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For example, one of the creatures planned is an isopod like animal. Would I need to get pictures of real animals and adjust them to my needs?

GioTech
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    Do you have some examples of the rough kinds of variation you are looking for? Actual pictures would be nice, but descriptions will suffice otherwise. This will help with answers discussing the creation of those textures, so you'd have more options than just "buy them." –  Feb 15 '18 at 17:07
  • I meant variation as in the different animals. What I'm looking for roughly is a way of creating amphibian like skin, reptilian skin, hard exoskeletons with maybe some scratches. – GioTech Feb 15 '18 at 17:14
  • If you're looking for an image creation workflow, procedural material, or shader to achieve a particular effect, one of the best ways to get good suggestions is to show visual examples of what you have to work with as inputs so far (eg. the model, texture coordinates, etc), and one or more pictures of your target output / the visual look you want to achieve. I'd recommend focusing on just one type of skin to start with — if you get good answers to that, you can always follow up with a new question on extending the method to other types. – DMGregory Feb 15 '18 at 17:52

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I would build them up with multiple layers of randomly selected images using a shader. The images you'd use would be as follows...

First, a collection of base coloration textures. They can be stripes, splotches, single colors, or what ever you think would be appropriate for the animals. They should not have any scale, wrinkle, or other form features, or shininess (specular reflection). Just the base colors.

Next, a collection of normal maps that can be applied to create scales, bumps, or other skin patterns on your base coloration textures. You could combine "purple splotch" with "lizard scales" for example, and get a purple splotched lizard skin. If you google "normal map lizard skin" you'll find a lot of hits that give you an idea of how this works in general.

Lastly, a collection of transparent textures that add scratches, scuffs, dirt splotches, or whatever else you might see as providing some additional variation. You can choose to overlay them in the end to add more variety to the skin.

Given these sets of textures, you can randomly pick one from each category, and combine them using a shader to create a randomized skin style. If the animal is something that gets wet (like an amphibian), you can always throw in some specular reflection to make it glisten.

Tim Holt
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