We will be using mostly Layout for this
lesson, so that we can render out our
results quickly and easily to see what
we've just done.
When creating general grime and roughness
to a texture, the diffuse channel is usually
the best channel to apply your textures.
Open the surface editor and select the
Detail Panel 01 surface, then add
a second diffuse texture to the surface.
The new texture should have the following
settings (or similar: your choice).
| Layer
/ Texture Opacity |
50.0% |
Texture Type (LW6
Only) |
Procedural
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|
Blending Mode (LW6
only) |
Additive |
| Procedural
Type |
Fractal
Noise |
| Texture
Value |
70.0% |
| Frequencies |
3 |
| Contrast |
2.0 |
| Small
Power |
0.5 |
| Scale |
X=3m,
Y=3m, Z=3m |
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Note that we are using a texture opacity
of 50%. Changing this value allows us
to control the amount that the map alters
the diffuse image map that is also applied
to the diffuse channel of this surface.
The fractal noise is set to have a high
contrast and a fairly large scale, but
the texture value is fairly similar to
the un-modified setting from the main
surfaces panel. This will give us a distinct
fractal texture, but it will not be so
obvious that it detracts from the more
important textures. The effect is subtle,
but worth the effort for the additional
realism it brings.
I proceeded to add this fractal noise layer
to most of the surfaces of the
object.
The image above allows you to see the differences
between the object with and without the
fractal texture by clicking the buttons.
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Now that we've added a little
grime to the surfaces, how
about some wear and tear?
The first thing I will create
is a small scorch mark from
a laser hit received by our
object.
I'm going to apply this map
to Detail Panel 03,
so take a screengrab of this
polygon as we did in the previous
lesson, and prepare it for
painting.
The techniques described here
are very similar to those
described by Joe 'Flashfire'
Riddle here,
but then, there's only one
way to make this effect properly,
so similarities are bound
to happen. You might want
to check his tutorial and
adapt some of his techniques
for this section, as he goes
into a little more detail
than I do here.
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Next, create a new layer (this
will be Layer 2 if you prepared
your image in the same way
as we did previously).
Select a large brush with a
soft edge and paint something
like the image opposite in
the new, empty layer.
This black smear will act as
the diffusion map for our
scorch mark.
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| Create a second new layer then
paint something like this in the
layer, again, using a large, soft-edged
brush.
We will use the white component
of this image as a bump map
to simulate some rupturing
of the surface around the
scorch mark.
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Use the Smudge tool
to break up the edges of this
white area a little, so that
we will have a more interesting
bumped area.
That is all the painting that
will be required for this
effect.
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We must now create Alpha Channels
for these effects, so that we can control
which parts of the image are used by Lightwave.
Duplicate the image you are currently
working on by right-clicking the title
bar of the window and selecting Duplicate
from the pop-up menu.
Working with the duplicate image, select
the layer with the white area we just
painted, then choose Load Selection...
from the
menu.
If your white area is in Layer 3, choose
'Layer 3 Transparency' as the active channel.
You should see a selection area appear
roughly around the white area of your
image.
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Now bring up the Save Selection...
dialogue from the
menu.
Choose to save the selection
as a New channel in the document
you are currently working
with. This will create the
alpha channel for the white
area of the image.
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If you click on the Channels
palette (usually nested in
the same palette as the Layers
Palette), you will see a new
channel called Alpha 1
at the bottom of the palette.
This is our alpha channel,
which Lightwave will use as
a reference for which parts
of our image to apply, and
which to ignore.
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Return to the Layers Palette
and turn OFF the layers containing
the grey panel image and the
black scorch mark.
Next, Flatten the image
by selecting Flatten Image
from the
menu.
Photoshop will ask you to confirm
that you want to discard hidden
layers.
Confirm this dialogue and the
image will flatten.
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We can now save this image, but it is important
that you save it in a format that fully
supports the embedded alpha channel. A
format such as Photoshop (.psd) or Targa
(.tga) is most appropriate here. Save
this image as burnBump.psd (or burnBump.tga...
depending on your choice of format).
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Lightwave 5.6
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Yes, it's time for another
dedicated section for those
of you still stuck with Lightwave
5.6...
As you may know, Lightwave
5.6 does not support
embedded alpha-channels for
the images it uses, so we
must create separate alpha
images to accompany our main
images.
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Begin by returning
to the Channels
Palette
Right-click on
the Alpha 1
channel and
choose Duplicate
Channel... from
the pop-up menu.
Set the options
for the dialogue
that appears as
shown in the image
opposite.
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This will create a new 'Multichannel'
mode image that we must convert
to Greyscale mode ()
before we can save in Amiga
IFF format as burnBump-Alpha.iff
for use later.
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Following these steps, your image should
look like this: with a white area on a
black background. (The alpha channel will
be an identical image).
Return to your original burn image (the
one that still has all its layers intact)
and select the layer that contains the
black scorch mark.
| As we previously did, load the
layer transparency as a selection,
so that you have a selection area
roughly around the black area
of the image. |
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| Now save the selection as a New
Channel, in order to create the
Alpha 1 alpha channel for
the image. |
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Next, in the Layers Palette,
turn OFF the layers that contain
the light-grey panel image
and the white area for the
bump map.
Use the Bucket Fill
tool to fill the Background
layer with pure white colour,
and then Flatten the
image. You should be left
with a black scorch on a white
background.
Save this image as burnDiff.psd
(your choice of formats, of
course, so long as the format
supports the alpha channel.)
We will be applying this image
to the Diffuse channel
of the panel's surface in
Lightwave.
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Lightwave 5.6
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You Lightwave 5.6 users will
now have to create a separate
Alpha map using the same method
as before, and save it as
burnDiff-Alpha.iff.
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We will now apply our new images to the
object.
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Lightwave [6]
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Lightwave 5.6
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In Layout, open the Image Editor
and load both burnDiff.psd
and burnBump.psd, which
we just saved in Photoshop.
Check that in the image decription
the Alpha Channel is enabled.
Now open the Surface Editor
and add a new layer of Diffuse
map to the Detail Panel
03 surface.
Set the map to use burnDiff.psd
as the image, projected
through the Y axis with no
texture antialiasing or pixel
blending, then press the Automatic
Sizing button. The alpha
channel embedded in the image
will automatically be applied
to the map.
Click Use Texture and
then apply a new level of
bump map to the surface.
This time, set the image to
be burnBump.psd and
set the texture amplitude
to -2.0. This will recess
the area implied by the bump
map, rather than raising it.
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In Layout, open the Images
panel and load all the images
we just saved from Photoshop.
Now open the Surface Editor
and add a new layer of Diffuse
map to the Detail Panel
03 surface.
Set the map to use burnDiff.psd
as the Texture Image,
projected through the Y axis
with no texture antialiasing
or pixel blending, then press
the Automatic Sizing button.
Finally, set the Texture
Alpha Image to use burnDiff-Alpha.iff.
Click Use Texture and
then apply a new level of
bump map to the surface.
This time, set the image to
be burnBump.psd and
the alpha image to be burnBump-Alpha.iff
and set the texture amplitude
to -200%. This will recess
the area implied by the bump
map, rather than raising it.
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Rendering out the results of this, we see
a new scorch mark applied to the panel's
surface, but the other textures applied
to the panel (the fractal noise, generic
panels etc.) are mostly unaffected, due
to the use of the alpha channels for our
scorch map images.
So there you have it, a quick and easy
method for adding almost any kind of battle
damage to your objects.
Using the alpha map technique of applying
a diffuse and bump map with an alpha channel,
I added some more general battle damage
to the ship, such as this set of gouges...
... and these deep scratches.
Once again, the limit to the amount of
this kind of extra detailing you could
add is almost limitless, especially as
Lightwave has the ability to add infinite
layers of texture to a surface.
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