Stone wall modelling-texturing approach

[marccosta]

Hi everyone, my first post here, seeking advice on how to approach the modelling/texturing of this wall

 

It is part of an exterior render project, but this wall is particularly important since it's the only part already built and needs to be accurate. Also, one of the views will be very similar to the first photo, so a normal-bump map on a flat surface wouldn't work.

 

I've been wandering what would be the most efficient way to approach this work. And I've looked for scripts to help me with this but I'm concerned about the big difference in sizes and shapes of the stones (notice how the wall has rarely any gap and that the stone shapes differ a lot).

 

What I think so far: spline and extrude for the stones, and different bump textures to create irregularities on each one. I intend to create this procedural textures with Substance designer.

 

But I'm not convinced at all that this will work. I have to say that I've been working with Max for less than a year, so yes, I certainly have a lot to learn. The good thing is that I love it.

 

So please, share your expertise on this. Any advice or comment would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!!

[SkylineArch]

If the wall is important, and you are able to visit the site, I would try to go out and take a lot of straight on photos at a time without direct sunlight and make a high-res texture map and a hand painted displacement map, unless you know a sculpting program like Zbrush, MudBox, Sculptris, Blender, etc., where you could sculpt the wall and use the photos as a diffuse map.

 

Or, with a good camera, take a number of photos from the approximate camera location as the final rendering and composite the rocks in after the rendering is complete, then you only need to model the overall size in Max and cover that later with your photo.

 

I think if you try to do a straight modeling of the stones they will not look organic enough.

[marccosta]

Thanks Mark, this is helpful.

 

I was trying to avoid visiting the site, since it's a 2h drive, but it might be the best way to go since I haven't used sculpting programs so far.

 

Regarding the displacement map, I paint the grout pure black and the irregularities within each stone with diferent levels of gray... all in one map?

 

Any tutorial or thread you cain point me to?

 

Thanks again.

[Tom Sproule]

Hi, arroway have a very similar stone texture, which is what I think I would use. Otherwise i'd check textures.com, turbosquid or 3dsky.org for a similar stone texture and use that. But I believe arrow at have the one. Then use a displacement map. I'm not sur wig you have to make a displacement map or can use their one.

 

Maybe this one:

 

https://www.arroway-textures.ch/en/textures/bricks-007

[marccosta]

Yep, the arroway one is very similar. However, I intend to do a 100% crop on the wall (on a 6000x4000px image) to showcase the quality on the net. Will a 2800x1800px texture be enough?

 

Again, I'm quite new at this, so I hope not to be raising silly questions.

 

Thank you all for your time.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Yep, the arroway one is very similar. However, I intend to do a 100% crop on the wall (on a 6000x4000px image) to showcase the quality on the net. Will a 2800x1800px texture be enough?

 

Again, I'm quite new at this, so I hope not to be raising silly questions.

 

Thank you all for your time.

 

When you say 100% crop, so nothing else will show except for the stone wall??

If so, you better drink enough coffee and drive your 2h and get a lot of photos of that wall.

 

Sometimes we spend so much time searching online for the 'perfect texture' that a 2 Hours drive for a important object in my shot is totally worth drive. You could make a day of it and take surrounding photoshop that will help your overall image and could be used for other projects.

 

Shoot if your photos are good enough, you could even sell them

 

After taking your photos as @Mark Galbraith recommended you can use a software such PixPlant to get diffuses pass and displacement passes from your original photos. allegorithmic also have a similar software.

A good displacement map in combination with bump or normal will do the trick in a closeup shot.

 

Best luck.

[marccosta]

Great! That's the way to go then.

The concern will be the illumination during photo session then (I do have experience in professional photography).

 

Thanks a lot everyone.

[Tom Sproule]

Yep, the arroway one is very similar. However, I intend to do a 100% crop on the wall (on a 6000x4000px image) to showcase the quality on the net. Will a 2800x1800px texture be enough?

 

Again, I'm quite new at this, so I hope not to be raising silly questions.

 

Thank you all for your time.

 

Hi,

 

Sorry, I didn't really have a good look at the texture. It might work, might not. I'm not sure what you mean by a 100% crop on the wall. Also, that texture will tile over large surfaces. You could check 'arroway stone volume 1' for a texture. But probably, if it's that important best is to go and get a picture as Francisco says - then edit it.

 

Best, Tom

[marccosta]

"Arroway stone volume 1"... wow. Looks amazing. Definitely something to consider.

Let me share this textures from D.Chumilla https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1lNbL , since it's relevant and might be of your interest as well.

 

100% crop meaning that 1 pixel on the screen represents 1 pixel of the original image. In other words, zoom any image in Photoshop at 100%, and crop (without resizing) any area and you'll have a 100% crop. (This expression is quite common in photography, for example when evaluating the sharpness of an image or the quality of a lens).

 

Anyway, I'll try this weekend to go and take some photos and see if I manage to create the texture. And if not, I already have the backup plan xD

 

Thank you so much for your time again!

[Tom Sproule]

Hi,

 

Great, thank you for clarifying 100% crop. Glad I could be of help.

 

Those textures from D Chumilla look fantastic. I'll keep in mind for future projects.

 

Good luck!

 

Best, Tom

[pablovergara]

Does it have to be 3D?

You could just render your project, and take a photo of the wall in similar lighting conditions to composite the whole thing in PS later.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[marccosta]

Yes I thought of it, but I wish to have more flexibility, since I'll have at least four cameras in the scene.

 

Finally, I've decided I'll try out Recap 360/Recap/Memento or whatever is called in order to produce a mesh and also an accurate displacement map. I will also produce a regular panorama in case the software doesn't build the mesh properly, and if that is the case I will have to create the map on Ps.

 

I've checked several tutorials and tips&tricks regarding the software and seems that's all about the pictures. Will see.

 

Thanks everyone, this is great.