Textures problem

Maverick83 · 9 Jul 2008, 14:19

Hi all
I've found a good textures site and i've downloaded this texture

I like it but i have a problem: i've used it as i've downlaoded it (ok i've scaled it a bit) but i have noticed that the final result doesn't look like a real pebble floor but as many real pebble floors one next to the others... how can i fix this problem? do i have to change the image with photoshop? can i do it with picasa? is there any tutorial about that? i'm not keen on photo-editing...
Thanks a lot

This pebble floor doesn't look right at all

guite · 9 Jul 2008, 17:47

See attached image, adjust the dimensions to your liking. Moreover the texture is not seamless though it is not that apparent. You may want to look at the following topic in the tutorial section:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10694

Alan Fraser · 10 Jul 2008, 07:58

Regarding this particular pebble material...or any others like it that you download:
You first need to make it seamless. I'm not sure what tools there are for this in Picasa, but in Photoshop you can go to Filters /Other / Offset and set the offset to about half the dimensions of the image. For instance, if it was an image 600 pixels wide by 400 pixels high, you'd set the offset to 300x200.
This will have the effect of bringing all 4 corners of the original image into the middle...and the former edges will now form a cross shape based on this.

It will be obvious that the image "jumps" as it crosses these edges. All you need to do is use the Clone Tool to copy bits of the image in the corner sections over these obvious edges so that the straight lined ill-fitting joins disappear.
The new edges on the offset image are already seamless, as they come from the original central section, which blended together naturally. So once you have got rid of the mismatched cross shape in the middle everything ought to be fine.

You are, however, asking a lot of such a small image to replicate it so many times over such a large area. This might be ok for something extremely regular like tiles or pavers, but a natural material like pebbles, really needs a bigger image...one that actually shows a larger surface area of pebbles to begin with.

If you are stuck with replicating a small image many times, you can make the repeat less obvious by again using the Clone Tool to paint over any outstanding features. For instance, on your downloaded image, there is a vertical section of pebbles that is quite dark compared to the others (top right). There are also a handful of pebbles that stand out as being much brighter (bottom Centre). Paint over these with the general pebble texture and the repeat will be less obvious.

I have done all this in the attached skp file. You can see that there are still some larger stones around the red pebble that would look better if they were painted over with smaller stuff, but the general effect is much better than the original....especially now that the very noticeable dark shadow has gone

pebbles.skp

Maverick83 · 17 Jul 2008, 12:20

@ Alan Fraser
Thanks a lot for your wonderful little tutorial.
I've done as you've said and i think i've done pretty well..
Bye

Maverick83 · 17 Jul 2008, 12:21

@ modelhead
Thanks for your support and your tips, i appreciate them a lot.
Bye