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Textures & Texture Maps in SketchUp: Difference between revisions
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Textures & Texture Maps in SketchUp (view source)
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6. Select your photo, and click ‘Open’. This will take it into the paint-box with whatever name you saved it with. | 6. Select your photo, and click ‘Open’. This will take it into the paint-box with whatever name you saved it with. | ||
[[Image: | [[Image:1.jpg ]] | ||
7. In the Skp paint-box you can give your new texture a unique name. Try to make this name relevant to the model you are making. This could be useful in reuniting them if ever the model and it’s texture get separated. for use in FlightGear there should not be any gaps in the texture name. | |||
[[Image:TexCreate.jpg]] | |||
8. You need to set the size of your new concrete texture to 1M x 1M. This | |||
means: If the area you are using the texture in is bigger than 1 metre square, the texture will be repeated every metre in every direction, until the | |||
whole target area is textured. | |||
9. Applying the texture is the same as painting an area. | |||
a) Select the texture. | |||
b) Place the paint-pot tool over the target area, and click. | |||
If your texture is a specific item, e.g. a window, the picture of the window will be presented again and again. It will be necessary to position the texture to place the required section in the target area. I describe how to do this later. | |||
'''TIP:''' ''When making a texture of an item like a door, or window, it is a good idea to include it’s measurements in the individual texture name. The name of each item in the paint- box appears when you hold your mouse pointer over it. This helps when marking up your model with it’s target areas. | |||
'' | |||
[[Image:Measures.jpg ]] | |||
'''TIP:''' ''When you first start modelling, there is a lot of satisfaction to be had from making very detailed models. The downside of that is the large file size produced. This affects loading times in FlightGear'' | |||
. | |||
''By all means make your detailed model - take a snap for your own collection - then try to minimise the face count (MaverickAlex has produced a tutorial on this).'' | |||
''Alternatively, you could keep your detailed model, and make a copy of the file to reduce the file size on. This copy would be the one you send to the Scenery database.'' | |||
'''TIP:''' ''You could save a lot of file space by snapping the whole side of your model and making a texture of it to keep in all your hard earned detail, but with only one face on the texture to be counted. | |||
'' | |||
'''Making a Texture Map.''' | |||
If you only have one texture in a model there is no need to make a texture map, but if there are to be several textures used in the model, or, as in the Caribbean scenery project, the same textures used in many models - rather than have to forward/use multiple texture files, it is better to make a Texture Map. | |||
[[Image:Picture_2.png ]] | |||
This can all be accomplished in Sketchup - though some modellers prefer to do it in a separate application. | |||
'''TIP:''' ''I do it all in Skp to ensure the measurements are correct | |||
and match my sketchUp model.'' | |||
First you need to make each of the textures you are going to use in your model. You can produce textures (as described above) from photos, or from drawings you | |||
may have done in Skp, or another application (iWorks, Appleworks for Mac) You can use quite high resolution pics or drawings for these, thus keeping more detail, as you will be minimising the pixels on the final map stage. | |||
You will not be able to use the repeats, as described in the previous section, so the size of each texture ‘Target’ area needs to be noted. | |||
'''TIP:''' ''I use a ‘stickie’ with these details permanently at | |||
the top left of my desktop whilst modelling.'' | |||
[[Image:Stickie.png ]] | |||
Next you need to mark the area where each texture is going to be placed on your model with the outline (usually a rectangle) of the texture. I call these 'targets'. | |||
Next, place a duplicate of each of the model's targets into as near a square as you can - flat on the ground using the 'Top' view under the 'Camera' menu. | |||
[[Image:TopView.png ]] | |||
Use the ‘Orbit’ tool to make sure they are all level. | |||
[[Image:OrbitView.png ]] | |||
Then go back to the ‘Top” view. | |||
Make sure your square is well away from your model, and doesn't coincide with any guidelines from your model, as these could end up in the pic you take later - you don't want them in your texture map. | |||
Next, texture each of the targets in your square (not the ones on your model). | |||
[[Image:Textured.jpg ]] | |||
It doesn't matter if they are not all the same way up because you can rotate them when you place them on your model. | |||
If you are going to use the same texture on different sized targets - as in roof tiles on the sides of a roof and the ends of a roof, your texture map needs a target large enough to cover the biggest measurements in your model targets. This allows you to use it to texture the smaller ones too. | |||
'''Example:''' ''If the side roof is 10 x 5, and the roof end is 6 x 6, you would need to have the roof tile part of the texture measuring 10 x 6. That would enable you to use the same texture for both parts of the roof. | |||
You could play safe and just make the texture more than large enough to cover the roof size, but that way you would be making the file size bigger, which is to be avoided because of loading speed.'' | |||
Now use the Skp 'square' tool to cover your square of targets as tightly to the edges as possible. Make this a perfect square, even if you have to include some of the background between the targets. | |||
[[Image:Example.jpg]] | |||
'''TIP:''' ''You can see an unwanted guide line in the above picture (Bottom right, above the word ‘Square’). If you make the individual targets into a group after you have textured them, you can easily move your square beyond the guide lines.'' | |||
Use the Skp measuring tool to measure your square. Note the measurements down for future use. | |||
[[Image:Stickie.png]] | |||
Now use the square tool again to make another smaller square at the outside of each corner - these will act as markers for the next procedure - then erase the covering square being careful not to erase any of your textured targets. | |||
[[Image:TargetSquares.png]] | |||
Use a snapshot tool (like Snap'n'Drag) to take a pic of the square (for Macs you can use cmd+shift+4). Alternatively, you could take a full screen shot, then use a photo processing application to crop down to your marked square, though this method could lose some of the detail quality. | |||
Use a photo processing application (like Gimp, Photoshop, (for Macs Preview or iPhoto will do as well)) to make the pixels a 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, | |||
square. | |||
Keep the squared pixel size to the smallest one that keeps the necessary detail in the textures. Bear in mind most models are viewed as a 'flypast', which means at a distance. Try a couple of sizes to decide which will do the job effectively. | |||
Go back to the Skp paint-box and make a new texture from your photo. Make sure this new texture has a unique name, and the width and height of this texture is equal to the square you covered the targets with. (Hopefully you noted the | |||
measurement earlier). | |||
Then use that new texture to texture your model with the following method: | |||
In the Skp paint-box, select your new texture. | |||
Take the paint pot to your target area and click. | |||
When you have clicked the paint pot onto your target area, right-click: this should give you the option to position the texture. | |||
Another right-click at this stage will give you the option to rotate the texture if necessary. Don't forget to click 'Done' (right-click menu, or ctrl+click menu for Macs) when you have got the correct part of the texture map | |||
in your target area. | |||
Work your way round the model until you have placed all of the required textures. | |||
Remember to erase the duplicate square of targets in your Skp file before you export to .ac. | |||
When you export your Skp file to .ac format, there will only be one texture file. | |||
'''TIP:''' ''Leave deleting the square until you have placed all of it’s constituent parts on your model. This makes it easier to add in any textured parts of your model which you had missed out. If you erased the square before this stage, you would have to start completely again from scratch, or have an | |||
extra texture file with that model. (It’s a pride thing I guess).'' | |||
That’s it. | |||
I hope this tutorial is helpful to you. | |||
VicMar | |||