Easy Tips to Create Reference Images for 3D Graphics Work

As an artist, you no doubt have a good grasp of how to use the various graphics software that is available. However, there are plenty of times when you are likely to get confused or even overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work that is needed in order to clean up images to really work with. Additionally, if your true passion lies in modeling in a 3D environment, you certainly do not like to spend a lot of time working on a reference image that will not be the actual finished product.

However, much as you may not like working on it, spending the bit of time to really give the images a good look over is important, and also learning how to quickly edit the images to obtain the absolute best reference images to work with possible is extremely important. You will find that after a bit of time learning, you will quickly master the process of creating reference images and cut down your work time by as much as one-third that can allow you to quickly get back to working on different projects.

Your first step is the actual images. This can be either taken by you personally, purchased from someone else or even found on the internet using the appropriate licenses and usage rights. Taking care to ensure that the images offer a straight on view of the item that you are going to model, as well as at a minimum one side shot as well will enable you to get the best overall view of the object and have a much easier time doing the model. Try to keep all of the sizes the same for the front and side images as well, so that they are uniform and it will also be much easier to work with.

You should also consider, you will likely need to fix the images this includes taking out unnecessary background images, shaping the image so that it is perfectly uniform, and even adjusting the alignment so that the front and side images line up correctly. The distort, transform, and warm tools quickly become some tried and true favorites. But also, make yourself comfortable using the guides that Photoshop includes. These are very helpful for aligning portions of the image, as well as the overall image to ensure that things match up properly.

Be careful to also take the time to keep the originals intact in case you do make a mistake. This will allow you to go back and start over, or if you are also using the appropriate layers, to go back a few steps and quickly correct any mistakes that you make. Knowing what you are doing, will have a great impact on the overall ability to see how you are going to get there with the images that you start with. While you could always create the reference images from scratch, using actual photographs as a starting point makes it much easier to obtain an accurate model, rather than simply getting close.