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Textures & Texture Maps in SketchUp: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Scenery]] | [[Category:Scenery]] | ||
Once you get into modelling for FlightGear, you want to use textures. They give the certain touch of reality to every model. This tutorial shows you how to embed your own textures into a SketchUp (Skp) model on Mac and Windows. | |||
== | == Copyright Issues == | ||
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== Making your own Textures | == Making your own Textures == | ||
You can apply either a color or an overlay image (texture) to your model. Colors are easy, simply pick one of the predefined SketchUp colors. But it gets really nice and realistic once you use images. Let's assume you want to overlay ribbed concrete: | |||
You can | |||
1. Take a photo of some ribbed concrete with a digital camera, preferably with some marks to show 1 square metre. | 1. Take a photo of some ribbed concrete with a digital camera, preferably with some marks to show 1 square metre. | ||
2. Upload that photo to your computer, then, in your photo processor (iPhoto on Mac), ‘Crop’ it to show just the square metre, and export it | 2. Upload that photo to your computer, then, in your photo processor (iPhoto on Mac; [[GIMP]], [http://www.irfanview.com/ IrfanView] or any other on windows), ‘Crop’ it to show just the square metre, and export it with a good ‘highest detail’/’lowest file size’ compromise (‘export to web’ in iPhoto). | ||
3. During that export procedure, select a pixels size which is compatible with FlightGear - that means it must measure combinations of 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, and so on. | 3. During that export procedure, select a pixels size which is compatible with FlightGear - that means it must measure combinations of 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, and so on. If you don't do this, FlightGear can show the image, but only after a resizing procedure, which eats up processor capacity. So you want to do that for FlightGear before applying the image to your model. You can rescale distorted images in SketchUp later again. | ||
If this is to be the only texture for this model, try to keep the pixels as small as you can without losing too much detail. If it is to be part of a texture map, you can keep the high pixel count at this stage to preserve detail, though it still needs to be set to the 2,4,8 etc.sizes. | If this is to be the only texture for this model, try to keep the pixels as small as you can without losing too much detail. If it is to be part of a texture map (see below), you can keep the high pixel count at this stage to preserve detail, though it still needs to be set to the 2,4,8 etc.sizes. | ||
[[Image:Picture_2_.jpg ]] | [[Image:Picture_2_.jpg|Picture_2_.jpg]] | ||
If your photo processor does not allow you to set the pixels, use another like Preview (Mac) or Gimp to pixel size the exported photo. | If your photo processor does not allow you to set the pixels, use another like Preview (Mac) or Gimp to pixel size the exported photo. | ||
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4. Save that photo to your desktop. | 4. Save that photo to your desktop. | ||
==Loading your Texture into SketchUp== | |||
Now you need to read that texture into SketchUp. First you open the new texture dialog: | |||
Mac: Select ‘New Texture’ from the ‘Colour’ menu inside the ‘Colours- Named’ section of the Skp paint-box.<br> | |||
Windows: Click the paint bucket (or select Window --> Materials), then click the 'Create Material...' button. | |||
[[Image:Picture_1.png|Picture_1.png]] [[Image:Textures1_win.png|border|How to define a new texture in SketchUp on Windows computers ]] | |||
Select that, and you should be presented with the means to select the path to your photo (in this example we have put it on our desktop). | Select that, and you should be presented with the means to select the path to your photo (in this example we have put it on our desktop). | ||
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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:1.jpg ]] | [[Image:1.jpg ]] [[Image:Textures2_win.png]] | ||
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. | 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]] | [[Image:TexCreate.jpg]] | ||
8. You need to set the size of your new concrete texture to 1M x 1M. This | 8. You need to set the size of your new concrete texture to 1M x 1M. This | ||
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'' | '' | ||
[[Image:Measures.jpg ]] | [[Image:Measures.jpg ]] [[Image:Textures3_win.png]] | ||
'''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'' | '''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'' | ||
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'' | '' | ||
==Semi-Transparent Textures== | |||
== Making a Texture Map | [[Image:Textures_transparent.png|thumb|Semi-transparent textures]] Semi-transparent textures are a powerful tool. Especially when you want to model mesh, banisters, scaffolding etc., you can use semi-transparent textures to minimize the complexity of the model. Like in the model to the right. | ||
It's the [http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/modeledit.php?id=220 gasometer] by Jon Stockill. To simulate the framework, he uses a minimal image that is transparent except for the metal parts: [[Image:Textures_tranparent2.png]]. | |||
Another good example is the roof structure of the [http://scenemodels.flightgear.org/modeledit.php?id=795 A380 hangar] in Frankfurt (EDDF). | |||
== 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. | 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. | ||