looking for some tips

[EricChadwick]

Examples? Show us your reference, and your results, and we might be able to offer suggestions.

Anything like this?
http://images.google.com/images?q=thailand+road&btnG=Search+Images&svnum=10&hl=en&imgsz=xxlarge&gbv=2

[bonestructure]

Some examples
http://www.lkjh.org/bike/california/santa_barbara/figueroa/f0212.jpg
There are some of this type of road in America, but more in asia, and none of the roads in America look exactly like what I want, not as hard packed. Its' like the road in a village you see in a Japanese movie where it's been walked on for ages and rolled on and compacted.
http://www.ocsoaring.org/images/campouts/coyote_dry_lake/motherload_road.jpg
http://www.svsarah.com/Non-Sailing/Old%20Couple%20on%20Road.JPG
http://www.img.tobinrussell.com/mobile2/scan0045.jpg
I'd prefer to try to do it with a procedural map, partly because I have to cover a large area, and partly because with bitmaps, I always have the problem of them looking like crap when they get close to the camera if the camera's at a low angle.

[EricChadwick]

Cool, thanks for the examples.

Depends on your software, but layering of procedurals and bitmaps is the way I'd go, using the bitmaps as masks for the procedurals. Different procedurals for different scales (micro vs. macro), and multiple procedurals for different dirt types (dust swirls,
cracked earth, tire tracks, pebbles, dried rivulets at the sides).

You might also consider different shaders for different shots, for easier setup and faster rendering. You don't need micro detail for an establishing shot, and don't need the large details for low-n-tight shots. If you crane up from ant level to tree level in one shot, then you could use one shader, or you could simply fade from micro to macro shader.

What software are you planning to use? I beta-tested Filter Forge recently, like some other node-based procedural editors, it's very capable.

[bonestructure]

I use mainly Max 7 and Photoshop with a journey into Painter now and then. I do use blend maps a lot, and mainly I do use bitmaps. I don't do animation, so that isn't a worry. I suspect Max's composite, rather than blend map is what I need to use. But I'm not terribly familiar with it, so that means a trip into the user reference lol. The scene I want to do is still far ahead in time, but it's one I've wanted to do for a few years now. I finally have most of the meshes I need, though they still need texturing. I've become very finicky about texturing lately. I just spent a week making a mural texture for a van I wanted. Before that I spent, I dunno, several days texturing a little car I made for the last scene I did. I have probably a gig of photos waiting to be made into textures in my file. But this white dirt road has been bugging me for a long while now.

[EricChadwick]

I use Max too.

You might look into the blendmodes (http://www.maxplugins.de/max9_32.php?search=blendmodes&sort=Author) map plugin, it's a great compositing tool similar to Photoshop layers but you use it at the Map level in max.

There are also some great procedurals in Darkling Simualtions' Simbiont (http://www.darksim.com/) plugin for Max. The basic shaders are free, allowing limited tweaking. Buy DarkTree for more flexibility.

IIRC, there are some good tutorials in the CGTalk 3ds Max section about how to make complex dirt procedurals.

[bonestructure]

I use the blend map frequently, but as I say, not too much practice with the composite map. I suspect that's the one you're speaking of. I'll have to do some learning on that one. I've only used it once, but it did turn out a really good grass texture for me. I'll have to look at the tutorials you mention here too. The blendmodes plugin you mentioned looked good, and I think I used to have it. You sent a link for r9 though and I have r7. I'll have to go through plugins de to see if they still have the one for r7. I'm pretty sure i recall having it before my computer crashed a dew months ago and it was quite a good plugin I was just learning to use. I've gotten most of my data back from the crash,m though I did lose a few models I had made and didn't back up as yet, and lost my favorite wood texture.

[EricChadwick]

The blendmodes d/l has v7, v8, and v9 versions all in the same zip file.

[bonestructure]

cool, thanks

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