Randomize Material Script

[jophus14]

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a script were a single material can be randomized when selecting multiple objects? I checked scriptspot.com but I'm not that familiar with scripts. I did a search on here as well but found nothing. Thanks. Jerry Ylilammi mentions it in the link below.

 

http://www.ylilammi.com/houseofparliament.shtml

[Fran]

Hi Joseph,

 

Can you give an example of what you would be using it for?

[Tommy L]

do you mean randomizing a multi-sub-object material?

[jophus14]

I plan on using it for wood just like Jerry Ylilammi did in the previous attachment. I am doing a wood panel system and I want to randomize the same wood texture over the span of a hundred or more panels. I did use a multi-sub at first but it became a pain (on my part). I basically want to randomize the grain pattern as simple as possible having each panel look different. Thanks

[Fran]

Oops. Sorry.

 

For simple materials, you could group your objects together as a single mesh and use the MaterialByElements modifier.

[jophus14]

Here is what the panels will look like.

[Fran]

You can take all the panels and attach them together as a single mesh. Each panel will become an element in the mesh. When you apply the MaterialByElement modifier, it will randomly apply the materials of a Multi/Sub-object material to the elements. The MSO should contain all the different materials you want to apply.

 

Let me know if you need more info on attaching the objects into a single mesh.

[quizzy]

use the bercon gradient for that, it can randomize by object/object ID and much more..

[Fran]

Oh, I see that you want to actually randomize the material and not apply materials randomly.

[jophus14]

Exactly. According to Jerry Ylilammi's page, he used the same material (just different colors) and randomized the look of the procedural wood texture for a whole bunch of wood bits.

[Fran]

This is what Quizzy is talking about:

 

http://www.ylilammi.com/BerconMaps.shtml

[anton]

I am pretty sure that he wrote the script specially for that image and it is pretty easy to recreate it. You just need to know exactly what you want to achive.

 

Now for your case, are you going to use his Bercon maps or just use a uvwMap on your own wood material? The colors that are you going to use are random, you have a spec or you need just a small change in hue and value for each?

[Peter M. Gruhn]

If you can get what you need by tweaking uvw map parameters Soulburn Scripts has a parameter manager which can assign random values to (for instance) uvw height for selected objects. It appears to have some ability with materials and maps but I'm not having success there. Could be a version issue or a training issue.

[jophus14]

I am pretty sure that he wrote the script specially for that image and it is pretty easy to recreate it. You just need to know exactly what you want to achive.

 

Now for your case, are you going to use his Bercon maps or just use a uvwMap on your own wood material? The colors that are you going to use are random, you have a spec or you need just a small change in hue and value for each?

 

Thanks for the replies. I really do appreciate it. At first I had three different shades of wood that I was using but it seemed a little too much for the image. I then made all of the wood the same texture but now I don't want repeating grain. Even with a tilable texture it still looks repetative since there is so much wood. I will post an image soon so you all can see what I am doing.

[Chad Warner]

cg-source.com has a script that I think is what you're looking for. http://www.cg-source.com/multitexture.php I haven't had a chance to use it, but I definitely plan on it. I played with the floor generator the other day, and it's going to be used a lot.

[jophus14]

Thanks Chad. I was just on there 2 minutes ago showing someone their wood textures. They have beautiful textures but they are a bit pricey. I will have to take a look again.

[Chad Warner]

Textures may be pricey, but the scripts are free.

[jophus14]

Here is a quick test to show you all what I am talking about. Materials are temporary.....

[anton]

To be able to help you we need to really understand what are you looking for in every possible detail.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong, you want the same wood material but you need the mapping to look good? You'll also use the bercon maps to create your materials?

[jophus14]

I want apply nice wood textures to these panels. The problem is that it is hard to find good tilable high-res wood textures that are consistent in color and can be used in various locations without being noticed as repeating. There are 4 different hues of wood being used for the panels. The panels are huge as you can see so there wouldn't be a giant swirl of grain or one single knot that is massive in the panel due to the size of the panel. Every wood texture that I found will work for a single board or a small panel but it would look unrealistic being used on a 4'X10' panel. I hope you understand what I mean here.

[anton]

Ok, now it makes sense. You should install the bercon maps then and make a material that has a RGBMultiply map in the Diffuse channel. Change the color 1 to a color that you want your wood to look like and for color 2 add a Bercon Wood map. In this map under the Colors area, desaturate the colors there to get a grayscale variant of the wood map. You can use this map in the bump channel also. Now what you've gotten is a procedural map that can get any color. Make 4 copies of this material change their colors per your needs and play a bit with the wood settings. Apply them to random selections of panels and add a UVW Map modifier to each panel and adjust per need. This should not take you more than 30 minutes.

 

If you would have had a lot more materials and objects it would have been worthed to script this.

 

Let me know how it goes.

[jophus14]

Sorry for the late response Anton. I plan on trying out your method today. I will then post the results. Thanks.