InfernalDarkness
10-01-2009, 06:16 PM
I've been struggling with custom tilework for many years, and over time developed a rather haphazard and annoyingly tedious workflow, and I'm hoping that someone has more experience in this area or perhaps some suggestions to make things faster, more efficient, or at least less of a demon to work with.
My main headache is of course my clients, who can't make up their mind. But if they could make up their minds and already knew what they wanted, I'd likely not have as much work, so it's a double-edged laser or whatever. Herein lies my issue: how to make a scene modular enough that making changes on a deadline is easier or less painful.
Generally, my workflow for custom tile goes like this:
1. Measure as-built, existing site
2. Model site in Rhino, export to Maya
3. UV-map the objects to be custom tiled and export
4. Photograph client's tile choice as best I can, using real samples
4b. in lieu of enough actual samples, create similar-looking samples in Photoshop
5. Lay out the tiles in Photoshop, using the exported UV map as a reference
6. Import finished texture map back into Maya and render
7. Once client is happy, go to the site and build the damn thing
It's about as straightforward as it sounds, but I'm hoping someone else has some ideas to help speed up my process a bit? Maybe some texture references or resources that would help?
Regarding 4b, often I only have a single tile sample to photograph. So when duplicating the tiles, of course they're all identical and it's very obvious that this is what I've done. Not acceptable for my clients, or myself either. This is more of a texturing sub-question, but perhaps someone has some insight into working with custom tile?
Here are some references detailing the kind of custom tile I've been slaving over recently:
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7161/pbmr17showernoglass.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8593/pbmr16tubcorner.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9852/kitchenmicromr5.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5285/kitchenmicromr4.jpg
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/9205/kitchensinkmr6.jpg
In this next one, I literally modeled every tile. It didn't make things any easier, and was slower and more tedious to make changes to. Had to go back to Rhino, move things around, then re-export to Maya, then setup materials AGAIN, then render again. There's gotta be an easier way.
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/82/haw8entireaccentscopy.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1822/haw8entirecopy.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1460/kitchensinkmr7straight.jpg
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/1204/kitchensinkmr7diag.jpg
My main headache is obviously this last client, right above. This is my eighth different tile layout for these obnoxious cash-chuckin' richers, and sometimes something that seems so simple such as making the tiles diagonal is just killing me. I'm hoping someone else has some insight into how to surpass all the headaches with custom tile texturing?
Please forgive the low quality of my renders; these certainly aren't works of art, but daily production renders on rather tight deadlines.
My main headache is of course my clients, who can't make up their mind. But if they could make up their minds and already knew what they wanted, I'd likely not have as much work, so it's a double-edged laser or whatever. Herein lies my issue: how to make a scene modular enough that making changes on a deadline is easier or less painful.
Generally, my workflow for custom tile goes like this:
1. Measure as-built, existing site
2. Model site in Rhino, export to Maya
3. UV-map the objects to be custom tiled and export
4. Photograph client's tile choice as best I can, using real samples
4b. in lieu of enough actual samples, create similar-looking samples in Photoshop
5. Lay out the tiles in Photoshop, using the exported UV map as a reference
6. Import finished texture map back into Maya and render
7. Once client is happy, go to the site and build the damn thing
It's about as straightforward as it sounds, but I'm hoping someone else has some ideas to help speed up my process a bit? Maybe some texture references or resources that would help?
Regarding 4b, often I only have a single tile sample to photograph. So when duplicating the tiles, of course they're all identical and it's very obvious that this is what I've done. Not acceptable for my clients, or myself either. This is more of a texturing sub-question, but perhaps someone has some insight into working with custom tile?
Here are some references detailing the kind of custom tile I've been slaving over recently:
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7161/pbmr17showernoglass.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8593/pbmr16tubcorner.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9852/kitchenmicromr5.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5285/kitchenmicromr4.jpg
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/9205/kitchensinkmr6.jpg
In this next one, I literally modeled every tile. It didn't make things any easier, and was slower and more tedious to make changes to. Had to go back to Rhino, move things around, then re-export to Maya, then setup materials AGAIN, then render again. There's gotta be an easier way.
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/82/haw8entireaccentscopy.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1822/haw8entirecopy.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1460/kitchensinkmr7straight.jpg
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/1204/kitchensinkmr7diag.jpg
My main headache is obviously this last client, right above. This is my eighth different tile layout for these obnoxious cash-chuckin' richers, and sometimes something that seems so simple such as making the tiles diagonal is just killing me. I'm hoping someone else has some insight into how to surpass all the headaches with custom tile texturing?
Please forgive the low quality of my renders; these certainly aren't works of art, but daily production renders on rather tight deadlines.