WEEK 4: Texturing & Shading 1 - Bump Maps and Alpha Maps for Grass

We'll continue building detail into our simple sign by learning about 2 more kinds of maps:

No craters here - just a bump map

Bump maps add the illusion of detail and are very simple to edit.  We'll work with creating some gritty surface texture and cracks on the sign's base, scratches in the rusty paint, and add height to relief details such as the bolts holding the sign in place.

Here are some videos explaining how to create and use bump maps correctly:

Using Bump Maps in 3DSMax
Painting Bump Maps in Photoshop

Grass cards from Skyrim 

Alpha maps are useful for masking out areas we want to remain transparent. One common use for alphas is in the application of foliage to our scenes. We'll add some simple grass elements in our scene and experiment with layering these elements to make the grass look more complex and realistic.

Here are some videos explaining how to create and use alpha grass:

Painting grass textures in Photoshop
Applying grass textures in 3DSMax


Next week: instead of our regular class we have a guest lecturer Andrew Shyshko, a modeler/surfacer from Arc Animation to talk about production techniques. Meet in the Octagon (515) next Thursday, October 4th from 6-9