Feature: 'Completely Eliminate Texture Seams with 3dsMax'

In today's aptly named technical Gamasutra feature, Peter Kojesta, founder of contract art/development studio Exis Inc., shares his techniques for eliminating unsightly texture seams, using 3dsMax and a little creative tinkering. In this excerpt, Kojesta explains the prevalence of the problem, despite the relative ease of the fix: "In today’s competitive game market, top quality art gives your game a distinctive advantage. A huge problem in the world of game art is texture seams. They break up the continuity of your texture, and also detract from the realism of your model. Even though the technology to eliminate this problem exists, it seems many folks do not take advantage of it. Even though there are several applications that allow one to paint directly on a model, they are often lacking in control and quality. As such, these programs will not be the topic of this discussion. Instead we will focus on more prevalent tools such as 3D Studio max and Adobe Photoshop. Truly this is all you need to completely eliminate seems. The process may seem detailed, but in practice it takes less than 4 minutes to do the whole thing. Read on to find out how! Ever since the inclusion of the ‘Render to texture’ feature, 3d studio Max has had a powerful tool for artist who wish to combat texture seams. This tutorial will demonstrate how to use ‘render to texture’ in conjunction with multiple UVW channels to eliminate texture seams once and for all. It’s simple, it’s effective, and the results are truly amazing. Let’s get to it!" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the topic for the complete walk-through of Kojesta's 4-minute texture seam fix (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).