Simulate broken asphalt in NPR render

[wyatt]

I have a client who has requested my NPR render be a little more realistic. The attached is the beginning view of an animation I've created. The dark pavement in the foreground is existing, broken up asphalt. Our project starts a little further up the road where the yellow pavement stripes are. Does anyone have recommendations for making the asphalt look old and crappy while still maintaining the NPR style of the scene?

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[axeonalias]

Hi Wyatt, Depends on how Broken you want it
If its just old worn Tar then I would suggest texturing it,if its been ripped up then its slightly more involved.

[tomsdesk]

Wyatt,
I have often used one of the SU concrete materials scaled up really big: gives the impression of rough material once you get the color and tone just right.
Best, Tom.

[wyatt]

Here's a pic of the existing intersection. The pavement doesn't appear too torn up; cracking, but not terribly pot-holed. At first I was thinking I needed to do something more complex, like manipulate the mesh to get a rougher looking surface. The model is mostly made w/ solid colors because I didn't want to get too detailed with materials, but maybe a texture in this instance would work best.

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[wyatt]

Good idea, Tom. I'll see if something like that would work for this.

[tomsdesk]

Here's a texture I altered from the original in PSP...?

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[boofredlay]

Nice one.
Here is one of Pete's old Concrete texture that I applied a dry brush filter to.

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[wyatt]

Thanks guys. Both of those look really good.

[Crankston Shnord]

Hey Wyatt,

I don't know much about the render engine that you are using, but most render engines have an object for something called Bump-Mapping. Basically, what that does it take a texture and turn it into 3D terrain. After texturing the concrete, you may consider importing the same texture again as a Bump-Map. You should be able to adjust the severity of the bumps. Again, I know very little of your rendering engine, but that might be a possibility, and it will definitely improve the look of the concrete (I use it almost every day).

Cheers,

[wyatt]

I'm familiar with bump maps. This is raw SU output though, so that's not an option for this project.

[ledisnomad]

thomthom created a plugin called "Bitmap To Mesh" that you could use to actually deform the road a little but keep the solid color.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=31339
I guess it depends on what style you decide on. Personally, the minute you put one texture in, I bet your client will ask for the whole thing to be done-up.