I am looking for suggestions as to how I might go about creating a wavy texture on a model of a ceramic tile. In particular, I am trying to model subway tiles that might be used for a backsplash.
I thought about bump or displacement mapping, using a gradient fill in GIMP to create the wave effect, but the effect didn’t even come close to what I was hoping for.
Any suggestions welcome - If I can’t do it with textures, then I am thinking I should model a few individual tiles, deforming each slightly different then combine them to create a believable random pattern.
Then go to the Texture Buttons and Choose “Stucci” from the Texture Type selector in the Texture Panel. Adjust the texture with the options in the Stucci panel.
Noise = Size of waves.
Turbulence = depth of waves.
Play with the buttons at the top of the panel.
The tool tips tell you what the controls do.
Go to Materials and turn on Normals in the Map To panel.
You can try different mapping types in the Map Input panel in the
Material buttons. Use the “Nor” slider in the Map To panel to set the amount the texture affects the normal values
I don’t know why I did not think of that. In the meantime, I have created a group of 9 tiles that can be copied and assembled like puzzle pieces. I used a lattice to deform the group a little for uneven edges, and added a sub-surf modifier. When I combined that with your texture suggestion, the results look pretty good. My laptop is not on the network, so I will have to post a pic in WIP tonight.