Clip mapping and bump mapping and...

Masta Squidge

...So don't feel you are wasted - what's more, enjoy the constant and urging discontent with yourself.

Thanks. And I never did get to that clip mapping... Maybe I'll start working on creating a kerky library for all the transparent materials in SU.

Bill Wilson

Well Masta, it has all been said! Here we are in different countries, different occupations and different ages but it seems that in some respects we are all very similar. The old saying, *If I knew then what I know now I'd be everything I ever wished to be!*hold true. When I was at school I was so bright that I could do all my assignments in less than half the time the rest of the kids took. Then I got bored, (oh how I dispise that word), and would slack off and get into the most frightful mischieve. My father pulled me out of school at 15, that was the youngest you could leave school here in those days and put me in a job that had absolutely no challenge whatsoever in it. After three months I'd had enough so I tossed the job in, left home and ventured forth to find my fortune. Over the next 40 years I found, and lost several fortunes. I went from rags to riches and back several times but I never had to use my brains too much as long as I was fit and healthy, so now I'm a 'Jack of all trades and a master of none' Commercial fishing was the only occupation I had that had any challenge, every day was different and situations could change in an instant, quite often for the worse, and the right decission had to be made instantly because lives and gear were at stake if the wrong decission was made. Every day was a challenge and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. But all good things come to an end and my end came when I broke my back and my neck in a stupid motorbike accident, it wasn't an accident, it was absolute stupidity on my part. So here I am, back to the rags stage, but one hell of a lot wiser for it. Since then I have had plenty off time to think and mull over my past and if I could have it all over again I would, only I would make different decissions. I have had the good fortune to mix with people older and wiser than myself all my life and if only I'd had the commonsense to heed their advice things may have been different. Ah well I'm older and wiser now myself and it certainly is not too late to make another start. I am thoroughly enjoying SketchUp and this forum and I have gleened a lot of very usefull information and skills to the stage that I'm going to approach any and everyone that I can find who might be able to use the skills that I have learnt here. Then, once again, I shall climb out of the rags and maybe not to riches again but at least into a comfort level where I can afford to eat more often than once a day. Well, well I have rabbited on, haven't I? We were all young once and we all had an impatience that diminishes with age as we come to realise that whoever made time made plenty of it, no one knows how much, not even Google.com. A word of advice though, get as much sleep as you need and you need plenty when you're young, and while your not sleeping enjoy life. When things are getting you down and everything is going cockeyed say to yourself "One day I'll look back on this and laugh." I look back and laugh often, it keeps me in a cheerful frame of mind.
Cheers and Beers,
Bill.

Masta Squidge

Anyways clip maps are crazy easy to make, just bring the image into PS, play with it until you have black and white only, and you got a clip map.

I imagine its more complex than that, but that worked fine for a fence texture (i used the texture from SU) and with a not so quick, (damn PC) render I got this:

Im about to start a close up render to see how well the normal maps from crazy bump worked on the fence. But it seriously took like 2 hours to render that with no lights or anything in it. My PC sucks.

Masta Squidge

wtf happened here??

I got everything set up, but on my fencing above the concessions the texture slowly scales up and gets really huge as it goes from right to left... Thats really odd.
Not to mention other problems im having with the scene, such as light not coming through the transparent glass material i put in the covers of the recessed lights in the little archway near the stairs... But thats probably my fault, and ill fix that later.
So the question is, what in gods name happened to that texture? Its the same texture on every section of fence!

Masta Squidge

hmm, i think its a moire related problem, because im doing another render (wont be done for at least half an hour, stupid PC) and now its doing it on another section.

solo

Bill

Thank you for your story, I take inspiration from your wisdom. I find myself reminding myself to stop, look, and take the moment to re-evaluate what and where I am and where I am heading.

Masta Squidge

@unknownuser said:

I can't help you with the funny material but I am interested in the model you are building.....are you a skater?? The one thing that I haven't seen here or anywhere for that matter is a good model of a skate park....I anxious to see it as it comes along.
Cheers!!

yes I am in fact a skater lol.

Spent the better part of the last 10 years with my feet planted firmly on the grit of my skateboard.

Sadly though in the last year or so i havent been able to do it much because I couldnt afford to buy new boards as I found myself with more and more things i needed to buy instead of things i wanted. So ive been just borrowing my girlfriends skateboard (which i really like, even if it is pink and black) and going for hour or two long rides.
Tricks are out of the question because im unwilling to risk breaking her board, but it feels good to ride.

Here it is with a bit (very small bit) of setup in kerky so i could post it on another forum i visit, im asking them to help me with a name for it, but they are all just lame kids with even worse ideas it seems:

titmas

@bill wilson said:

"One day I'll look back on this and laugh."
Bill.

Bill, that is so true and its also one of the most satisfyingly feelings when you can look back on a dark, chaotic, depressing, bad, or just plane unpleasant time in your life and laugh, I do it a lot these days.

Cheers

Fletch

hey squidgy, post the skippy and I can look at the mat for ya.

Masta Squidge

actually i figured out that its just an incredibly strange problem with moire (sp?)

it depends entirely on the position of the camera as to where the odd stretching effect occurs. But for the moment i have the model hung up, i lost a bit of motivation on it for the time being. Ill get it back on my next day off, but right now its work all dang week.