The trouble with shingles...

[The Miff]

I'm just wondering how you guys deal with shingles on roof tops.

 

Using 3DS and V-ray, I make a Vraymat using a shingle image as diffuse. But being a large, flat surface, it seems to take all the sunlight and gets overexposed. Turning down the multiplier only makes the rest of the scene darker.

 

I'm tempted to make a separate file of a shingled area, where each shingle is either a face or box, so that it can deal with the light more naturally. Then I could just merge and edit as required.

 

Is there a successful method that is commonly accepted?

[Claudio Branch]

There are two places you can start making adjustments:

 

Select your object, right click to select "V-Ray properties" and reduce the value of 1.0 next to "Receive GI"

 

In the Material Editor, click on the texture map you have in the diffuse slot and go down to the bottom tab labeled "Output", reduce the value of 1.0 next to the "RGB Level"

 

I usually keep the RGB Level at a value that returns an 80% Max Reflectance value. Reflectance and Transmittance values show up directly beneath the ME's sample slots when you have "Display R&T Info" checked in the Radiosity tab of your preferences dialogue box.

 

Hope some of this is helpful...

[beestee]

You could embed the shingle image into a ColorCorrection map, and adjust the brightness/contrast of that map independent of the rest of the scene. Bump or normal maps can help break up the light also.

 

Woohoo! 100 posts after 6 years on the site

Edited April 14, 2011 by beestee

[The Miff]

Thanks for the tips guys. Claudio's method is quick and convenient, but beestees response uses a function that I've never used...so I think I'll explore both!