographs of folds in clothing. One thing that I have learned is that folds that are not carefully (and correctly) done, look stuck on and unnatural. Try standing in front of a mirror and bend your arms, legs and torso observing how the cloth folds over certain areas and stretches smooth over other areas.

Portfolio of reference

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. You will need a 2 or 3-pixel airbrush for this part. Go to the Brush Options and choose the "Small Stream" preset.

Choose the Small Stream Airbrush

 

 

 

 

 

 
2. Now with the preset selected you can now tweak it into a "fold-creating" brush. Folds usually taper off and almost never end abruptly. Your brush settings too must fade out to the mid-gray foundation layer. Set your airbrush to fade by clicking on the Brush Settings Docker and use the following settings.

The brush settings!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. I would suggest saving this preset so you can use it later. Save it as Airbrush Medium Fade or something like that. Select the Brush Options tool and choose the Save brush pop-up menu option. (if this tool does not appear on your Corel PhotoPaint, you may have to install it using the Tools... Customise menu item - You can also access these commands by clicking the flyout arrow in Artistic Media Docker window.

Saving the brush settings

4. Now choose pure white from the palette and start laying down the "peaks" of the folds. Don't overdo it. Remember the "valleys" will come afterwards. Use your reference to construct a realistic "network of folds. A good thing to keep in mind is the pose that you want to put your Poser figure into. Limbs with extreme bends will have more and deeper folds than normal, and straight limbs need not have too many folds. The fold lines are like a spider web connecting points of attachment.

White folds first!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
5. Once you feel you have laid a good foundation of lines, switch to a black shade for your brush. Lay down lines between the white lines. Do not worry about them lining up exactly. The next step will fix that.

Now add the black lines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bump map should now begin to look something like this.

Getting there is half the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
6. At this stage, you might try using the Pointed Smear tool to spread the folds into more natural shapes. The tool can be found by clicking on the Effects flyout and selecting the Smear tool.

Select the Smear tool from the Effects flyout!Choose thie Smear tool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
7. The default Pointed Smear is a large 20 pixel brush. Bring it down to 2 or 3 pixels for the fine work. You can work into the ribbing and seam detail that you created previously, but don't destroy too much of the detail.

Set the default Pointed Smear to 2 pixels big!
The Smear has a very subtle effect but stops blobby folds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This concludes the 5th part of this tutorial. Are you ready for the next part?

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