Texture confusion

[sfrenchie]

This is not a highly technical post. It is geared towards beginners who like me bumped their face into a problem very simple to resolve.

So, you are new to SketchUp, cool tool huh. You create a box house, start a texture, import it, and apply it to your model. So far so good.
Need to modify the texture? So you go modify the original then what? It's not reflected in SketchUp?

When importing a PSD, BMP, JPG or whatever texture, SketchUp doesn't actually work with that file but with a JPG copy of it. In order to modify it press [B]ucket, select the texture, right-click, click on 'Edit Texture Image...'

When you follow the MCX process to create an MDL file the JPG texture will be copied to a final BMP file (make sure you select the proper path).

What I don't like about it?
I start my texture as a PSD, SketchUp makes a JPG copy, MCX creates a BMP version of it. 3 copies of the same file to keep up with.

[Sidney Schwartz]

If you make changes to a texture file, all you have to do in SU is select the material that uses that texture and re-select the texture. Click the Browse button and whatever the current texture file is will already be selected. Just click Open. Viola!

[sfrenchie]

Hi Sid...neat trick however I personally prefer to edit the SU copy of the texture from the get-go, keep it open, and modify it as I go. As soon as I save it, it's updated in SU without having to select or re-select anything

It's interesting to mention the 2 techniques are probably derived from the way we work with our textures.

You mentioned to me once that you pretty much create the texture before even starting the model therefor you don't need to modify them too much while in SU

On the other end, I create the model and the texture all together while in SU so I have to update SU copy often.

Both work, but I don't have the years of experience you have and maybe someday I will end up using your method. However it requires being able to mentally create the finished model and texture and I don't possess that gift yet

[JRobinson]

What do you use to edit your textures, and what happens if you decide to add some shading and then find out you went too dark? If you keep your .psd master with layers intact you can re-open it and lighten up the shadows in 3 seconds by adjusting the opacity of the shadow layer, whereas if you edit a friggin JPEG like you do when you edit from within Sketchup, once you apply the changes and close your image editor, there's no going back. Bad idea in my opinion, you may as well be using MSPaint as an image editor.

I think it's better to apply the .psd to the model in sketchup, once the model's shape is finalized and the texture is mapped, that's about all there is to do in Sketchup. I export the model, compile it into an object library, and put it in the sim. From there I edit the .psd if necessary (and it will be) and simply update the texture folder with a fresh .bmp exported from my .psd after I've made changes. Another advantage to doing it this way is that you're working to make the textures look right in the sim rather than in Sketchup.

Just my opinion .

Jim

[sfrenchie]

You are absolutely right. I didn't want to get lengthy in my explanations so I skipped some details. I apply what I posted previously for simple textures however for more complex ones I do indeed use a psd.

[Sidney Schwartz]

There's more than one way to skin a building, as the old saying goes.

Creativity is a fluid situation, IMO...it doesn't help to be rigid in your thinking. I don't actually create all my finished textures first, but I have the sources of those textures collected before I start the modeling, and I have a pretty good idea of what's going to end up where. Also a good pic, even if you can't use it directly as a material, can be very helpful in setting the dimensions of a building and accurately placing the doors, windows, etc. And I don't mean by using SU's amazingly complicated photo matching tool. It can be done much more quickly and easily.

Whatever works for you is "right."

[sfrenchie]

And that, my friend, is a great final word