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Tires
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Tires // Work in Progress
Post by kena // Mar 28, 2008, 9:36pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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ok... I'm sure I'm still missing something, but I think I understand what you mean. I'm just not sure why you would want to size a picture up... Down, sure, but not up.
anyway... It's time to get that toolbox into a new scene file and try different textures.
Thanks for your patience, both of you! |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 28, 2008, 9:52pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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This is good advice kena - I never save anything to .jpg untill it's ready to go on the net - I've never, ever used the tS 'save as jpg' option. I like to use .tga as it's completely lossless. I also often render my final .tga at twice the final resolution I want and resize the high res original in The GIMP or Irfanview (both free and excellent progs) and then (and only then after any postwork is done, signatures added and so on) only then do I save it as a .jpg
Almost all my final renders are saved as high resolution .tga's (.bmp's and .pngs are also good.
I then use that master picture to make at least 3 .jpg copies - one at a resolution (say 1024x768) for posting at Renderosity, 3dcommune and similar sites - (I often use that one for my desktop wall paper for a while).
I have a second .jpg at 800x600, for posting to these forums and the Calligallery and finally a thumbnail version at 200x150 to use as a .. well a thumbnail!
This way, if I'm going to print the picture or use it in a DVD slideshow or somewhere were file size is not an issue, I can use the highest quality image or use the master image to create a new copy at any size and or compression rate I need.
I have a folder (actually a series of them) for all the hi-res master copies and other folders for the lower res .jpegs.
I use this same philosophy for my music (saved as hi res lossless .wav files, resaved as compressed .mpg3's .wma for use on the Net) and for my animations (saved as lossless .avi's and compressed as .mov's, .wmv's etc for reducing file size for the internet).
If you take your two jpegs into a graphics app and resize them both up (say, 5x) you should clearly see the jpeg compression artifacts. |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 28, 2008, 10:00pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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One time when you want your pictures to be as high resolution as possible is when using it as a still image in a video or a slideshow which you pan across or zoom in on a small portion of the picture.
Also if you use a hi res image as a backdrop in another render - say you want to add something to the foreground of your present picture but don't want to recreate the entire scene. |
Post by kena // Mar 28, 2008, 10:11pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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Thanks for the advice... Now on to the toolbox! I had a brushed metal finish before. The one on the right uses W!IZARD's Metal surface scratches. Think I can go with that?
11761 |
Post by Ambrose // Mar 29, 2008, 12:37am
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Ambrose
Total Posts: 261
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Hi Kena
Al your hard work has really started to pay of, these images lately looks really good.
Only got 3 things or so to say ;)
Everything in the picture looks realy good, so what's not as good is the floor and the wall.
Floor might only be to set smaller and maybe make it shine more or so!?
The wall looks like you got a bump applied over all of it, instead of the individual stones? don't think you need much work here, change little color and maybe make them more stone, or that in between me it go invards or outvards...
Finnaly, a great rag you got there, but it doesn't make any impact to the image itself, try locate it hanging on the side of the tool box or so if possible, left to the logo?
Anyway keep up the good work!
SeYa/Ambrose... |
Post by Steinie // Mar 29, 2008, 4:18am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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What impresses me the most about this project is the fact you are admitting your greatest weakness (like textures) and tackling it head on. I see huge improvements in your work.
The talk about saving as a jpg isn't new...it is standard practice everywhere in the Graphics world. So the faster you drop the old habit the better. You might not see it in your work but others do.
I prefere working with PNG files to the final piece. Using that PNG file I save to different file types.
I like your rag but the position is not adding to the overall feel of this nice composition. (as Ambrose saw).
My own feelings about the door trim (based on 30 years experience in Service Departments) you had it right the first time. They are made of metal square trim.
You may consider hooking up an Impact wrench and have a drooping hose connected to your hose reel.
Scratches on the Tool Box should be random and not applied to the whole box. A good Auto Mechanic takes better care of this box than his own wife!;) She ends up driving a junker car which is never fixed... |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 7:30am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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ok - how about the one on the left then? I created my own metal texture and banged up the dented sides a little bit.
11766
Or, make the lid inside gray?
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Definatly will have to fix the side handles, but I want the case to be right first. |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Mar 29, 2008, 9:17am
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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The one on the left has a perfectly smooth front compared to the sides and it's the front that gets the most wear as the mechanic goes in and out of the box. The one on the right is the more realistic of the two thought the lenghty scratches on the front would benefit from being broken up a tad so that they're several rather than one almighty long one. Think a spanner scraping the front as it's placed back, it would glance the paintwork causing a scratch no more than a few inches, it wouldn't run almost the whole lenght - that's more likely to be vandalism! |
Post by Jack Edwards // Mar 29, 2008, 9:40am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Kena, you may want to check this site out for some ideas:
http://www.cgtextures.com/
:D
You're probably going to have to hand paint a texture, but it's easier if you sample from real photos.
Also the material looks *really* washed out. What is your lighting and shader setup? |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 9:53am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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Yeah... I've already looked at those textures, and none of them fit.
so I decided to make my own base textures.
11773
I put them on the base of the LW texture, and have a layered color on top
Right now, I'm looking to get the texture itself correct, then work on fixing the color.
I've got a box here that has had a crash in the past on the side
Steinie says "A good Auto Mechanic takes better care of this box than his own wife!:D She ends up driving a junker car which is never fixed..."
and TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb says "The one on the left has a perfectly smooth front compared to the sides and it's the front that gets the most wear as the mechanic goes in and out of the box."
so let's go for one side at a time.... Is the staved in side ok? If so, I can then work out textures for the front.
After all - what would get banged up would be the drawers in this case, not the pieces on the side.
remember that Textures are not my strong point, so I need to take care of one piece of the puzzle at a time until I get better at them. |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 10:06am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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To Illustrate my point:
base metal - bump with scratches - layer added with color.
11780
I'm still not at the point where "texture" includes all 3 elements at the same time. Not sure how other people do it, but I doubt that you think of them all at once. I'm building textures from one item to another. Once I have the metal, and the bump - THEN I think of how to correct the color. Including changing the color of the base texture if that works. |
Post by Jack Edwards // Mar 29, 2008, 11:07am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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I think your metal texture looks good. I'd ditch the "scratches" textures. They look more like corrosion than scratches. You should get the basic material right first before worrying about scratches and stuff. Also any bump that you put on the tool chest should be very slight. Probably even as low as 0.001.
Are you using VRay or Lightworks for this project? Because you can approach it differently depending. |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 12:32pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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This one is LightWorks. I'm sure that I can figure it all out eventually. It's just going to take work. |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Mar 29, 2008, 1:56pm
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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If you're using LightWorks why not just use a Simbiont shader? Extremely realistic, adjustable, procedural scratched metal straight out the box. |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 5:23pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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because neither that or Darksim will teach me anything about making shaders. :D
I'm trying to work on my weak areas. :banana:
EDIT: OK how about this? I've created a colored metal texture, so this is a single layer...
11783 |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 5:56pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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and here I've added a few scratches to the front.
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is that more what you were thing about TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb ? |
Post by jamesmc // Mar 29, 2008, 7:16pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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You're welcome to use any of the stuff here now or for future projects
Scene file in rar
Textures for cinder block and cement in rar.
The wood is just a shader (corrosion metal I think, with the same shader as a bump map)
Box added for grins, nothing special about it. |
Post by kena // Mar 29, 2008, 8:39pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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Thanks James. I will add these to my library! |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Mar 30, 2008, 1:40am
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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is that more what you were thing about TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb ?
Yes, that's more like it. The front looks like scratches rather than just rusty which is what the side looks like. More like that in varying degrees all over and your cooked. Don't forget to add them to the corners as they get more than their fair share of knocks (you are doing this as one map aren't you?) |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 30, 2008, 3:41am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Kena it's really cool seeing you progress as you learn - this is getting better all the time.
An idea that may help sell the picture - and teach you more about the wonderful world of textures - is to add a sticker or two. Mechanics tool boxes often accumulate advertising logos - Halvoline, STP, Shell Oil, that sort of thing. You could google for some images and add them as the top layer (appropriately alpha masked of course) for added detailing. This would be a good exercise in custom building your own alpha masks in whatever 2d program you use.
Another thought - a small manufacturers badge on the front of the tool box. It's the little details like that that help sell the image as realistic.
HTH |
Post by kena // Mar 30, 2008, 4:45am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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is that more what you were thing about TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb ?
Yes, that's more like it. The front looks like scratches rather than just rusty which is what the side looks like. More like that in varying degrees all over and your cooked. Don't forget to add them to the corners as they get more than their fair share of knocks (you are doing this as one map aren't you?)
Map? I don't know no map... I'm just painting sides. Don't even have a map program.
Kena it's really cool seeing you progress as you learn - this is getting better all the time.
An idea that may help sell the picture - and teach you more about the wonderful world of textures - is to add a sticker or two. Mechanics tool boxes often accumulate advertising logos - Halvoline, STP, Shell Oil, that sort of thing. You could google for some images and add them as the top layer (appropriately alpha masked of course) for added detailing. This would be a good exercise in custom building your own alpha masks in whatever 2d program you use.
Another thought - a small manufacturers badge on the front of the tool box. It's the little details like that that help sell the image as realistic.
HTH
If you look back a couple of pages, you can see that the manufacturer logo is part of the final model... I don't want to put any normal stickers on it, so plan on making some fake ones.
instead of STP, maybe LWR (for Lightworks render)... that sort of thing. |
Post by kena // Mar 30, 2008, 5:24am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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I used the mapping editor in TS to change the dented side a bit... What do you think?
11796 |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Mar 30, 2008, 7:36am
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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Map? I don't know no map... I'm just painting sides. Don't even have a map program.
UV/Texture Map. If you paint your texture as one large map rather than a separate one for each side you can have the details go round the corners. ie a ding that's slightly on the front and slightly on the side. Prevents obvious seams when you're grunging things up. Of course, you can have several maps for one object (one for the front and sides, one for the top, etc). tS's UV mapper kinda works but if you can get it, grab yourself a copy of UVCow. A truly amazing UV Map editor that works right inside trueSpace in realtime. You can then export your customised UV Map as a template so you can paint it in your paint editor and everything lines up perfectly. Sounds complex and, at first glance, can look scary but once you get your head round it it's really quite simple and makes huge difference. If you have got it and want a tutorial I have a fantastic one I saved from the web a million years ago I could send you.
I used the mapping editor in TS to change the dented side a bit... What do you think?
Much better, but the front and the side don't gel. If there's that much wear on the side, there should be an equal amount on the front.
Keep at it, you're getting there! |
Post by kena // Mar 30, 2008, 8:53am
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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well... the side got banged up in my mind, but the front back and other side didn't. pulling tools out of the top drawer could have scratched that top piece underside, so I've put scratches there. thinking of putting scratches under the lid from a few bangs from the wrenches, but I don't know if I want this to be a 10 year old piece. Maybe a 6 month old one. I will check out UVCow and see how it goes.
And of course, the tray inside the top is a black plastic insert, so I won't be putting anything there except the tray.
EDIT: How 'bout that! I have UVcow in my tsx folder... Any hints on how to USE it? |
Post by spacekdet // Mar 30, 2008, 12:04pm
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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native tS 6.6 UV Mapper (the built-in one) tutorial here. (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showpost.php?p=24960&postcount=1)
Another 6.6 one located here (http://reinerstileset.4players.de/TS66_UV_Mapping_Editor_Tut_E.htm)
UVCow tutorial here (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Suite/2492/tute.htm) |
Post by Jack Edwards // Mar 30, 2008, 12:04pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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I found that to use UVCow you have to turn off the bridge or it is REALLY slow. Also don't for get to turn the bridge off then on and "sync from model side" anytime you make a UV change in model side or it won't update in Workspace side and you may lose your changes.
Kena about the scratches. I think you should only have a few deep ones that show and the rest should just be very slight. Also the scratches would likely be horizontal on the front of the unit and angled on the side. |
Post by TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb // Mar 30, 2008, 1:40pm
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TheWickedWitchOfTheWeb
Total Posts: 858
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If you don't want to go for 'ancient' then reduce the amount of scratches on the side panel. That side looks like it's seen many, many years of active service.
UV Cow, looks scary at first but is really quite easy. The tut I mentioned is the same one spacekdet has linked to ( http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Suite/2492/tute.htm ). Use it, you won't regret it. It's probably the most valueable plugin ever for trueSpace!
One other tip to go with Jacks - if you have SDS applied to a mesh, extract the final surface before you fire up the Cow as it can cause it to throw a wobbly and hang trueSpace for you. Sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it does, no guarantees so extract final surface first to be on the safe side. |
Post by kena // Mar 30, 2008, 2:18pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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OK... step at a time again... reduced the scratches on the side and concentrated them at the actual denting...
How is this?
11814 |
Post by jamesmc // Mar 30, 2008, 2:21pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Ah poo, you had to put in drawers - the bane of my tool use.
I never can remember which drawer I put tools in, so I open all of them. :D |
Post by kena // Mar 30, 2008, 4:21pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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OK... here is our friend in it's natural habitat.
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I figured that with everything around it, those scratches would start to fade out. ;) |
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