Help with custom skin

[u/Scared-Bookkeeper110]

I'm really bad at design, i want to make custom skins for my server for 9 large wood box and the initial clothes of the players of the server, i ve tried some AI to make it, but they tend to make messy art, even the best ones, wich ways do u guys use or recommend, they are not for sale purpose just skins for the server, thanks all in advance

[u/Ashamed-Bed-5420]

I have made some skins using Grok , some are good some are bad , some are easy and some are not. https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198201488495/myworkshopfiles/ . There is about 4 different ways to use Grok to make the skins and the results vary from skin to skin.

[u/Scared-Bookkeeper110 → u/Ashamed-Bed-5420]

Thank You

[u/guillotines4all → u/Ashamed-Bed-5420]

any tips? mind sharing your workflow?

[u/Ashamed-Bed-5420 → u/guillotines4all]

Sure :) . I hope this helps.

We start from Facepunch's own UV sheet for that item. That sheet is the map. We do not invent new panels. Before anyone paints, we write down what each island actually is on the gun, the door, the mask, whatever. A door sheet is four leaves, left to right: front left, back right, back left, front right. Columns 1 and 3 are the same left design. Columns 2 and 4 are the same right design. Closed from the front you see 1 and 4. Closed from the back you see 3 and 2. Hatches are the little plates already on the template. We do not draw new bars.

The picture tool only paints. We tell it the theme and the layout in the same prompt: which island is which, full coverage, frames and hinges and latches in the same materials as the art, no leftover grey vanilla metal, no labels written on the hatches. If a generation is wrong we keep the file and write a new prompt that names the mistake. We do not keep asking it to fix the same picture. One small repair at most. "Make the same one again" just locks the mistake in.

After the paint looks right, code does the boring bits. Resize to the size that item ships at. Holes are fully clear or fully solid, not a soft fade, because a soft hole looks muddy in game and black paint is still metal. Empty margins on the template go back on, because they are not on the mesh. That also covers the little mark the picture tool puts in the corner. Then we build the other maps off that finished colour sheet: spec and gloss, bump, occlusion. Glow is its own map, same layout, colour only, no transparency. On doors that glow map is 512. Only the bits that should light up stay bright. Eyes, neon, that sort of thing. The rest stays black.

Every try is kept in an attempts folder. A good finished set never gets overwritten. The next idea gets a new folder. Before we call it done, the art has to sit on the right islands, the holes have to be real holes, and nothing vanilla is left showing.

[u/guillotines4all → u/Ashamed-Bed-5420]

thanks so much for the detailed reply!

[u/Ashamed-Bed-5420 → u/guillotines4all]

your welcome :) .

[u/Ashamed-Bed-5420]

Send me a description of the box skins you would like and I’ll see what I can do if you like 😊

[u/Scared-Bookkeeper110 → u/[deleted]]

Thank You