Textures & Graphics

[OleBoy]

Hi folks.

I'm in the midst of creating my textures for a new model, and a few things come to mind. Templates.

Considering the formats that can be "saved-as", what is the best settings & format to save in from Adobe Photoshop for the best presentation in FSX? JPG, Tiff, etc. (Not to confuse the final format, DDS/BMP that we all know FSX prefers)

Hopefully I can tap into the wealth of knowledge by those experienced.

OB

 

[JRobinson]

If you save as .psd from PhotoShop you'll be able to assign the .psd directly in gmax or sketchup, others as well most likely. You can also export directly to .dds from a .psd with Imagetool

Jim

 

[hcornea]

What Jim said!

For scenery with relatively simple, but many texture files this is a workable workflow.


Sent with Tapatalk for iPhone

 

[OleBoy]

Jim, hcornea, the assistance is appreciated.

Your meaning of "assigning" textures. When I click the area on the model, and then choose (entity info) where that particular color or image the area is getting pulled from in the entity info? IE: Template source?
Link - http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2011/08/assigning-materials-to-groups-and.html

My latest project. http://sdrv.ms/SDfAh0

 

[JRobinson]

Wow, that's a good looking model, OleBoy!

Your meaning of "assigning" textures. When I click the area on the model, and then choose (entity info) where that particular color or image the area is getting pulled from in the entity info? IE: Template source?

Not sure exactly what you mean by the above, but here's basically what I do (or did, it's been a while since I've done anything with Sketchup). First I made the basic shape in sketchup, then I made a .psd in photoshop where each face is roughly the shape & proportions needed to fit the model.

The only problem is that if you make subsequent edits to the .psd they won't appear in Sketchup unless you edit the material and browse/reload your .psd from file. Sketchup embeds a copy of the .psd in the .skp file and you have to update that in order to see any recent changes. Gmax reads the .psd from file whenever you open the model so any texture updates appear automatically.

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

Jim, thanks for the assist.

I'm doing exactly as you explain. From that aspect applying the texture to the area is a simple process. Although I have ran into instances where (when dragging the template to size) the whole template flips or distorts. My only option is to reset and try again. Some areas have taken six times to get the texture where it needs to be. By that time I am SO frustrated! I learned instead of flipping/rotating the image in sketchup, that it was easier to just place one already set the way it needs to be on the template.

My current template sizes (two) are 2048x2048. Would I honestly be better off going 1024 based on what you mentioned above (121')?

Also, since I have your attention (milking it for all I can ), the concrete blocks at the foundation. I have a set on the templates. Problem is that they don't tile the way sketchup files do. Is there a work around for that? Or, do I need to make the blocks an (and all other tile type texture applications) individual texture so they do? The logs Are the same way.

Wait a minute. Brain fart. I get what you're saying now. I'm laying out each individual piece of the house (as components so to speak) onto the template as pieces. WHAT I NEED TO DO is make a WHOLE SIDE. Finished...Copy Paste! One of those for each side of the model.

Got It!!!!

Now for the $121 question. What's the best method to base scale on the template compared to the textures needed on the model? Trial and error?


Oh, you said something to the affect of "nice model". Thanks. It's back to a big white cube in preparation for new textures. Did I mention I love to model? I use to like doing textures and graphics before I started liking modeling.

 

[JRobinson]

Firstly, I hope you kept a backup copy of that model, I'd be damned if I'd re-texture it at this stage ...but maybe on your next model try:

WHAT I NEED TO DO is make a WHOLE SIDE. Finished...Copy Paste! One of those for each side of the model.

An advantage to that also is that you can make yourself a shading layer on your .psd and airbrush some semi-transparent shadows along the tops of the walls where the eaves hang over for example, something you can't do when tiling textures, and it makes a world of difference in the overall look of the model.As long as you keep your shading layer above everything else in the .psd you can add anything you want below it and the shadow will lay over top of it like shadows do in the real world. If you decide you don't like the shading later on you can delete all or part of the shading layer and have another try without having to re-do everything underneath.

On the texture resolution 121' thing, it's simple math but not hypercritical because you're going to squish & stretch the texture with the pins until it fits the surface anyway. A ballpark figure is really close enough, but it is nice to have it roughly the correct size to begin with and not very hard to do.

I arrived at 121' like this:

- my building is 85' wide in sketchup

- that portion of my texture sheet is 719 px tall


719/85 = 8.458823529411765, therefore 8.46px/ft


my texture sheet is 1024 x 1024 so:

1024/8.46 = 121.0401891252955

(the full 1024 px would cover 121' on the model)


Using that figure, the front part of that texture sheet pretty much snapped into place on the front of the model with very little stretching or skewing. If you're using 2048 texture sheets just modify the math accordingly.

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

I keep back-ups for everything I do these days. I've been around the template circle several times in the past where I got bit by a HD crash, or saved the template flattened .

Concerning redoing the textures on the model, one more time for good measures. Besides, I learned something of it that was very much needed in the process.
If you knew me you would understand how knit picky I am with everything. Which is why I really don't mind doing them again. Have a peek at a graphics learning curve I perfected. http://sdrv.ms/N2WFK0

Mental note taken: Calculating pixels = Good idea.

I'd be doing great if I did the model, and someone else did the textures.

Thanks again.

Don

 

[JRobinson]

...or saved the template flattened

Oh man I hate it when that happens

Nice heli repaints BTW!

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

Texture creation is going well. On a flat surface this method is great.
Thinking ahead (more like avoidance) about the round extended room, I cringe at "how" I am going to texture the areas based on how the model is designed.

Any thoughts?

 

[JRobinson]

Probably just make a texture for one facet of the rounded room and apply it to each facet - unless they are unique enough to warrant an individual texture for each - arrrggghhh.

I usually just take one flat surface at a time, it's nice when you can do an entire side of a building as a whole but when the object get's complex it can lead to some pretty hacked up texture sheets. This is a gmax project, and gmax has an advantage over sketchup in that you can print screen the UVW editor to come up with a template (size & proportions) for each surface to lay down on your texture sheet, but other than that it's no different:

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

Your texture work (photo real) looks fantastic. My approach in laying out my model has been as you mention per side.
I tried pulling a texture used on an end wall (garage) to the back wall to cheat. I thought it would work.
It does do the trick and saves a bit of time in terms of layout, but the windows I used on the end wall became elongated. A simple fix in terms of getting it correct.

Looking at both your template and model are a great composition. Great for mental perspective.

Your assistance has been, and is of great help for me in my venture. Your tips are helping my though process immensely.

 

[JRobinson]

Glad I could help but I gotta tell ya "photoreal" is a bit of a stretch, lol.

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

I think I'm on a roll. The left garage wall is done, and the front of the garage is almost there. Everything else is temporary for visual depth.

 

[kevintampa5]

Did you guys use a program to make your texture sheets? Currently I make mine via mspaint copy and past into one file; time consuming. Was wondering if you know a program that will do this for me? if not I will have a new project to employ my new python skills

 

[OleBoy]

I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended.

I did an export to .DAE as a template test to check drawcalls. 95% of the textures in my model are on three custom built .PSD files. I expected good results
Show stopper!
After export I opened the texture folder and huh? There were 37 .PSD's in the folder.

HUH? I don't understand.

See attached HTML file.

 

[Tejal Bernardo]

do you apply the textures with the paint bucket? it's the problem with the Dae objects, you should apply the texture with a texture sheet and the other way that I can't remember right now. look for the Arno tutorial about Sketchup, it's explained very clearly.

 

[JRobinson]

If you created a new material and selected your .psd from file each time you textured a new face you will indeed end up with dozens of drawcalls like this. You only need to create a new material once for each .psd, then apply the same material to each face with the bucket tool as you map the textures. In gmax you could simply select a material from the material editor, apply it to all faces that use the texture, and delete the unused materials. Unfortunately it appears you loose your mapping when you do that in Sketchup unless someone knows a way around it.

You can do two things:

1. From the material editor choose "in model" and select a material corresponding to a particular .psd. Click each face with the bucket tool that uses that particular .psd. Do this for each .psd. When finished you should be able to choose "Window > model info" from the menu and hit "purge unused" which should clear all but the three materials from the "in model" list. Unfortunately it looks like you'll have to remap everything using this option.

2. Export the model to .dae and use MCX to consolidate down to only 3 materials. This approach will preserve your mapping. Export as .mdl from MCX when finished.

Jim

 

[OleBoy]

Thanks for the response Bernardo. I have a LOT to learn ahead me thinks.

If you created a new material and selected your .psd from file each time you textured a new face you will indeed end up with dozens of drawcalls like this. You only need to create a new material once for each .psd, then apply the same material to each face with the bucket tool as you map the textures. In gmax you could simply select a material from the material editor, apply it to all faces that use the texture, and delete the unused materials. Unfortunately it appears you loose your mapping when you do that in Sketchup unless someone knows a way around it.

You can do two things:

1. From the material editor choose "in model" and select a material corresponding to a particular .psd. Click each face with the bucket tool that uses that particular .psd. Do this for each .psd. When finished you should be able to choose "Window > model info" from the menu and hit "purge unused" which should clear all but the three materials from the "in model" list. Unfortunately it looks like you'll have to remap everything using this option.

2. Export the model to .dae and use MCX to consolidate down to only 3 materials. This approach will preserve your mapping. Export as .mdl from MCX when finished.

Jim

I've been doing option #1 from the start, this is why I'm confused as to what happened?

Here's the breakdown from Model Info.



No copy and paste from the model info dialogue. I'll type it.

Edges----------------- 3673
Faces----------------- 1197
Component Instances-- 1
Guides---------------- 47
Guide Points---------- 16
Groups---------------- 0
Images---------------- 3
3D Poly Lines---------- 0
Section Planes-------- 0
Dimensions------------ 0
Text------------------ 0
Component Definitions- 1
Layers---------------- 2
Materials------------- 14
Styles---------------- 1

 

[Tejal Bernardo]

Sorry, I said you can't use paint bucket but it's seem it's the only way, follow what JRobinson said, I think is the way, it's important you create a kind of texture sheet to could work with night texture afterwards.
Material=12, this is the really worring matter