For the composed textures I had to create my own bump maps afterwards. All Photoshop layers for the color map were copied and desaturated. Then some layers like the bricks were inverted, some layers like the dirt maps were removed, others like cracks and holes got more contrast.
After all layers were merged, the image adjustment “Shadow / Highlight” was used to sum up some of the detail. This way the bump-values are smoothed a bit, which I think looks more realistic.
All materials basically had the same material-setup because all surfaces are quite old, rusty or dirty. This way I only had to vary the values of bump and shininess. I wanted to keep it quite simple, because I had a lot of materials to deal with.
Procedural textures were used to create the materials for all smaller parts like the little stones and most of the other details. Procedurals were also used to create some variety and dirt for objects that used the same image-maps.
For simulating dirt, the procedural texture was used on the color channel and also on the specular channel. This way the dirt looked matte when lighted.
Rendering and post processing:
As usual I made my scene file early in the process. This showed me where I needed more details in the model and later provided me with feedback of how my materials look in the final render condition. I used one area light representing the sun and radiosity.
Rendering was done in passes. Since I made almost all textures in high resolution there was not enough RAM to render the final image at a fast speed any more.
I made three passes: One for the house, one for the grass, and one for the ground without grass.
The render pass for grass was realized with Sasquatch. A copy of the complete scene using only one green material – with alpha value set to shadow density - was made. Only one black and white texture was used for the ground to show Sasquatch where to grow the grass. Beside the Sasquatch “length” channel, the map was inverted and used on “density” channel. So when the grass grows longer, it is less dense. If it is shorter, it is denser.
The final piece was composed out of these 3 parts. For the background, I used my own photographed backgrounds, sky images and some plant textures from the Total Textures.
After mixing and image filters, the image was done. It’s kind of a strange coincidence: the day I finished the image, the decayed house I used as reference had been broken down. The next day only debris and bricks were left.
Anyway, I hope this overview was interesting for you to read. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via my website. Thanks 3dtotal for this fantastic texture collection!
This image was created using
a few of the hundreds of textures from the
Total Texture CDs - very comprehensive texture
collections priced with the hobbyist in mind.
To see more examples, download free
samples and read full details follow
this link
