General questions on creating good CG for live action

Hi guys,

I’m not sure if this is the absolute correct category to post it, but I think it might be, since I’m leaning towards texturing as one of the main things to make CG look most real.

I want to get good at making things with Blender and fit them into my small movie projects. I’m not pro, so please bear with me.

I watched Andrew Price’s bread tutorial in which he did his own texture of bread and it came out looking very real. Also, I made a 3d model of a wooden axe and composited that onto a live action plate of a person holding an axe and it looked super real. No one including me could tell it was CG. I thought to myself that it has to be because of the texture I used, in combination with matching the scene’s lighting of course. But mainly I thought the texture was the reason why.

So I guess, asuming I’m right about this whole texture thing, how and what textures are good to use for CG? What I think so far is…

  1. the texture should be from a absolute front angle. So if it’s a texture of a concrete wall, take it from the front angle and not a side one. It should basically be as flat as possible.
  2. Make sure it has even lighting. One side of the image shuld not have more or less light than the other.
  3. Not blown or underexposed
  4. Neutral white balance

These 4 things should make it so later in Blender, you can apply the texture and light it however you wish?

Please let me know if I am on the right track and what else I need to consider to make things look “real”. Is there something with materials I need to know, aside from diffuse image texturing? I know you can “make” textures and all in Blender, but I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go, or a combination of both, or just diffuse image texturing? Is one preferred over the other?

Thank you!
Mr D