OK, first things first, hands up all those who model in blender and then render / texture in another program, such as POV-Ray or Yaray. he main point of this post is because i have noticed it so hard to acheive certain effects using blenders built in scanline renderer. And i hate texturing in blender, i really wish that we could texture like in 3DS Max, using mix textures to generate cool effects using maps and being able to use maps for everything and which can be different, such as spec, bump and he like. I think that blender is the best 3D modeller ever, it is the fastest to run and to work with to acheive great modelling results. What my point is, is that its so damn hard to use materials to create an good effects especially as env maps are solid to use and frustrate me so much :x
Anyway what i want to know is does anyone else find that texturing is hard in blender to acheive good results and if i was to use yafray could i use refraction and reflection and the likes, if i could then i want yafray implemented ASAP. Also could i acheive better results texturing or writing code shaders like for yafray, or is it quite hard.
1 last thing, anyone want to write some texturing or material tutorials, because in my opinion i found loads of tutorials to help me model something cool, but then to make it look realistic or look even good is too damn hard. Maybe texturing is the hardest to be good at in 3D? I certainly find that.
Sorry for the long post, but i havnt posted on here in a while, so long i forgot my p-word, and i think my account got deleted, so i got a new one.
Hello L13 and welcome to blender. I have some really good news for you!
The Material Editor in Max is not all thedifferent than we have in blender.
You see, blender gives you eight slots to get creative with your material.
If you add a material, then go one button left (Texture) and now you can pig out! Say you add a jpeg for your main texture. The just click on the next block bellow, and add another texture. This time let’s say, add a marble texture (ether from blenders built in stuff or your own again) just don’t use the color (col) anymore (unless you want to) and lelect “nor”, move the slider beneath and you have now a bump map for that material.
You can add a lot of “layers” this way, spec, transparency, reflection… you name it. Except for the raytracing, you can do pretty mauch anything that max can do.
Knowing the Max way of manipulating a Material will get you up to speed fast in blender. It just looks different but the idea is (almost) the same.
Hello. My name is Landis. I think that I can help you. Texturing in Blender to me was like thos images you stare at for an hour and then the dinasour suddenly pops out at you. You can in fact mix and match textures. I currently have a texturing tutorial however, I will be replacing it soon with a VERY improved version…I just have to wait for it to be cleared by the magazine I am writing it for. Now, you are right…renderers such as YAFRAY can yield very good results compared to that of Blenders scanline renderer…however, I am confident that once you get the hang of Blenders procedural (thanks guys you know who you are ) or UV methods…you will be very busy for a very long time! Now, I am going to provide my tutorial to you, but from the sounds of it you are lacking some of the assumptions that I was under while creating it, so, if you do not understand it then let me know and I will help you out. ANd finally…thank you very much for your question…you have just helped me improve my next tutorial .
Hey Landis your tutorial is great, and thanks you understood my question perfectly. Do you use yafray at all. Does anyone use yafray to render, if so if i textured something in blender, would they come out in yafray without too much bother. Also seanix, i think you misunderstood me, i understand the in’s and out’s of materials and textures in blender, i have been playing around with it for years now, but i just cant seem to make anything look using jsut procedural textures. I suppose its because im not very artistic, maybe i should just forget 3D then.
Anyway thanks to both of you for trying to help me. I am gouing to try modelling an apple shouldnt be too hard with subsurfs, for that tutorial.
I use YAFRAY. It is an excellent app. Now, I am not sure if you know this or not yet but the texturing method that I discussed in my tutorial (Procedural) is not yet supported by YABLE (the Blender to YAFRAY export script) or YAFRAY. However, I think that it is still necessary to know the “paint by number” method I used for the apple. But dont get discouraged just yet, if you are looking to export any texturing you have done in Blender, you can! YABLE is capable of exporting Blenders UV coordinates. If you are using a G.U.I. for YAFRAY, the only thing you have to remember is that when you open your XML file (YABLE transforms the .blend into this type of file for YAFRAY) you re-apply each of your textures inside of YAFRAY before rendering. This is a known problem for the YAFRAY G.U.I.'s and is going to be addressed in the next release of the Bagisas G.U.I. (http://www.fen-net.de/wolfram.kraus/Bagisas.html). Even if they do not fix the bug it’s not as bad as it sounds. You dont have to actually re-texture each object…it’s more like pointing to it so that YAFRAY knows where to find it. See, the coordinates are being exported its just that the link is between the mesh and the texture is being broken somewhere along the way. Anyways, let me know if any of this makes sense, and if it doesnt I will help you, I check this forum frequently throughout the day…probably more than most. Also, my next tutorial is going to be on texturing for YAFRAY. As far as you giving up on 3D I suggest you take a look at the “about” section of my webpage (www.landisfields.com).
Blender’s procedual textures can be quite useful if they are applied with care. It is all a matter of visualizing the scene and then adding what you need to make it realistic. This image is all procedural except the wood texture on the tabletop (created in Photoshop). It is a simple image but shows off what can be done with Blender’s proceduals (and lighting and scanline rendering).
1 last thing, anyone want to write some texturing or material tutorials, because in my opinion i found loads of tutorials to help me model something cool, but then to make it look realistic or look even good is too damn hard. Maybe texturing is the hardest to be good at in 3D? I certainly find that.
This is kind of off topic for this post but I’m createing a data base of tutorials for all blender users useing one format so that they all look the same and can all be found in one spot. If you have and tutorials that you would like to submit. Please email them to [email protected] Please make sure that they are up to date with the latest release of blenders. Include graphics with your files and please ZIP the files before sending them as I only have a 2 meg Inbox.
I’ll tell you what would be useful… seeing some of the screen setups you guys use for modeling/animating/texturing/3d movement…
I’ve noticed that you can’t have 2 windows with the Material & Texture pictures up to see instantly what effects the clouds/marble does (I’m using v2.25 so it may not update like in newer versions (?)
You can save alot of time by the way you do things… you each learn your own methods, and I can imagine some of you would like to keep them personal, which is understood… but if anyone can can screens of their set ups, maybe that could help? Being able to get to all the settings quickly and easily would sure help alot…
I am providing examples (screenshots) of various materials settings for my 3D World tutorial. I too agree that leading by example is a good way to show others how to do things…and the more people the better…that way you can se how different people approach the same problem. But, as you said, it is sometime difficult to get that out of people. Anyways, look for it in my tut…again, if you dont want to pay for it, I will eventually be offering it on elysiun and my website as well.
Absolutely!..I’m just kidding…I would never ignore you! I just replied to your P.M. I never recieved itany message or email in the first place buddy. I havent been logging onto yahoo messenger in a while…I have been trying to finish up the tut and I constantly was getting messaged so I have been taking a break from it. Hey man…check your P.M. inbox if you havent already…my message is in there. Send me an email…it should be working again now. I will tell you more about it later. Basically I recieved an email message telling me that my domanin name and email address was going to expire…but I knew that it wasnt from my friend who is taking care of all of that so basicaly someone was trying to send me a Virus…pretty crazy eh?
and welcome to blender. I have some really good news for you!
) or UV methods…you will be very busy for a very long time! Now, I am going to provide my tutorial to you, but from the sounds of it you are lacking some of the assumptions that I was under while creating it, so, if you do not understand it then let me know and I will help you out. ANd finally…thank you very much for your question…you have just helped me improve my next tutorial 
?
