Photo texture modeling

Mastering 3D Graphics ~ issue #2

LightWave
~ Bill Fleming

Creating realistic image maps for your

models can be very aggravating, particu-
larly if you are seeking something very
detailed and complex. I’ve found that it’s
often easier to work backwards. That is,
gather photographic source material and
create a model to match the image. For
example, when creating a brick wall the
average 3D artist will simply take a stock
brick wall image map and place it on a
simple plane. While this is very fast, it’s
rarely effective at convincing the viewer
that the object is real. Why? Simply be-
cause the object lacks depth.

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 Photo texture modeling

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Sure, you can place a bump map on the image map to flat planes because our camera angle is deceiving. Let’s
create the illusion of depth but this won’t hold water in try rotating the camera a bit more and see what hap-
the majority of cases. If you rotate the camera at any pens. Figure 2 shows the result of viewing the wall from
angle other than looking directly at the object you’ll find an extreme angle.
the bump map will merely flatten itself out, making the
object appear unrealistic. This can be a real problem when Notice how there is no depth to the bricks whatsoever.
animating the camera in a scene. The object will go from This simply won’t do if you are looking to create a realis-
realistic to unbelievable in a matter of seconds. Figure 1 tic image. OK, so what’s the answer? Well, it starts with
shows what happens when you use a simple image map that source material you gathered. To create a realistic
on a flat plane. brick wall you’ll need to use the image map as a template
for creating a detailed model to match. Basically, you
Yes, the brick wall does look realistic at first glance but bring the image map into your modeling program and
notice how the shadow from the newspaper dispenser is build the actual 3D bricks to match the image. Sure, it’s
linear. It doesn’t show a change in shape as it moves over more work but the results are amazing. You’ll end up
the bricks. We also don’t see the bricks casting any shad- with a model that’s completely photorealistic, even to
ows because there is no physical depth to them. Of course, the most discerning of eyes, as shown in Figure 3.
this image doesn’t really show the true problem of using

Figure 1: The downside of the quick fix. Figure 2: The flattened bricks. Figure 3: The depth of an image map
modeled object.

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Notice how the shadow rolls over the depth of the bricks you want is some residual shadow fighting the actual light-
and the light gets trapped between the bricks, giving them ing of your scene. It takes a bit of tweaking but the clone
depth. It only took a few minutes to make the 3D bricks tool is your best defense against unwanted shadows. Sim-
and the result is clearly worth it. This brick wall object ply clone areas of the image over the shadows. I have
was created using the photo modeling process. Let’s take already done this for you so you won’t need to edit the
a look at how the photo texture modeling process works. “BrickWall.jpg” image. Figure 4 shows our brick image map
with all the major shadows removed.
The Photo Texture Modeling Process
Now that we have the image map ready to go we can
The first step in the photo texture modeling process is to load it into our 3D modeling program as a background
get yourself a high quality image of the surface you are image template. In Modeler, select the Display Tab, then
creating. In the case of our brick wall example I dug up the Options button. Now load the “BrickWall.jpg” file as
an old image of a weathered brick wall. If you haven’t the Z Image backdrop and keep the default settings. Now
already downloaded the support file you should do so press OK. Figure 5 shows the image loaded into the back-
now, we’ll need the “BrickWall.jpg” image map from the ground layer of LightWave.
support file to complete this tutorial.

Once you have

your image
map the next
step is to load it
into your fav-
orite painting
program and
remove all of
the shadows in
the image map.
The last thing
Figure 4: The brick wall image map. Figure 5: The image map template loaded into LightWave.

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The next step is rather simple, yet repetitive. What you The last step in creating the bricks is to add a very small
need to do is create an object that matches the template. bevel to the edges of the brick face so they appear a bit
For our example we need to create the individual bricks more organic, creating specular highlights when rendered.
on the wall by manually placing points and creating poly- To do this, select the polygons along the front of the
gons. Since we’re using LightWave for the example, I’ll bricks and then select the Bevel tool from the Multiply
demonstrate how this procedure is accomplished in Tab. The amount of Inset and Shift should be set to the
LightWave. First, select the Polygon Tab and then the same value, which depends on the size of your bricks.
Create Points tool. Now move the cursor over the place You should set these values so you create bevels like the
where you want a point and press the Right Mouse but- ones seen in Figure 8.
ton to create the point. Continue this process until you
have a brick outlined. Don’t worry about including every The next step is to add the plane that represents the
little detail in the bricks. Just focus on the major areas of mortar between the bricks, which is done by creating a
detail, the rest will be compensated for by the image map. simple flat plane behind the bricks, as shown in Figure 9.
Once you have the points laid down. Simply press the “P”
key to create the polygon. Now repeat this process for the Now there’s just one final step in creating the
other bricks (see Figure 6). photorealistic brick wall – we need to surface it. Before

Now that you have

the basic brick poly-
gons created you
need to add depth to
them by using the ex-
trude tool. You should
extrude the polygons
back slightly so they
appear like bricks pro-
truding from the wall,
as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 6: Creating the polygons from the template Figure 7: The extruded polygons for the bricks.

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we apply the image maps let’s give the object a unique as a Planar map on the Z-Axis of our Diffusion Channel.
surface name. Press the “q” key to pop up the Change Of course, if we kept the Opacity at 100% the bricks
Surface window, then create a new surface name called would be extremely dark so we’ll use one of my favorite
“Bricks”, keep the default settings and press Apply. Now quick fixes, set the Opacity to 15%, which reduces the
save the model as “BrickWall.lwo” and Load it into Lay- intensity of the diffusion map. By using the Opacity we
out. Then load the “BrickWall.jpg” image so we can tex- can save ourselves the trouble and wasted system resources
ture the object. of creating an actual Diffusion Map. Of course, this really
only works with industrial surfaces since a creature tex-
Surfacing the bricks is quite simple. First, apply the ture would require more specific Diffusion Map editing.
“BrickWall.jpg” image to the Color Channel as a Planar
map on the Z-Axis. Be sure to Automatically Size the Okay, now set the Specularity to 5% and then apply the
image map so it fits the object. This will ensure the de- “BrickWall.jpg” image to the Bump Channel as a Planar
tails on the image map line-up properly with the physical map on the Z-Axis, Automatically Size it and set the Bump
details of the model we created. You should also toggle Value to 100%. Disable the Texture Antialiasing so the
off the Texture Antialiasing switch since it will only blur texture of the bricks will be rough.
the surface. This set-
ting is only necessary
when you have heav-
ily repeating patterns
like a grid.

Now we need to add

some Diffusion to the
Bricks so they look
natural. This is accom-
plished by applying
the same image map
Figure 8: The final bricks with the bevel. Figure 9: Adding the mortar plane.

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The last step is to Set the Smoothing of the object to 45 details. Speaking of details, let’s take a look at a great
degrees. We don’t want it to be 89 since that will smooth technique for adding even more depth to the wall – nega-
the object too much, making the bricks a bit rounded. tive details.
We want them flat, but with smooth edges.
Creating Negative Details
Great, now save the object and then do a simple test
render to see the result of our surfacing effort. You’ll end One great way to add depth to your models is to dig
up with something similar to Figure 10. holes in them. A critic of 3D images will believe that you
would take the time to create the bricks, since they aren’t
As you can see, the brick wall now has 3D depth when terribly difficult but digging into the mortar is another
the camera is rotated. If this were a seamless image map story. By creating negative holes in the mortar and drop-
you could easily tile the model to create a larger, seam- ping an object in it we can create amazing depth and
less wall by tiling the objects, just like you would with realism, that will dupe even the most critical of viewers.
image maps. Of course, we’ll cover this technique in an-
other tutorial. Our brick wall has some perfect places for negative de-
tails. We can dig holes into the mortar in many places.
While the photo-
modeling technique is
certainly more work
than simply slapping
an image map on a
plane, it goes a long
way toward making
the scene appear re-
alistic. After all, if we
are to truly achieve
photorealism we need
to spend time on the
Figure 10: The completed brick wall. Figure 11: Creating the flat plane.

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Probably the best place is in the lower right corner of the Now we’re ready to add depth to the plane so we can use
wall. In Modeler, zoom into the lower right corner of the it to cut a hole in the wall. Extrude the plan back slightly
wall where there is a brick missing on the image map. as shown in Figure 13.
Then create a flat plane
over the empty spot on
the wall with 15 seg-
ments on the “X” Axis,
11 on the “Y” and one
on the “Z”, as shown
in Figure 11.

We will be editing this

plane to create the ir-
regular shaped hole in
the mortar. We want
the plane to have a Figure 12: Shaping the plane. Figure 13 Extruding the plane.
curved shape to match
the shape of the de-
pression in the mortar.
To do this, we’ll use
the Magnet tool. Se-
lect the Magnet tool
from the Modify Tab
and drag the outer
edge of the plane un-
til is takes the shape
shown in Figure 12.
Figure 14: Smooth Shifting the front faces. Figure 15: Smoothing the front edge.

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Of course, if we simply Booleaned a hole using this ob- the object with the Polygon Selection tool and then ap-
ject we’d have a very linear cut in the wall, which would ply a small Jitter (Tools Tab). The size of the Jitter de-
not simulate the crumbling mortar. To make the hole more pends on the size of your object. Basically you want it to
natural, and to conform to the details on the image map, resemble Figure 16.
we need to soften the hole. This is accomplished by wid-
ening the front of the object. First, select the front faces, Now that looks more like eroded mortar. We now have a
then Smooth Shift them outward slightly as shown in completed Boolean object to create a hole in our wall.
Figure 14. Before we apply the Boolean we need to add depth to
the wall so we have something to carve out. Select the
Now we need to taper the new faces outward on the Wall polygon we created earlier and extrude it back slightly
bottom and right side to match the slope of the image as shown in Figure 17.
map. Once again we use the Magnet tool. Nothing makes
organic tweaking easier than the Magnet tool. The trick Now position the Boolean object so its front edge ex-
here is to only manipulate the front faces so you want to tends just beyond the front of the wall object. Then set
keep them selected when you edit the mesh with the the wall object on the foreground layer and the Boolean
Magnet tool. Simply
pull the polygons
down on the lower
front edge and then to
the right slightly as
seen in Figure 15.

Great, now we simply

need to make the ob-
ject rough so it looks
like the image map.
Select the back half of
Figure 16: Jittering the back polygons. Figure 17: Extruding the wall polygon.

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object on the background layer and perform a Boolean Now that’s more like it. The hole looks more naturally eroded.
Subtract operation by pressing “Shift+b” and selecting The last step is to combine the wall with our bricks and save
Subtract. Your wall should now have a hole in it resem- the object as “BrickWall_Hole.lwo.” Then switch to Lay-
bling the one seen in Figure 18. out. We now want to copy the surfacing we did for the
original wall to our new wall. To do so, create a Sample
The hole definitely looks good but it’s still a bit too harsh, Render of your old brick wall surface, then replace the
looking rather manufactured. What we need to do is ta- “BrickWall.lwo” object with the “BrickWall_Hole.lwo”
per the top of the hole so the depression is more gradual. object. Now copy the Sampled surface to the “BrickWall
Before we do this we need to merge the points on the surface by selecting the BrickWall surface and clocking
outer edge of the hole with the wall object. The points on the thumbnail render. You will be asked if you want to
will be shifted a bit so a simple Merge Points won’t work. copy the sample to your surface – select Yes.
You’ll need to use and Absolute Value to merge them
properly. I used an Absolute Value of 5mm on my wall – Okay, now you’re ready to test the wall. To make the test
yours should be similar. more effective you might want to place an object in the
hole you created. Anything will do for the test. We just
Once you have
merged the points,
select your Magnet
tool and pull the up-
per back segment of
the hole down and to-
wards the front to sof-
ten the top edge of the
hole. Then do the
same to the right side
so you have something
similar to Figure 19.
Figure 18: The booleaned hole. Figure 19: The softened hole.

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want to see how the negative detail adds depth. I used a such as windows, doors, etc. Just about any model can
rusty old can, which can bee seen in Figure 20. be greatly enhanced through the use of photo texture
modeling. While working on the new P-XG1 Graphic
Notice how the hole with an object in it really makes the Novel I used this same technique to create the buildings
wall appear more credible. It’s a very effective technique and rooftops. In fact, Figure 21 shows one of the scenes
for creating amazing photorealistic detail with little ef- I created for the graphic novel.
fort. It only took a few minutes but it goes a long way
towards convincing the viewer the wall is real. All of the wall textures and windows in this image were
modeled using image maps as templates and then apply-
Wrap Up ing the image map as the surface. You can see how the
technique can be very useful for rapidly creating
Creating photo models isn’t complicated at all, it’s actu- photorealistic environments. Try using this technique in
ally quite simple and the results are always worth the ef- your next photorealistic 3D project and you’ll soon real-
fort. Of course, the photo modeling technique isn’t lim- ize why it is an invaluable tool in your 3D photorealism
ited to walls, it can be applied to more detailed objects toolkit.

Figure 20: The completed wall. Figure 21: Photo models in action.

© 1999 Mastering 3D Graphics