Megaloptura - Creating Blend Mask for our Pig Bug

So now that I have the Pig Bug pelt mapped I can paint directly on the surface of the model, or switch to 2D and paint directly on the map using 3DS Max canvas viewport.  It is just easier to use for quick stuff like this instead of exporting it back to Mudbox and painting there.  This is a simple mask bitmap so it isn't anything viewport canvas can't handle.  Luckily, I am a little spoiled so I have a Wacom Cintiq 24HD with is literally a giant drawing table where you can draw on the screen itself instead of a pad.  Here is a link if you want to know more about the Cintiq.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79SdxuA1WjY

So what I normally do for something like this is just draw super quickly on the model itself and then for nice feathered edges, cleanup and all that I go to the 2D view and draw directly on the texture.  Keep in mind that viewport canvas will save as an adobe PSD and you can flatten your work also and save it directly to a texture slot in 3DS at the same time.  This is cool because then you can open the map in Adobe later and refine stuff a lot more with the paint tools in there....You will only be working on the 2D map though...to work on the 3D you have to open it again in 3DS in viewport canvas.  

So I created a blend mask to blend the dark materials of the level into the light ones and then all I have to do is change the materials to make different pig bugs but keep the pattern....so here is what I got.  I did more work since this pic, but you get the idea.

You can support the Megaloptura project and get a pre-order copy at Neuron Games, Inc. 

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