Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
a.
Select the Cylinder surface in the Sur-
face Editor, and load onto it the Rock_2
preset (just like we did for the sphere.)
Step 7: “Found” Textures
One of the cool things about being a 3D art-
ist is carrying a small, digital camera around
with you wherever you go and really look-
ing for things to photograph! It's the Digital
Texture gang that walks down a street and
really sees the way bricks are hanging in an
old, dilapidated building or the way some-
one has covered an old shed in cedar
shingles. The way light plays off nooks and
crannies, the patina that years of being
exposed to the elements has touched upon
an aged surface, the “gnarling and snarling”
that only real life can create — this stuff is
exciting! (Yet most of the rest of the world
just walks on by, oblivious.)
Part of the job of a texture artist is to
“see it and save it!” You can either use it
directly or have it help you paint details in
textures you might never have thought of
otherwise.
b.
Go into the Texture Editor for the
Bump channel, and select Add New
Layer | Image Map . Remove the
Crumple procedural layer.
c.
For Projection, choose Cylindrical .
d.
For the Texture Amplitude, enter 8 .
(This will really show us every nook
and cranny in the not-so-contrasty
image of the shingles.)
e.
Under Image, choose (load image)
and load Images\Shingles_white-
top.jpg .
f.
Set the Height Tile to Edge , which will
simply repeat the pixels on the edge of
the image to infinity when the mapping
reaches the image's top or bottom
edge. (Other options are for areas out-
side the image to reset or to zero and
for the image to be mirrored or
repeated.)
Note
The reason there are two Shingle jpgs in the
Images directory and the reason we choose
“white-top” is that it has a line of white at its
top edge. With the Height Tile set to Edge,
that line of white will be continued onto the
top of the cylinder, giving us a nice, smooth
top.
Figure 4-66: This old building had the coolest
shingles on it. It's part of my texture library now!
g. The Texture Axis should be set to Y .
(Think of the Texture Axis like a spin-
dle onto which the texture is
skewered.)
h. Click on Automatic Sizing to have
LightWave calculate the exact scale and
center for the texture to precisely fit
the surface.
That's it. Render away!
Just because what you shot was one thing
doesn't mean you can't use it for something
entirely different. We're going to use the
shingles in Figure 4-66 to make the cylinder
in our little still life look like a segment
from an old castle turret.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search