client provides really, really small texture for floor...

[SandmanNinja]

I have a client that has provided some floor textures for me to put into an existing scene.

 

The only problem is, it's only ONE wooden floor board.

 

He's given me two textures and wants to see them in a photorealistic environment.

 

So, I gave him a render of mine (family / kitchen area of my demo house) and then changed the flooring material a few different times to show him how straight forward it is.

 

I used ProMaterials in my example renders for him and did a tile, a wooden floor, and carpet.

 

He thought it was great.

 

Now, however, he's given me two ever-so-slightly different wooden floor boards and wants to see them in my existing scene.

 

I can barely tell the two patterns apart - there must be something that is very industry specific about them that I am not aware of.

 

I've applied it to the floor, but it tiles something aweful.

 

My concern:

if I go in and muck around in photoshop, making the canvas bigger, copying a piece here and a piece there, I wonder if that will 'lose' the special qualities of the floor material.

 

This is an incredibly low-bid job because he said he had floor tiles. Tiles. I took it to mean square kitchen tiles. The proposal never mentioned me photoshopping anything.

 

I've e-mailed him 3 typical floor board texture JPGs to show him the variation in the material, and voiced some concerns over me photoshopping the single, thin board texture he's given me. I've asked if he can provide a more varied texture.

 

Question:

Err... what should I do? Should I try to make a texture from this single piece of wood (which I'm not allowed to show anyone, for fear the Commies might steal their ..er.. wood pattern..?)?

 

Should I give him the renders he asked for and ignore the tiling?

 

Language is an issue as well. Sigh.

[mattclinch]

try using 'bricks 'n' tiles' software to create a large map from the two individual floor boards, you can vary tone, saturation etc of the varying boards but using the same specific maps, and reduce that tiling effect.

 

has he signed it off with the tiling?

Edited September 11, 2008 by mattclinch

[creasia]

Refer your client to a good texture resource like arroway.de and have him pick out the floor there.

 

The secret is that you supply the resource library and you will find that it makes selection quicker, and quality improves.

Edited September 12, 2008 by creasia

[SandmanNinja]

Thanks guys...

[Stan Zaslavsky]

Hey Joel,

i had a similar experience with a very picky client who demanded a particular type of door on his property - i asked him to take some photos of doors he liked and send them through.

then when i turned around and said that if i need to do extra modelling work because this particular door he chose is not in my library - he said well then you should have a bigger library. I think in general clients dont quite understand what is involved in 3D vis - so in the future i've decided to have a much more extensive PSA that clients sign up to and there is less grey area so if i need to do extra modeling - they need to be aware that there may be extra payable at completion.

 

all the best