Hello,

I want to create a material for a jumper (pull over sweater) I can decal some cables on the front but I thought some sort of procedural texture would be better than a whole decal because there might be too much stretch and so on at the shoulders and elbows. I did a search for this and only came up with a thread about wool for a sheep based on a Santa hat. Wider web searches revealed 3D sweaters I can buy, but for characters in something called "Poser." I'd rather make something myself. I would angle the texture on the arms, like the contruction of a real knitted garment.
Any ideas?

thanks,
Seana

A material will stretch just as much as a decal. The only difference is that you run the risk of showing a decal's pixellation if you stretch it too far (this can be reduced if you use a high resolution decal). In both cases the actual pattern itself will stretch.

There is a bit on this onthe mastering materials cd from Anzovin
Chris

Hi,

I don't have those CDs, but maybe I'll try a decal. I've been playing around with a perlin combiner. If I go for a decal what resolution is best, normally I go for 2x screen res, or 144. Works fine for the jeans I made.

S.

The decal resolution should be such that at the most extreme close up (and, as you brought the topic up, the most extreme stretching) you get two pixels of decal for one pixel of final image. (That's two pixels in each direction, so a single 1x1 screen pixel should correspond to 2x2 decal pixels.) In reality you might get away with a lower resolution if, for example, your closest-up view is extremely brief, out of focus, or motion blurred. Similarly, pixellation may not be obvious if your decal is visually noisy.

Materials can take longer to render than decals. If you think render time might be a problem, you could always use materials to create your decals. Deciding what's best will come down to trial-and-error.

So 144 dpi is okay then... or am I looking at twice that to make the 2x2 decal pixel (288)

To use a material to make a decal, I just put a material on a plane and render? Normally I make decals in PS or Painter.

S.

Dunno - I only ever work in pixels, not DPI, because A:M only deals with pixels - most image file formats don't store a DPI value, so A:M only works with the image size in pixels.Yes. Set the ambiance to 100% and use no lights. I'm only suggesting this if you find a nice material you like that takes a long time to render. If you can come up with a better decal in Painter or PS then do that!

It's just occurred to me that I might have misunderstood your initial post. By 'stretch' I assumed you meant the stretching that occurs as your character flexes his arms. Now I realise that you might have meant the stretching that can occur when applying a flat decal onto a curved surface. If you meant the latter then you can reduce (but not necessarily eliminate) the stretching by using UV mapping.

I replied, but not sure where it went...

So, how big in pixels should the decal be?

Dpi comes up in PS and of course if I'm editing sth. to screen on a DVD or to put to tape. There is no point having a huge res image if compression is just going to cut it down, or if the editor is just going to pack up and leave... that's the only reason I mentioned it.

I found some fabric texture brushes, I'm going to try them tomorrow.

S.

But dosn't one of the materials in a:m do that?you know
Change type to>Plugin>ToonNation>weave 2
Can you do something with that?
Heres what i did real quick

I'll try that too, though looking at it, it looks more suitable to a flannel shirt. But thank you, I'll give it a go. I wasn't sure that the TN plugins really worked on the Mac version, so I have tended to stick to Hash combiners. I'll try your texture, and I'll try my "knitted painted" decal.

Thanks, you are without a doubt the most .. er..helpful black mage I know

best,

Seana

Jim Talbot once got great results creating a sweater texture using patch images, of all things: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12170

I have had trouble with multiple patches -- only 1 renders. I take it though that this isn't multiple patches but a tileable texture?

S.

I made a tileable texture and a bump map, and it seems to have worked. Thanks everyone!

Excellent. Any chance we can see this soon? (It's always nice to be able to help out, and even more encouraging when we can see the results of our help. (Stuart said, realising he hadn't published any work in almost a year...))

Do you want to see the texture, the jumper or the film?

I can post the texture if anyone would like it, also how I made it.

S.

that works, you could show us every thing.

I posted the main patch texture here, then made cables with a displacement map so they look raised. I'll be ready to render soon, I'll post a shot of the character in situ.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21846

Also go to the website if you want some cloth texture brushes.

Seana