I was just looking for any tips on texturing. I know all of the stuff listed in all the tuts about bump, normal, diffuse, .etc and whatnot. I want to know if there is any good sources out there for the actual textures themselves, or how to mix and match textures to get it perfect. Just any helpful advice that YOU found helpful.

well i recommend to make your textures out of baked textures of your model that will make it look awesome. so model your model and uv it. then bake maps out of it (a tutorial how thats done can be found in the 3D xsi info thread) then blend the ambient occlusion map with a color map. the color map can be baked easily too you just need to apply a material (with a diffuse color) to the model. blend color + ambient occlusion + a texture (so if you texture a woodsn box you blend a basic wood texture too.
and what really handy too, to undertand the diffrent types of texturing go to www.quixel.se and download a test of dDo. this will give you awesome results. just look at the demo video its AWESOME



and learn and master gimp or photoshop those programms are just nescessary. try to do someother things but texturing. so edit a picture change the color of clothes photorealistic, and do someother things. youll get way better in texturing as soon as you have mastered your photo manipulation programm.

http://cgtextures.com/
ez textures ez life


Of course need adjustments depending on use, but photos are definitely the best way to get realistic textures if you don't have the possibility/ability/time to sculpt them.

Wonderful thank you.

@noMatt: I couldn't find the tut..

If you want help with the UV editor, I can help you with that, send me a PM. As far as the actual texture goes, practice, patience, and experimenting with your preferred image editor goes a long way. Google "Gimp tutorials" or the likes, see what you can find. Many tutorials in photoshop can be applied to gimp in some form or another. Play with HSV noise, motion blur, and distort related filters to see if you can't come up with a brushed metal/wood/cork texture. The overlay layer mode can also be quite fun. Beyond that, the aforementioned CG textures is a great website. Also, while I don't recommend this as its lazy, google images can sometimes be good too. But only as a last resort.

But, most of all, have fun. I hope my post points you in the right direction.

So I am pretty good at making textures I found, but I can't seem to wrap them around a complex object correctly. How do I create a texture that will line up with the points on the texture editor in XSI so that it will come out nice and even?

you have to make uvs that stick together better. If you are not using modern texturing tools that hides uv seems you have to make the uv seems on invisible position (For example on the downside of a car. Most people are seeing cares only from top, front, and the sides not from the bottom).

Hope that helps