3ds Max Modeling for Games FIG 1.10 An old fire extinguisher. Textures The terms textures or texture maps in game art refer to 2D images that are projected onto or wrapped around a 3D mesh. We'll discuss this more in the tutorials later on in this book. These texture pages can be cropped from photographs, be hand painted, or created using a combination of both. The purpose of texture maps is to define an object's surface, color, or texture and to visually describe any extra details that are not modeled in polygons. Here is a brief description of the most common texture types. Diffuse map: A diffuse map is the main texture applied to most 3D models. This texture should define a surface's main color and detail. A good diffuse map should not have any directional lighting in it. The only lighting that should be present in this texture should be from an ambient light source as if it's being lit evenly from all directions. This means that recesses in the texture will appear darker and raised element would be lighter. No shadows or highlights should be present in the texture. 10