[SOLVED] How is this done?

mding

If you look at Predatrons awesome "Path to Greywood" you see it is many props littered on a groundprop. The geometry of that groundprop isn't as detailed as the surface looks like, it just smoothly follows the base color map.

Also there is only one surface if you search with the geometry editor. So most of the details of the groundprop are created with the base, bump, normal, glossy and displacement maps included (all 8k).

The base color map looks like a mixture of different textures, but too complex imo to stem from differently textured surface groups. 

 

So my question is: Was this base color map created with like Photoshop, and how did Predatron then create the other maps like bump and  glossy? Did he first create the groundprop geometry and use the UV map as guide in Photoshop?

 

Thanks a lot, I really hope you can help me out here.

FSMCDesigns

Predatron would know for sure.

mding

FSMCDesigns said:

Predatron would know for sure.

Lol thats true. Most PAs unfortunately won't really want to spend their time helping beginners... But maybe some advanced hobbyists? Any ideas? Please?

frank0314

I would say it was probably done in something like Photoshop, Gimp (free), or Substance Painter. But, if your saying there is a glossy map then it was probably done in Substance Painter which is what a lot of us use now because it is a one stop shop app for texturing. That program generates those maps for you and you have the ability to do a numerous other things to vary it up some. The bump can be made in any of the 3 apps I mentioned. Yes we use the UV map template to do our texturing in 2D apps, but something like Substance Painter you actually paint the texture onto the model itself and it creates the outlined 2D image that is your texture map.

Edit to add: Depending on the software you are using, Youtube has a LOT of tutorials on how to create "Bump", "Normal", and "Displacement" maps.

mding

Thanks a lot for your help @frank0314, especially as you are a PA yourself! After taking a look at substance painter, I think I better understand now how this prop was created. Creating all 5 maps in Gimp or PS only, seemed to be too time-consuming for a PA imo, thats why I asked.

Roman_K2

There is another, possibly more general thing called Tone Mapping. Seems to me it is a lot more complex than just the 'standard' bump and normal maps and so on.

I'm not sure where tone mapping fits in to the modelling picture, especially relative to the other maps.

mding

Roman_K2 said:

There is another, possibly more general thing called Tone Mapping. Seems to me it is a lot more complex than just the 'standard' bump and normal maps and so on.

I'm not sure where tone mapping fits in to the modelling picture, especially relative to the other maps.

Thankyou for your suggestion, @Roman_K2! After reading your post I watched this tutorial to find out what tone mapping is, but it seems to be more of a lighting thing (camera settings like shutter speed and white point setting = color correction, if you will), so the "mapping" in tone mapping doesn't seem to refer to any modeling or texturing aspect. Nevertheless of course an important aspect of rendering and good to know about.

mding

It is also possible to accomplish this with the "Muelsfell Multilayer Iray Terrain Shader" using the groundshader, the shader for the path and a mask created for the path in Gimp oder PS (white=path, black=groundshader).

There is also a free light version of this shader available. This shader is better than the 4 Layer PBR Shader, as it offers slots for normal, roughness and glossy maps for each shader used, which btw also a diffuse layer in iray uber shader doesn't offer.