Need help with brick texture

[pixelperfectg]

I'm having a brain block when it comes to figuring out a solution to this random brick texture that I need to add. Here's a picture of the bricks to help illustrate:

 

And here's one of my renders to show what I have thus far in the way of texturing (I know, the color and bump aren't correct just yet):

 

Any ideas on how to handle those colored bricks at the bottom of the building?

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas....

 

Jeff

 

Edit: A top angle render to give you a feel for the size of this building...

[Tom Hamelrijckx]

What you're working in? 3D Max 'tiles' map offers the possibility to put variance in the colors of bricks with a control in how much they can differ.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

are the mono color blocks procedural or texture mapped?

[pixelperfectg]

D'oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention what software package..sorry. Yes, 3dsmax6 and I am aware of the tile map. However, currently I'm using a bitmap for the main bricks.

 

I know I can vary the color with the tile map, but these bricks are 3 specific colors (maroon, yellowish, and the basic tan ones). There's not much variance in those colors. So how can I make the tile map work with three distinct colors?

 

I could paint a transparancy map and then I'd only have to worry about two colors, but the transparancy map would need to be pretty large to give the illusion of random placement of these bricks.

 

If it would be better to switch to the tile map, then I can do that as well for the mono colored bricks.

 

So before I started painting an opacity map, I thought I'd see if there was a better solution instead.

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

i guess i would open the texture in photoshop, tile it to be 3 times as wide as it is now, then draw selections around the bricks you want to change, and change their hue to be what you want, then map this texture back onto the lower half of the building where the brick varies.

 

if you do it this way, save the selection sets because chances are you want to tweak the colors after you have applied them.

[William Alexander]

Jeff,

 

You could try an RGB multiply color mask over the bitmap. See this link

 

http://www.wdadesign.com/links/CGA/SF/tut.html

 

and in the "MIX" (general material description-diffuse map) section about halfway down and on the right substitue a brick (tile) proceedural map with some heavy variances for the noise alpha mask. Use the dark brown for the RGB Color and let the alpha mask apply the color D-brown to Medium Buff to light Buff. Most concrete coloring (ie brown or Buff) seems to run the same proportions of primary colors just less for the different named shades of color, yea color theory works for mortar & concrete coloring in the real world too (been there-done that).

 

Hope it's of some help or at least unlocks the brain cells for you.

 

 

WDA

[pixelperfectg]

Ahhhh, thats a nice tutorial man. Thanks for the input from everyone, I think I'm on the right track for a procedural solution though. I've blended several tile textures together and used a tile map as a mask, and then ramped the black and white points up via an output map....well, it's easier to see than to explain so here's a test render and sample scene if you guys want to have a look...

 

Don't mind the colors or bump map as this is just a simple test scene (I even rendered it in scanline)

 

And the scene:

http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/multi-bricks.zip

 

Feel free to improve upon this or offer further solutions...

 

Thanks again,

 

Jeff

[pixelperfectg]

Well, I ditched the procedural attempt and just painted a brickmap with photoshop. Naturally there's a little issue with tiling, but the client liked it, so I guess that's all that matters.

 

 

Jeff

[Tbonz]

Hey Jeff! A while back Strat posted a link to a great little program for generating bricks of many types and colors. It's from a brick company, while this isn't the intended use, it does a great job I realise its a little late, but this is a great freebie IMO heres the link(masonry designer):

 

http://www.brick.com/home-abc.htm

 

Looking good BTW

[Chris Potts]

Hey, It brillant......I like it....simple useful for me...

 

Thank Tbonz

[trhoads]

I use that ACME brick maker all the time. It has been a great tool. I am not sure if it was intended for this use, but it allows you to choose all of your colors, and generate a good size panel, change the colors or textures of your material, and save it for use in VIZ or MAx. It would have been my suggestion for this particular project.

[salf]

mmmmmm......i bring this thread alive because i cant get the ACME brick creator.

 

Ive been clicking on the DOWNLOAD link of the ACME site and nothing happens, dunno, if the download is down, or is just a problem on my end, so if anybody could share that application with me it would be great.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, a coworker got it, for some reason it doesnt works only on my PC connection.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

there ar a handful of companies that have the same brick generator. the generator is developed by a third party, and sold to the brick/block companies. they plug-in the bricks they have available, ect.. ect..

 

try these....

 

http://www.beldenbrick.com/setup.htm

 

http://www.acmebrick.com/md/index.htm

 

http://www.accurate-image.com/mcnear/install/setup.htm

 

http://www.metromontmaterials.com/masonry_designer.html

 

http://www.rmcewell.com/masonry_designer.htm

 

http://www.accurate-image.com/essrocvm/zip_code2/main/aim_main.asp

 

all the same app, all with different bricks.