258 ◾ 3D Animation for the Raw Beginner Using Maya
Experimenting with Textures Right now, we will look at a simple way to make those seams between tiles less obvious. The goal is to get the tiled texture to a point where the seams will not be easily visible from whatever perspective and distance, and under whatever lighting we plan to render it.
FIGURE 9.1 Original cactus patches.
FIGURE 9.2 Rusty metal 1.
Adding Noise to the Tiling Lines Remember our cactus texture? The tiled version of it is shown in Figure 9.1. We can clearly see the horizontal lines in it, because they cut against the grain of the texture. What we want to do is soften those lines. One way to do this is to use another texture to add some noise to that tiled grain. We will do some experimentation to see just what sort of texture, if added as a layer to our tiled cactus texture, will get the job done. Consider Figures 9.2 and 9.3, these are the rust textures we looked at earlier. Now look at Figures 9.4 and 9.5, these are organic textures, both of bushes. All four of these textures offer a more irregular grain. First, though, we need to decide just how to add this layer to the tiled cactus texture. What we will use is a “saturation” layer. Saturation refers to the brightness of colors. Another way to look at it is that low saturation tends to wash out a color. High saturation means the color is more vibrant. Our goal will be to use the colors of the new texture layer to influence the colors of the
FIGURE 9.3 Rusty metal 2.