NEED HELP: Trophy Engravings

[Headless]

It depends on how much detail you want to go into.

You could just use a texture map and not worry about the indentations, you could use a bump map, you could model the letters then bake them to a normal map to speed up render time, or you could just model the letters.

Considering that the text there doesn't have that much depth at all i'd either use a bump map or i'd just use textures.


The exact procedure you ask for...

Basically when you create your texture map in Photoshop, rasterise the text layer if you haven't already (right click on the layer in the layers window > rasterise layer), then CTRL-click that layer to select that layer as a marque selection, then click on the channels Tab and click the icon to the left of the new channel icon. It's got a grey square with a white circle in it. Select the new channel that's been created, then press CTRL-A to select all, then Copy that, create a new image (use the values it gives you), and paste into the new image. Then save that out as 'text_bump.jpg' or whatever.

Now in max, go into the material editor, click on the little box next to diffuse and add your regular metal image, then scroll down to the Maps rollout, find 'Bump', and click the 'None' button, choose bitmap, and choose your 'text_bump.jpg' image. This will add the bump mapping for the text. You can control the amount of bump with the dial next to 'Bump' in the material editor. Note you can also use minus numbers to invert the bump map (make it a groove rather than a bump.

[March4Revenge]

Hey Headless,

Thanks for the repsonse! It's seemed to work pretty well but I have a few bugs to work out. I have attached a pic of what I have so far.

Three thinngs to fix:

1. Aliasing of the text. How do I make it appear smooth?

2. The fact that the map doesn't just show up on the side, but also one the top. Would I fix this by just selecting the faces I want the text to appear one and applying the map to those specific faces?

3. Lastly, I guess the proportions of the text. It looks a little strecthed out. How would I fix that? Make it bigger in PS?

Thanks for all you help.

M4R
MSN: Ironmaiden22@aol.com

[Headless]

The kind of stuff you're asking requires alot of explanation, not because it's difficult but because the area that you're going into, texturing and UVW mapping, is one of the core disciplines of 3D, and as such it's a really extensive subject that I can't really sum up in a few paragraphs. I could answer your questions as they are, but without explanation of why you're doing stuff you'll only be back within an hour asking about the next thing, so i'd suggest you go into the max help file and read the tutorials that they have there on texturing and UVW mapping.

Some hints...

1. Getting jaggies is either because of render quality or because of the resolution of the texture.

2. Yes you just select and apply to those faces, but that'll create a multi-sub object material of which the text material will be just one sub-object, so look into that.

3. You'll need to either adjust the UVW's or adjust the text in the image itself.

[March4Revenge]

The kind of stuff you're asking requires alot of explanation, not because it's difficult but because the area that you're going into, texturing and UVW mapping, is one of the core disciplines of 3D, and as such it's a really extensive subject that I can't really sum up in a few paragraphs. I could answer your questions as they are, but without explanation of why you're doing stuff you'll only be back within an hour asking about the next thing, so i'd suggest you go into the max help file and read the tutorials that they have there on texturing and UVW mapping.

Some hints...

1. Getting jaggies is either because of render quality or because of the resolution of the texture.

2. Yes you just select and apply to those faces, but that'll create a multi-sub object material of which the text material will be just one sub-object, so look into that.

3. You'll need to either adjust the UVW's or adjust the text in the image itself.

Will do man. F1 is incredibly extensive and helpful. I'll figure it out and thanks for the help thus far!

M4R

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