https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-cgr25rih9I/hqdefault.jpg

This tutorial looks at how to apply textures and UV maps using Cycles in Blender 2.78

1. Open Blender and change the render model to Cycles render
2. Open the materials tab. Remove the material slot and add a new one
3. Set the surface to ‘Glossy’. Beside the colour, click the circle and choose ‘Image Texture’
4. Find a texture on google images that you will map onto the cube and save it to desktop
5. In the materials tab, click on the image folder icon and select the image you downloaded
6. Change the viewing mode to ‘Compositing’. Go into Edit mode on the cube and select all
7. Click on ‘Mesh’ and chose ‘UV Unwrap’ and then ‘Unwrap’
8. Go into the image window and click the image icon and select the downloaded image
9. Move, scale and position the box so that it covers the desired area of the UV image
10. Go back to default viewing mode and change the 3D view to texture view
11. In the materials tab, change the ‘roughness’ to 0.3 to reduce the shininess
12. Go back to Object mode and add a plane as a floor.
13. Add a new texture for the floor in the materials tab and set it to glossy, roughness: 0.7
14. Delete the default lamp from the scene. Add another plane and position it as a light source
15. In material properties, add a new material and change it to ‘Emission’.
16. Change the colour to white and the strength to 30. Check it out in rendered view.
17. Go back to texture view. Reposition the lights & camera until you’re happy with the view
18. Render the image to see what it will look like. You will notice a lot of grain/noise
19. Go to the render tab and scroll down to ‘Samples’. Change this value to 50. Render again
20. To save the image, go to Image – save and save a PNG to your desktop
21. Create a simple animation of the cube moving, rotating or scaling up/down over time
22. Add a little camera movement, e.g. a pan from left to right or moving closer/further away
Render the animation as a h.264 Quicktime movie

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