Outmode: Forklift is Textured!

The last 3 or 4 days have been spent staring at a forklift, and as perhaps boring or odd as this may sound, I've actually really enjoyed it! The challenge has been to cut down polys as explained in the last blog and to also texture the forklift in such a way that it can be believed to have been used. When showing the pre-production design to my director, (Will) he preferred the idea of a yellow forklift, similar to those of present day. Hence the slight design change! Also, I decided to get rid of the headlights as the forklift is not going to be working and there is no need for the added polys which can be placed elsewhere for the added detail.

Through the images above hopefully you can see the stages used to create the texture. It began just blocking out the colour to ensure it worked as a finished product. Following this, layers were added in PHOTOSHOP to add the needed wear and tear. The hardest of this was to texture inside to make sure the difference between cloth on the seat and the harsh metallic surface of the controls could be seen and recognised by the gamer. The scratches and splashes also added a particular challenge however, especially trying to get the UV shells to match up without seams showing. However, through trial and error switching between MAYA and PHOTOSHOP I believe this has been achieved successfully. Another challenge was making the glass look glass. A transparency map was added to achieve this.
I then added a normal map to help add subtle detail into the surface of the model:

After the diffuse got to a point I was happy with, I began adding a spec map to it which produced the following results:

With the Spec added, it adds a professional feel to it and will mean that in the game it will have a metallic gloss to help portray the texture of it.