How to make a rock texture

[Podmark]

For my Rockslide skins I used a preexisting texture, and I'd like to redo it one day with a texture thats all mine. So I'm asking for tips/methods to create textures/patterns.

examples of the kinds of textures I'd be looking for:
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/2922/109066-185759-rockslide_super.jpg
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/77/195135-114983-rockslide_super.jpg
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/77/195134-130438-rockslide_super.jpg
But I don't expect to told exactly how to pull these off. Even a push in the right direction might be enough. Designing textures is something I've never really done before.

[AfghanAnt]

I'm actually doing a magma texture on a skin right now and I think the best way is to draw on all the detail by hand with inner and outer glow turned on (this is for photoshop). As for the others, before I would either fine a seamless rock texture or just just create my own texture the same way I would do the magma by drawing on the cracks.

[daglob]

There used to be all sorts of tutorials on making various textures in Photoshop out there on the internet, but most seem gone. Need to do a search for some more sometime.

All these suggestions involve Photoshop, but Paintshop should work as should Corel Photo-Paint and othe graphic programs.

I've had success with using the Render Clouds command with gray and black or dark gray as colors, then putting in an adjustment layer filled with 50% gray above it with the blend mode set to Overlay or Soft Light and use the dodge and burn tools to shade. You can get an effect like marble or limestone. Then paint on your cracks, highlighting the "light" side of the crack by hand. You might do this on yet another layer.

For sandstone (or sand) you can fill the layer with a sandy color and then use the Add Noise command, and set the noise on Monochrome and Gaussian, then shade as before. Do this in gray instead of sand, and you have a rough-looking stone texture.

The middle one looks like a Champions character I've converted to FF. I put in a layer of bright yellow orange, put the wireframe in a layer at the top, used the Select Color Range command to select the white lines of the WF, and changed the color to purple (I also use bright green and red, depending on the background). Then I de-selected the lines, and set the blend mode to Exclusion. This gives you a see-through wireframe that you can work under. I don't know if anyone else does this, but it works for me.

Anyway, I just painted in black shapes in a layer above the bottom layer with spaces between them to let the orange yellow show through. Saved the PSD file, then hid the wireframe, flattened the whole thing, and saved as TGA. For a glow layer, originally I opened the PSD file, copied the black layer and hid one of them, used the Blur command to blur one black layer a little, saved the PSD, hid the wireframe, flattened it and saved it as the glow texture. However, I wasn't really satisfied  with the way that looked, so I ended up just tossing a layer filled with black above the whole thing and setting the opacity to around 50% and made that my glow layer. I haven't given up on the other way yet.

My tablet came with a paint-on-noise filter that is pretty good also for making the texture seem rough.

Always remember: Mr. Undo is your friend.

[Deaths Jester]

Also if ye have any background with Painter X, that might help as well becuase it allows ye to work with more traditional brushes that aren't part of the other graphic progs.  Somewhere I have a few textures for rocks as well as how to create rock textures....let me look through my stuff....I might be able to find ye some stuff Pod.