Export Images from models (wich you should know already);
Import Images into models and convert them into materials at the right scale (import as image+scale+explode=material created and projected on a face)
How to position textures=materials on faces;
How to sample textures in the model;
How to use projected textures;
How to sample a projected texture from one face into the other;
After that is done you have to learn how to:
Edit materials colors;
Edit a material in an external image editor directly from Sketchup (Click a button send to photoshop, edit the image in photoshop, save it and model updates with that image)
Still, your excellent points raise further questions for me. What is a “projected texture”? Is there any way to truly use Thea without buying the software (for me it at least generated a pretty nasty watermark when I tried it out)?
Also, what do you think about using textured buildings in the far background, and ones with full geometry in the front? I think that configuration could potentially be the most efficient and have the most visual fidelity.
I took a look at the file you posted. I understood everything else about it, except these things: did you edit the exploded image to create textures individually or did you merely place it on certain points as a material, or something else? How did you make a new version of the building without any of the windows or details (I assume you had some fast method for this)?
This video covers a lot in positionning textures and projected textures (it was the first I found with google search and I didn’t see it all, but moving foreard I can see positioning pins and some things you need to know):
You must buy Thea to use it, but there are other alternatives. In the end Thea has it all. Kerkythea could be viewed as the free version of Thea, though what it really is is thea’s foundation.
Full geo in front and texture in back is nice but hard to setup.
If you texture it right it’s good for front and back. Using thea or other rendering software you can render millions of these buildings in a breeze.
I merelly placed the texture in some points of the model. I used the methods in the video above (projection and pinned textures)
To make a new version of the building I could have erased the things I didn’t need with the eraser tool, but pushpulling was way faster. The round rooftop I copied and pasted in place.
I’ll look at this video tomorrow, looks promising. I already also downloaded Blender, and I’m looking into possibilities to render lighting and shadows with it, possibly even color. Do you think Blender could handle the city as a whole, as an enormous entity of 40x40km? I honestly don’t know.
I’d love to buy Thea, but I’m currently penniless, and I don’t want to download anything illegally. I’ll take a look at Kerkythea and try my hand at Blendering soon enough.
Do you think that textures are the way to go for efficiency, graphical fidelity or both? You might have already stated this, but this is all so new to me that I’m bound to miss something. I’m just skeptical about windows looking that good as textures with the camera placed near, but I could be wrong.
Ah, cool, thanks for the explanation of the new version. I suspected you might have some cool plugin or other snazzy technique that would’ve created a low-poly “faceless” version of the building, but no, hand-made. Good to know1
3D Texturing is about the surface of that geometry.
Sketchup deals with 1 texture per material (color)
However in 3D world you can have dozens of textures per material.
There are textures for color (diffuse, base color, …)
Textures that control the reflection of light (specular, roughness, …)
Textures that control transparency (clip maps, transparency maps, thickness maps)
Textures that are used to control self illumination (emitters)
There are textures that tell the engine to “bend light” so it fakes geometry (normal maps, parallax maps, bump maps, fresnel ramp maps…)
And finally there are textures that actually deform geometry (displacement maps, height maps).
There are many more textures but you get the point.
This last type of texture (displacement, height) would actually be capable of deforming a face’s geometry so it would have a window’s geometry when looked near, but what’s the point if you can model it?
If you are just starting with modelling and texturing, if you’re into comics and very creative stuff, if you want to get deeper into rendering and texturing, if you want to do it for free but really have it all, then there’s no other way, you have to start with blender.
It will be hard I tell you, VERY hard. But start with the newbie tutorials and don’t look back.
In 3 years time, you’ve achieved greatness in comics and you are probably able to deal with many more media with no quality limits.
Do not look back!
Keep going along with sketchup as it is very capable at many things wich are definetelly harder to do with blender, but for your line of work, learn blender!
All right. I’ll get into blender. Man, do I know it is hard, I’ve tried using it a couple of times prior. I’ll have to see how long it takes to get anywhere with it, I have Illustrator and some basic drawing things to master too. I’ll keep this discussion live and post what I get around to making.
