Tutorial : "Making of Moff" by D.Pattenden, San Francisco
Texturing
As this model is destined for rendering, it's going to need a lot more accompanying maps than simply a texture map. Along with the texture ( or colour, or diffuse, whatever you want to call it ), you will need a bump map, a specularity map, perhaps a translucency map. This can be taken a lot further to include all sorts of other maps, but for the Moff Tarkin image, I got away with just these. So, the tricky part, is working in a fashion that enables you to keep a relationship across all the maps. This is why all my maps I keep stored in the same layered .PSD. If you end up working this way though, be aware that this PSD can get huge in file size ( Moff Tarkins face PSD is over 100 megabytes ) , since you'll end up with many many layers and need a resolution of at least 2048 pixels square. Get that ram you've been saving up for. I have 1.5 gig and could still use more.
tip: get a wacom tablet! :)
So, in Photoshop I've created a .PSD with the exported baked shader as a layer, along with the UV layout as a layer. I've then sized it to about 2500 pixels square. ( uprezzing images is generally frowned upon but Im only using these as templates ) This resolution is perhaps a little overkill, but I wanted to be safe not sorry. I think for most uses 2048 is fine. For painting the colour map, I've blatantly stolen some concepts from professional sculptor Vance Hartwell. Check out his site here, as he has an awesome tutorial on how to build up the different layers that are needed to achieve convincing human skin. Using this principle, and examining images of Peter Cushing, this is how I built up the layers for the skin colour map:
1) Subtle stipple for skin pores ( very subtle, you might need to zoom in to see it )
2) A reddish mottle, vaguely meant to represent blood flowing under the skin
3) A red that's meant to represent discolouration of the outer layer of the skin. Mainly sun damage. ( If painting sun damage think about where it would be most obvious. Generally the planes of the face that point skyward ) I have erased into the sun damage on the cheek to look like wrinkles.
4) Purplish tone for bags under eyes
5) Beard stubble
6) Moles
7) Veins
8) Random blotches
9) Eyebrow hair ( For a more realistic look however, I would recommend treating hair differently than painting on. See later in the tutorial )
10 ) Age spots
This is the resultant colour map:
Applied to the model and using the 'use no lights' viewport option in Maya, it looks like so:
Attractive huh? Now, the next step is where having the bump and spec and colour all in the one PSD document comes in handy, since in order to create these maps and have them bear some relationship with the colour map, I start with my base colour stipple, and greyscale that to become my base bump like so:
1) Duplicate base colour stipple layer and convert to greyscale to use as base bump:
becomes 
2) Add wrinkles
3) Veins. Here, we are not painting new veins, but rather, duplicating our veins colour layer, and converting to greyscale and brightening to act as a bump vein:
4) Eyebrows. Again, were not painting these from scratch, but duplicating the colour eyebrows layer and converting for use as bump:
5) Moles. Once again, convert moles layer, so that their bump corresponds exactly to their colour:
Specular Map
1 ) To be really clever here, we should probably use the same base texture pattern for skin colour base, skin bump and skin spec in terms of its patterning of skin pores. For some bizzare reason that I can't recall, I didn't in this case, but I think you'd have to be a pretty astute observer to notice. So starting from scratch, or from an existing base map you've made, create a pattern that looks somewhat like skin pores.
White receives maximum specularity or 'sheen' from light, black minimum. Look at some pictures of people to figure out the shiniest parts of the face:
2) Using the soft light brush, airbrush some areas to be shinier than others:
3) If painting eyebrow hair, add some specular by duplicating the colour eyebrow layer and converting to greyscale and tweaking:
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Next - Final Scene
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