Atomic Systems

I have been experimenting a bit with bump maps in 3D Canvas and can get some interesting results using images of rusted metal to give the texture but I cannot quite get it right. I will experiment further but I see that GIMP has a feature for creating Bump Maps which requires a number of different parameters to be set controlling the texture being created.

Any tips on the creation of Bump Maps like this would be appreciated particularly on how to get a slightly deformed look for the sides of locos and more prominent features such as heavily rusted metal that has been painted with gloss paint.

I have been able to get the basic effects in 3D Canvas (probably the same applies to 3DCrafter) so it is not so much the way to get it to work that I am looking for but advice on how the design of the Bump Map will work in the game.

http://www.crazybump.com/ - The free trial of their software is great and gives you full control over what the bump map looks like - it's brilliant and worth a shot Geoff.

To use GIMP for the Railworks bumpy shaders you want the normal map plug-in rather than the default bumpmap filter. I can't remember where I got my copy from, but it's called gimp-normalmap version 1.2.2. It's free of course, and easy to use (there's a handy 3D preview window).

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions.

This looks like another exciting forage into the dark world of 3D Modelling

I use the nVidia Phtoshop plugin, but for metal with "layers" - which I think is what you're after, same as if you paint over some half-removed paint - I would probably use a cloud fill and then either posterize with a really low number of levels, or ( less likely ) threshold and then adjust the contrast. This will give a cloudy set of steps in the body paint. For painted over pitted rust - or even unpainted rust - just do that and then add some noise.

Quite handy just for rust texturing anyway, like the caboose below which is a sortof weathering horse for me.


Click the image to zoom in


Deformed metal is best done with some sort of ripple filter, which takes some practice to paint the right texture to set it up successfully. Don't forget to take your painted dents layer from the main texture & use it in the bumpmap. The CN caboose on the right has some metal ripples, but there wasn't any angle in that scenario I could find to show them off. It is the same model as the rusty one, but if you look at where the roof meets the bodyside it looks like it's got an overhang; that's pure bumpmap and shading, the extremes you can go to with bumpmaps are pretty handy.

There seems to be a lot of rusty metal to be found on the railways so getting to grips with that effect will be a useful skill. Thanks for the tips.

Kariban wrote:Deformed metal is best done with some sort of ripple filter, which takes some practice to paint the right texture to set it up successfully. Don't forget to take your painted dents layer from the main texture & use it in the bumpmap. The CN caboose on the right has some metal ripples, but there wasn't any angle in that scenario I could find to show them off. It is the same model as the rusty one, but if you look at where the roof meets the bodyside it looks like it's got an overhang; that's pure bumpmap and shading, the extremes you can go to with bumpmaps are pretty handy.

That seems an awful lot to get a ripple effect, Photoshop's cloud filter tiles so I'd just use that, create a new layer, add noise and play around with it's settings and size then use the nVidia plugin while playing around with the settings in there to get the ripple effect.

But then you get clouds, which aren't ripples at all - not structured, and if you add noise then you get holes . Just make a pattern & fill with that, and play with the ripple filter. There are some things like doors or areas around frames that need doing by hand no matter what you do.

Really? Have you tried said effect? My brief tests make it have a ripple effect to an extent. I believe the RSC 86 uses it and Ben Laws' Mk4s (which can be dug about for) used a similar method too.

I have, my first idea for ripples was clouds... and I hated it. I ended up making some blobby patterns and feeding those into the ocean ripple filter, it's just as quick. Well if you want bigger ripples anyway.

I need to mess with Gimps cloud generator more, I prefer it to the PS one, but being lazy I don't like having to transfer stuff between programs all the time