Texture Experiments

[SandmanNinja]

Here are some renders with me playing with some textures.

 

I've made a standard scene withs some planes, sphere primitives, and a plant pot I lathed from a spline I quickly dragged out.

 

Using Max 2009, a Daylight System and an AO render pass comped in Photoshop.

 

The 2nd image uses a dirt mask in a blend material, so it looks like some bricks are showing through some old plaster. I didn't tile the dirt mask but DID tile the plaster and the brick textures - I was trying to help break up the tiling effect.

 

The next image is another stone wall (with a blend disrt mask), wooden floor, and different material for the pot & spheres.

 

The nextimage has a cobblestone road, stone wall with a dirt blend, with a JPG that I made in photoshop (the marble texture). It's nice and big and can handle close-ups & big renders.

 

I've include the AO render to show the basic mesh.

 

Any C&C is appreciated and welcomed. Good textures (and lighting) is what makes a scene and I'm trying to improve my skill in this area.

[Horhe]

You are definetally lacking bump maps in most of these, and some dont have the appropriate resolution for such a close up shot. The displacement needs more subdivisions/samples, as it looks a bit too mechanical.

Perphaps you could create or use more 'believable' models, meaning that models that one could identify with more easily. A sphere wont neccesarily come across as being realistic with a brick map, but rather a brushed steel or chrome material for example. Just my 2 cents.

[Guest FlaviusC]

Hey mate...Besides what I said in the E-mail, I agree with horhe..you definately need some bump map/displacement going on there...I have recently starting to read about normal mapping, I know it's largely used in games renders but I reckon it's better than the basic bump mapping . you can create normal mapping with crazy bump,but that is off beta now and it's quite expensive.

 

Nvidia ( lovely Nvidia ) has some freeware plugins here

 

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

 

you could download their normal map software. The results are not that good..However,you could use it more than once,on a single texture. The workflow would be like this

 

Desaturate your texture-> use nvidia normal map ( check multiple layers) .then,desaturate your texture again(ow,be sure to make a copy of the original one) then add gaussian blur (2.0 px would be fine) . desaturate again,-> add gausian blur (3.0 px ).and do one more time with gaussian blur = 4.0 px. Then level your textures and add them,on top of each other using overlay...be sure to cut off the blue channel.I'm not sure if this makes much sence but you could have a go with it.

Cheers mate!

[SandmanNinja]

Thanks guys - I appreciate the comments.

 

Still not 100% with using the mouse, so my 3ds work is really hurting.

Like I said, just a 'muck about' with some textures - don't think I'm up to modelling just yet.

 

I'll have a play with the nvidia plug-in - thanks for the tip.

[WAcky]

I'll back that Nvidia plugin till the cows come home. It takes 5 seconds to convert a bump map and the results are heads and shoulders above normal bump mapping.

 

I can even get away with doing corrugated roofs with normal mapping now.

 

Works a treat.

 

Don't over do your wrist Joel!

 

Edit: Oh btw...youre going back to a mouse?? Thought about one of these? I'm finally getting really comfortable with mine after a couple of month of 9hrs a day usage

Edited March 23, 2009 by WAcky

[SandmanNinja]

Hi James,

 

Thanks for adding weight to the nvidia plugin.

 

I've played with a "Whale Mouse" - it is a mouse with adjustable length, a wrist rest built into the mouse!!, and works for both left and right-handed people.

 

But it's a bear to get use to.

 

Thanks for the link for the logitech trackball. It's a good looking design.