Texture Queries

scoty1991 · 30 Jun 2010, 00:52

Hi, I've been using SketchUp a while now for a couple of things but mainly for creating Google Earth buildings.
the problem I'm facing is I've been hired to create a model of this building and have built it and added textures etc. However, The aerial imagery was of too low a resolution to use as a texture for the roof so i used the normal tiled texture of a slate roof. Unfortunately this is flat and isn't in keeping with the rest of the building and i was wondering if its possible to combine two textures within SketchUP, almost like adding a detail layer or bumpmap in other programs.
To clarify that, what i mean is applying the tiled slate texture and then over the top of that projecting a semi-opaque texture of the low resolution aerial imagery to add a bit of variation to the otherwise solid and uniform tiled texture.
Is this possible, if anyone has any ideas on how to accomplish this please help.
Thank you.

dale · 30 Jun 2010, 13:29

If what you mean is apply two textures to the same face, I don't think that is possible. I have used two separate faces, slightly separated with the solid texture on the lower face, and a more transparent version of that texture hovering over it on a second face. I was using it on a grass texture, and it did make it better. I believe it was Richard who came up with this, if I remember correctly.
Have you considered creating your own new texture? I think short of physically modeling the slate that may be the only answer.

TIG · 30 Jun 2010, 14:09

I think the results might look rubbish and you might get z-fighting at distance... but try making the roof faces with a thickness say 1"/25mm.
Ensure the top and bottom faces look 'up'.
Apply a semi-transparent texture to the top face and your colored texture to the bottom face - this might then give pseudo-bump-mapping to the roof...
Alternatively, as has been said, model some 3D form [smoothed] to the roof planes and apply your textures...

Gaieus · 30 Jun 2010, 19:14

How about editing the texture rather than suffering with SU-to-GE?
Combine the two with whatever transparency (that fits best) on the top layer...