Scribd
Upload
421 views9 pages

How To Generate Texture Maps From A Single Image (In 8 Easy Steps)

How to Generate Texture Maps from a Single Image (in 8 easy steps) By Reinante Martinez Most of the time, realistic surfaces and renders require you to have a fair number of texture types used ­ dfifuse, specular, displacement, roughness, etc. However, if you have no access to specialized software like CrazyBump, Knald, Bitmap2Material, and the like, this can be a problem. In this brief tutorial/article, I’ll show you how you can use one image texture and generate commonly­used texture maps out of it ­ using Blender’s Cycles material nodes. However, the techniques presented here are also applicable with other software packages. By the end of this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding on how to manipulate image textures using a variety of node techniques.

Uploaded by

szchmausser
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
421 views9 pages

How To Generate Texture Maps From A Single Image (In 8 Easy Steps)

How to Generate Texture Maps from a Single Image (in 8 easy steps) By Reinante Martinez Most of the time, realistic surfaces and renders require you to have a fair number of texture types used ­ dfifuse, specular, displacement, roughness, etc. However, if you have no access to specialized software like CrazyBump, Knald, Bitmap2Material, and the like, this can be a problem. In this brief tutorial/article, I’ll show you how you can use one image texture and generate commonly­used texture maps out of it ­ using Blender’s Cycles material nodes. However, the techniques presented here are also applicable with other software packages. By the end of this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding on how to manipulate image textures using a variety of node techniques.

Uploaded by

szchmausser
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

How to Generate Texture Maps

from a Single Image


(in 8 easy steps)

Mostofthetime,realisticsurfacesandrendersrequireyoutohaveafairnumberof
texturetypesuseddfifuse,specular,displacement,roughness,etc.However,ifyouhave
noaccesstospecializedsoftwarelikeCrazyBump,Knald,Bitmap2Material,andthelike,
thiscanbeaproblem.

Inthisbrieftutorial/article,Illshowyouhowyoucanuseoneimagetextureandgenerate
commonlyusedtexturemapsoutofitusingBlendersCyclesmaterialnodes.However,
thetechniquespresentedherearealsoapplicablewithothersoftwarepackages.

Bytheendofthistutorial,youshouldhaveabasicunderstandingonhowtomanipulate
imagetexturesusingavarietyofnodetechniques.

Optional downloads

starter.blendfile
finished.blendfile
woodplankstexture (externallink)

Available formats

websitearticle
YouTubeVideo(comingsoon)

Software used

Blender2.74
Cycles

Ready?Letsgo!
1 Basic Material Setup

Tostartoff,prepareasimpleDiffuseandGlossymaterialmixturewithanimagetextureas
diffuseinput.Notprettyatthemoment,butwellimprovethisinthenextsteps.

2 Creating Diffuse Gradient

Thisstepistotallyoptionalbutaddingitcanaddthatbitofrealismtoyourshader,atleast
formepersonally.)

Createthegradienteffectonthediffuseshaderbyusingan RGBCurves
(Add>Color>
RGBCurves) nodetodarkenthebasecolorand mix (Add>Shader>MixShader)
this
withtheoriginaldiffusenodeusingaLayerWeight (Add>Input>LayerWeight)
as
factor.



3 Creating the Specular Map

TheSpecMapisatexturetypethatdictateswhichpartsareglossy/specularbasedonthe
grayscalevaluesthatithas.FortunatelyinBlender,thisisaseasyasattachingan
RGBto
BW (Add>Converter>RGBtoBW)
node tothebaseimageandcontrollingtheinfluence
witha
ColorRamp node (Add>Converter>ColorRamp).

4 Adding Physically-based Shading

Inreality,nonmetallic/dielectricobjectsandsurfacesproducemoredefinedreflectionsat
grazingangles,alsoreferredtoasfresnelreflectance.

Usingtheinformationwehavefromthe LayerWeightnodeinstep2,wewill
subtract
(Add>Converter>Math)thevaluewiththeSpecMapgeneratedinstep3.

WewillthenusetheoutputofthisnodesetupastheFactorinputfortheMixShader.This
achievestwoeffectsinone:
fresnelreflectanceand
specularitymap.

5 Creating the Roughness Map

ThismapbasicallytellsBlenderwhichpartsoftheshaderhasroughglossysurfaces.To
dothis,simplyaddanother
ColorRamp nodeandusethesame RGBtoBW nodethatwe
usedinthepreviousstepsas
Factorinput.

AttachtheColoroutputofthe
ColorRamp
nodetothe
Roughness
inputofthe
Glossy
BSDF node.Wenowhaveapseudoroughnessmaskthatwecantweakhoweverwewish
viatherampsoftheColorRampnode.

6 Creating the Normal Map

Itworksmorelikeaworkaroundcomparedtowhatyouwouldnormallyachievewhen
usingdedicatednormalmaps,buttheeffectsarerelativelycloseandindistinguishable.

AddaBump node(Add>Vector>Bump) andattachthe


Value
outputofthe
RGBtoBW
nodeintoits
Height input.Toseetheeffectsontheshaders,connecttheNormal
output
intothe
Normal inputsofthecorrespondingshaders.

7 Creating the Displacement Map

Derivingthesametechniquespreviouslydiscussed,wellbecreatingthematerialbump,
ontopofthealreadyexistingnormalmaps,forevenmorerealism.

AttachtheValueoutputofthe
RGBtoBW nodetoa
ColorRamp nodeandadjustthe
sliders,creatingacompacttransitionfrompureblacktopurewhite.

Adda
Mathnodesetto
Multiply
andattachittothe
Displacement inputofthe
Output
node.Thevalueinthesecondsliderdictatesthismapsintensity.



8 Creating the Cavity Map

Inconjunctionwiththedisplacementmap,thistypeofmapwillimplyeffectslikedustand
dirtforminginthecrevices,occlusioneffect,andthelike.

Adda DiffuseBSDF nodeandsetittoclosetodarkgray(orsomethingsimilar)andmixit


viaaMixShader nodewiththeexistingshadermixture(DiffuseandGlossy)thatwehad
earlier.

Nowwejustneedtospecifywhichpartswillhavethecavitymasks.Adda ColorRamp
nodelikewedidin
step7
andinsteadofusingpureblackfortheleftcolorslider,usea
grayishcolor.



Andfinally,connectthe
Color
outputofthe
ColorRamp
nodetothe
Factor
inputofthe
MixShader .

Conclusion

Theprocedures,techniques,andworkaroundspresentedhereareonlytouchingthe
surfaceofwhatispossiblewithnodes.Incombinationwithothereffectslikescratches,
surfacedusts,andthelike,thiswillbeapowerfuladditiontoyourworkflowasanartist.

Ihighlysuggestyoutoexplorefurther,breakdownwhatIhavepresented,andeventually
comeupwithsomethingmoreintuitiveandeffective.

Ifyoulikethisarticle,spreadtheword,leavemeacomment,andshareitwithyour
friends.

Andifyoufancy,youcanvisitmeonthefollowinglinks:

website
FBpage
Twitter

HavefunandhappyBlending!:)

Reyn

You might also like