Spiral Blog

Ten Icon Filters

2011-08-31T22:11:00.001-07:00

Presenting a pack of 10 icon generators! Download it here.

Today's interfaces, both on the web and in games, contain many universally recognized symbols for items such as Facebook, Twitter, email, RSS, and so on. But instead of using the standard icon for these services, many projects will instead use versions of the symbols that match the interface or theme of the service. For example, a medieval game may include a Facebook icon made of stone. This pack contains 10 filters for integrating these modern-day hieroglyphics into your interface.

Extract the pack and open the GTX files in Genetica. The icons begin with a default "G" symbol, but are easy to edit. Double-click the Canvas node to customize the design directly within Genetica. Alternatively, drag an Imported Image node into the filter's input slot and select a black-and-white image of your desired design. The following illustration shows this being done with the gold-on-wood icon in order to create a matching pair of Facebook and Twitter icons.

Enjoy!

Ten Cartoon Text Effects

2011-07-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

The following pack contains 10 cartoon text effects that can be used with the seamless texture and image editor Genetica.

Here's a sampling of some of the effects included in the pack. Download the complete pack here.

To customize the text with your own wording, use Genetica to open one of the GTX files included in the pack, then double-click the Canvas node that will appear within the workspace. Finally, select the desired text object, select the Text tool, and type your text into the area indicated below.

Manipulating Nodes in Genetica

2011-04-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Genetica 3.6 introduces changes that will be more intuitive to new users and lead to faster workflow, but will be a change for long-time users of Genetica. This article will get you up to speed on the changes you need to know about.

Old-timers will recognize the popup menu shown in the following illustration. In this example the user has just dragged a Gaussian Blur node over the Colorize node, and the popup menu appears to ask users what type of operation they intended. Did they want to completely replace the branch? Did they want to insert the new node below the old one? Or perhaps they wanted to replace the node while keeping its inputs intact?

While familiar, these popups confuse new users and also slow workflow. With Genetica 3.6, dropping one node on top of another one will always do a "Replace, Keep Inputs" operation, while other operations happen depending on where the node is dropped. Other changes include the ability to create nodes by typing, and a new way to work with groups and inputs. See the video for further details.

Modify Clothing with Genetica and iClone

2011-03-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

This video tutorial examines how to use Genetica to modify the clothing textures of 3D models. iClone is used to provide us with some models to work with.

Make a CD Shader In Unity

2011-02-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

This tutorial shows how to make a compact disc in Unity with highlights that realistically shift as the viewing angle changes. The trick that is described relies on existing shaders with very minimal tweaks to shader code.

To follow along with the video, download the assets here.

Importing Styles into Genetica

2011-02-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

Genetica will let you apply sophisticated styles to vector drawings, as previously demonstrated. Countless styles have been shared by users on Genetica's forum, but integrating freshly downloaded styles into Genetica can be a little tricky at first. In this tutorial we show you how it's done.

Step 1

Begin by downloading some styles that you'd like to use in your drawings. To help you follow along with this tutorial we've released a pack of 5 pop-art styles that you can download here. But you can follow along just as well with any of the user-contributed styles that can be found in various threads throughout our forum, such as this, this, and this one.

Step 2

Using Windows Explorer, navigate into the folder Documents\Genetica User Files\Genetica {Version}\Style Presets\, and then create a new folder named after the new set of style presets you would like to add to Genetica. In the example shown below, a folder called "Pop Art" was created. The name you give to this folder will be used by Genetica to name the corresponding category within the application.

Finally copy in the new style files, which should have the STYLE extension. If the file you have ends in ZIP or RAR, then you'll need to unpack the files first.

That's all you need to do to import the new styles into Genetica. The remaining steps in this tutorial are for new users who need additional help finding the styles within Genetica itself.

Step 3

Within Genetica, start a new document by clicking File > New in the main menu. Next, drag a Canvas node from the Library panel into the empty slot in the middle of the workspace. Finally, switch to the Canvas tab either by selecting the Canvas tab or by double-clicking the newly created Canvas node.

Step 4

In the Canvas tab, use the Shape tool to add one or more shapes to the workspace. Then select the Style tool and click the Edit button.

Step 5

From within the Edit Style dialog, select the category corresponding to the folder created in Step 2. Then select one of the new styles to apply it to your drawing.

Nine Cartoon Backdrops

2011-02-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a new texture pack containing 9 cartoon backdrops. Download the pack here. Usage rights are described here.

Each backdrop is horizontally seamless, making it appropriate for use in side-scrolling games.

In addition to bitmap images, the backdrops are also supplied as Genetica files, allowing them to be fully customized. Genetica is available for download here.

Find out when new free resources are released by liking our Facebook page. You can also sign up for email notifications using the signup at the upper-right of this page.

Mystery Forest Tile Set

2011-01-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

We're kicking off the new year with the Mystery Forest texture set, which will get you started creating platform game environments with a mysterious forest vibe.

Download the pack here. Below is a closer look at the type of environment that can be made with the pack.

The atmospheric background can be created by layering several textures, as shown below. Begin by tiling "Far Background.png" on a plane. Next, "Cat's Eyes.png" can be randomly bombed above the same plane. Layering "Near Background.png" next will cause the eyes to become partially concealed and appear to be peaking through the bushes. Finally, a particle simulation of "Flare.png" can create the impression that fireflies or mysterious points of light are drifting through the environment.

The wall tiles have been devised with a special scheme that will allow you to create a large variety of configurations with a minimum of tiles. Begin with a grid with squares marked NW, NE, SW, and SE, as shown below. Within any one square, only place textures with names ending with the same code.

In addition to rendered bitmap textures, the pack also includes the original GTX files that can be opened and edited within Genetica. Download Genetica here.

Subscribe for free to get more resources! Use the subscription fields in the right side panel of this page.

Walking Paper Girl

2010-11-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

We're giving away a character to go with last week's Paper World Texture Set! The new pack also includes a Unity 3D game project that demonstrates how the character can be used.

Download character pack here. To learn what's included in the pack, play the following video.

Want us to tell you when more free stuff is released? Use the subscribe form in the right sidebar of this page!

Paper World Texture Set

2010-11-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a texture set that will get you started creating environments that look like they've been mocked up from arts and crafts materials. Download the pack here.

In addition to bitmap textures that have been rendered at a size of 512 x 512, the pack includes the original GTX files that can be opened in Genetica either for modification or for rendering at a larger size. Download Genetica here.

The included textures can be placed on planes, boxes, and cylinders to make environments like the following.

The textures can also be used for 2D side-scrollers.

A number of the textures include opacity channels so that they can be layered on top of other textures.

Full-featured 3D environments will include decal or texture layering functionality for this purpose. However, textures can still be layered in environments where such functionality is not present, such as Second Life. To accomplish this, create two surfaces, one of which is slightly in front of the other one. Then place the transparent texture on the closer surface, and the opaque texture on the farther one.

The chimney texture is intended for use on a cylinder that has end-caps removed. If the chimney is sunk halfway into the rear wall of the environment then the smoke texture can be placed on that rear wall as shown below.

To modify any of the designs, open the GTX file in Genetica, then double-click the Canvas node to reveal the Canvas tab as indicated by the following illustration. Once there, designs can be modified using standard drawing tools. A tutorial demonstrating those tools can be found here.

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Free Light Strips Tile Sets

2010-11-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

This free pack contains two sets of interlocking tiles that can be assembled to create a variety of light strips. The original texture files are also included for creating light strip sets that match your own custom walls.

The pack and be downloaded from here, and is available for use under these terms.

Download and unpack the ZIP file to find two versions of the set. The blue version is intended for more neutral environments, while the red version will assist in creating a more foreboding feel.

Within each of the main folders you'll find the individual files forming the set.

As shown above the contents of each set fall into three groups. Here's a description of each:

1. Individual Tiles

This folder contains the 16 individual textures making up each set. They can be assembled in a painting program, or they could be placed on squares or cubes and assembled in a 3D environment.

2. Combined Sets

Combined sets contain all 16 tiles packaged into a single texture. These can be used with certain game engines, such as Torque Game Builder, as described here.

3. Genetica Files

Open the GTX files within Genetica to create custom versions of the set. Replacing the wall with one of your own materials is easy, with Genetica automatically adding the lights and other details to it.

Many more goodies are on the way! Use the signup towards the top-right of this page to be informed when more free items are released!

10 Stunning Images by Allan Miller

2010-10-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone who comes across the artwork of Allan Miller can't help but notice its mesmerizing blend of abstract patterns, intricate details, and symbolism. We got a hold of Miller to discover the story behind the designs.

Spiral: How did you first get into art?

Miller: I remember in art classes at school as a kid having no ability compared to some others who could draw portraits that actually looked like the subject. However I got into a career in IT and found that I had the ability to think in pictures rather than words. I gave up IT after about 20 years because of the stress and incipient high blood pressure and decided that there must be more to life. I had risen to the top of my IT profession and was looking for a new challenge.

After giving IT up I found I had this urge to do art. It seemed that this visual thinking faculty that I had honed was now looking for something else to do. So I started doing etching and woodblock print making and really enjoyed it. Later I took up digital art which was much cleaner and needed far less space and no messy things like acid baths and presses.

Coming across Genetica back in 2007 revolutionized my images. It has enabled me to achieve a level of subtlety that I was not able to before. Initially I was using the textures in a very much in-your-face sort of way but that is not so much the case now. To take as an example the following image, the misty background is constructed of four textures, one solid as the base and three transparent overlays to build up the effect. The central element also uses four textures. I often use the textures to provide a textured "wash" over solid colors or even other solid textures. I use a palette of basic textures and build up the effect.

You do have to see a full size print to see the subtle details as a lot of it just vanishes on a low resolution computer image. But something still comes through because if I turn the textures off the image can look quite stark, naked even.

Spiral: Where do your ideas come from?

Miller: Well, taking the current series as an example, many of the images have a vaguely techno look. The sequence was triggered by seeing a painting by the French symbolist Gustave Moreau who was very popular in his day. The painting is popularly known as the "Tattooed Salome" and shows a woman dancing--Salome dancing in front of Herod. But what is particularly interesting is that she is depicted wearing a transparent shift which has embroidery on it and the embroidery then looks like tattoos, hence the name of the painting:

But it made me wonder what a male equivalent might look like. And I didn't think of some male ballet-dancer-like equivalent but a "real" man, a warrior, who might have tattoos in the normal course of events. I had a particular warrior in mind who would be wearing high-tech transparent armor with decorations that had a techno feel. I did some initial sketches using an anime figure:

But as always happens the idea took on a life of its own and evolved into the abstract armor images you see in my current series. I started using the shield shape as a shorthand reference to armor but it is quite an ambiguous shape in itself and can be interpreted also as a mask, or even a spaceship.

So all the themes that I follow are triggered by chance events, by something I happen to see--often in a movie. And that trigger lives on in the images even if not in an obvious way. Plus earlier themes live on in later themes in a subtle way.

The images almost create themselves and with just a little help from me. If I try to impose my ideas too strongly the images often don't work. It is almost as though I am just a midwife in the process. Each image usually grows out of the previous one. There aren't many sudden jumps. And if you look at the images in sequence it is almost like looking at the frames of a movie.

One of the main thrusts of my images is to depict "shimmering," or putting it more metaphysically, creative instability. By that I mean the images have to be always moving or coming into being or dissolving away and how they appear to the onlooker is dependent on them. And this is where the backgrounds particularly become important. To facilitate that visual instability I often use multiple vanishing points and try to get an effect where the subject is both advancing towards you and receding at the same time.

But behind it all there is yet another layer. I am a Buddhist and my artwork is an expression of my Buddhist practice. It is just that I am not making recognizably Buddhist icons, and I am using my own visual metaphors to express that. I'm also influenced by Japanese culture and the unique Zen aesthetic.

I sometimes joke that I create art to stop myself from going mad. Or at least to channel my insanity. It is a joke but there is an element of truth there as well. I think I would go nuts if I wasn't able to create images any more.

Allan Miller uses Genetica to create textures and CorelDRAW for the overall design and assembly of his artwork. Miller's latest series can be found here, while previous works are available here.

Make a Movie with iClone and 3DXchange

2010-10-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we'll learn how to create a 3D movie using iClone and 3DXchange.

Specifically, we'll examine how our gas tanks promo video was created, which originally appeared in this post.

Part 1: 3DXchange

The following video explains how 3DXchange is used to prepare models and textures for use in iClone.

Part 2: iClone

The final part of this two-part series shows how the video is put together in iClone itself.

Free Gas Tank Model and Textures

2010-09-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

This free pack contains a model of a gas tank along with five complete texture makeovers that can be used to dress the tank up in a variety of ways.

The pack, which can be downloaded from here, can be used royalty-free in your projects with a link back to this page.

Did you like this promo video? A tutorial

explaining how it was created can be found here.

Once you've downloaded and unpacked the ZIP file you'll find the model in OBJ format, along with a folder for each of the five texture variations.

Within each folder you'll find the texture maps themselves, plus the original Genetica file.

All the textures included in this pack were created with Genetica. Use Genetica to open any of the GTX files in order to modify the textures. Genetica can be downloaded from here.

More goodies are on the way! Use the signup towards the top-right of this page to be informed when more free items are released.

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Make a Wood Floor Seamless Texture with Nails

2010-09-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we'll examine how to create a seamless texture of wooden boards that are held in place by nails.

Download Video | Download PDF
To download, right-click link and select save.

Genetica will be used for this tutorial, which can be downloaded here.

The creation of this texture involves three overall steps. First, a plain wood texture is created. Next, the wood is converted into a series of boards. Finally, nails are added at the corners of the boards. Each of these steps will be represented by a node in Genetica.

Step 1 - Creating the Wood

The quickest way to create a plain wood material is with the Synthesis node. This node can create seamless textures from photographs.

Start a new document (marker 1 in the following illustration), make sure that the Advanced nodes category is selected (marker 2) and drag a Synthesis node (3) into the empty slot in the middle of the workspace (4). Finally, double-click the newly-created Synthesis node that should now appear in the middle of the workspace in order to open its options window.

The Texture Synthesis dialog should appear. In this area we could create our own wood texture from scratch. But we'll use one of the presets for expediency. Select the Wood category (1) and then select the Plywood 2 preset (2). Close the dialog either by double-clicking the selected preset, or by clicking OK.

Step 2 - Making the Boards

Now that the basic wood material has been created, we want to convert it into boards. This can be accomplished with the Cut & Tile Lab.

With the Advanced nodes category still selected, drag a Cut & Tile Lab (1) onto our Synthesis node (2). In the menu that will appear, select Insert Below (3).

As shown below, this has caused a small pipeline to be created, with a Synthesis node that is creating a wood material, followed by a Cut & Tile Lab that is taking that wood and turning it into a brick pattern. The brick pattern and thick gooey mortar created by the Cut & Tile Lab's default settings aren't appropriate for our texture. To modify the Cut & Tile Lab, double-click it (1).

The Cut & Tile Lab organizes its options into a number of selections. Begin by choosing the Select Pattern section (1). This section reveals the options controlling the overall shape of the brick pattern. To select a pattern that is more appropriate for our texture, first click the Select Type button (2) and then in the window that pops up, choose the Long Boards pattern type (3).

To reduce the width of the thick gooey mortar, select the Mortar Width section and set the mortar Width property to zero. If you need additional help finding this property, or any of the others mentioned in this tutorial, please refer to the video version of this tutorial that was mentioned towards the beginning of this article.

To make the direction of the wood grain match the orientation of our boards, select the Scramble section, then set the Material Orientation property to On Side.

To make the beveling more appropriate for our texture, select the Bevel section, then set the Width property to 6, the Depth property to 1, and the Curve property to zero.

Finally select the Mortar Material section (item 1 in following illustration). Set Mortar Opacity to 60 (item 2) and set both color properties to brown colors (3).

Step 3 - Adding Nails

The final step is to add nails to our texture, which can be done with the Canvas node. This is the node to use when you wish to either draw a new seamless texture, or to draw on top of an existing one.

With the Advanced nodes category still selected (1), drag a Canvas node (2) onto our Cut & Tile Lab (3) and in the menu that pops up select Insert Below (4).

As shown below, even though our wood boards are feeding into the Canvas node, the Canvas will begin blank. To correct this, begin by switching to the Canvas tab either by directly selecting the tab (1) or by double-clicking the Canvas node (2).

Select the Shape tool (1), the Rectangle shape (2), and then drag from one corner of the workspace (3) to the other in order in order to create a rectangle that covers the entire texture.

Our newly created rectangle is filled blue by default, but by changing its style we can fill it with our wood board texture instead. To do so, select the Style tool (1), click the Edit button (2), select the style's layer (3), and set its Effect type to Fill Input Texture (4). Finally, close the dialog by clicking OK.

Now that the Canvas workspace has been filled with our texture, it's time to draw some nails. The nails need to be made out of a different material. In the Canvas node, all shapes in a given layer share the same material, so to begin working with a second material we need to create a new layer by clicking the New Layer button (1). Then, select the Shape tool (2), the Ellipse shape (3), and finally drag in the workspace to create a circle (4). Holding down the Shift key while dragging will constrain the proportions, allowing a perfect circle to be created.

As before, we need to modify the style of our newly created layer. Begin by clicking the Style button (1) and the Edit button (2). Next, select the Metal, Shiny preset category (3) and the Crumpled Gold preset (4). Finally, close the dialog by clicking OK. Alternatively, the dialog could have been closed in a single step by double-clicking the selected preset.

While the folds and shadow of the selected style will work well for a large shape, they'll be too big for the shape once it has been shrunk down to nail-size. This is because such visual aspects of the style remain the same size regardless of how big the shape is. To fix this, with the Style tool still active, set the Scale property to 4 (item 1).

Zoom into the view by using your mouse wheel. Then select the Transform tool (1). With the circle still selected, drag one of its corner handles (2) in order to reduce it to nail-size. Remember to hold down the Shift key while dragging in order to constrain the shape's proportions and keep it circular. Finally, drag the middle of the shape in order to position the nail (3).

Press the Copy (1) and Paste (2) buttons, or use the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V hotkeys, to make a duplicate of the shape. Then drag the middle of the shape (3) to place the duplicated nail at the next desired position. Continue performing these actions until a nail has been placed at all four corners of each board.

Once finished placing the nails, select your desired render size (1) and press the Render Texture button (2). Once rendering is complete, press the Export Image button (3) in order to save the rendered result as a bitmap texture that can be opened for use in other applications.

Four Free Tile Sets

2010-09-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

This is a great pack of four different interlocking tile sets that can be assembled in endless configurations.

The pack, which can be downloaded from here, is available for use under these terms. Read on to see what's included in the pack.

Download and unpack the ZIP file to reveal four different versions of the set, each of which is contained in a different folder. Enter the folder of the version you'd like to see more of.

Once you've entered one of the main folders, you'll be presented with all the files making up that set.

As shown above the contents of each set can be broken down into four sections. Here's a description of each one:

1. Individual tiles that can be assembled by hand

This folder contains the 16 individual textures making up each set. These can be used in a 3D environment, or pasted into a standard paint program and assembled into countless unique configurations.

2. Combined sets usable in some game engines

The combined sets have all the individual set pieces combined into a single image. The white grid in the following illustration doesn't appear in the actual image, but was added to show how this image contains all sixteen of the individual textures.

These tile sets can then be loaded into certain game engines where they can be quickly assembled into unique arrangements. For example, a tutorial on how tile sets are used in Torque Game Builder can be found here.

What's nice about using tile sets from a single image is that all you need to do is replace that one image and the whole setup instantly updates to the new look.

3. Standard seamless texture for floors and boxes

Standard seamless texture versions are also provided along with height and specular maps. These will look good on floors, walls, columns, boxes, and just about anywhere else where seamless textures can be used.

4. Original files that can be modified in Genetica

All the textures included in this pack were created with Genetica. The GTX files provided in the pack are the original files that can be opened in Genetica for full customization. Genetica can be downloaded here.

Once one of the GTX files has been opened in Genetica, you'll find a series of nodes that represent the various components forming that texture. Double-click either the Canvas or one of the Synthesis nodes to modify either the pattern or the materials used to create the texture.

More goodies are on the way--don't miss out. Use the signup towards the top-right of this page to be informed when more free items are released!

Texture a Terrain in Cinema 4D

2010-08-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

This tutorial examines how to texture a terrain with horizontal striations in addition to a rocky material. We'll use Cinema 4D for this tutorial, but the principles used are standard and will apply to nearly any 3D environment.

The trick is to apply two textures to the model, each projected from a different direction. The striations are projected sideways along the terrain, causing them to follow the shape of the ground. The rocky texture is projected flat against the terrain in the usual manner.

The two textures are mixed together for the final result.

Step 1

Let's start by using Genetica to create the rocky material. Genetica can be downloaded from here.

Genetica comes with a good number of terrain texture presets that can be used directly. In the Start tab, select the Terrain, Desert & Barren category, and then select the Hunting Grounds preset.

Next render and export the texture using the two buttons indicated below.

Step 2

Now it's time to create the striations. Still in Genetica, begin by creating a new document, and then insert a Gradient node and a Colorize node as shown below. Nodes can be inserted into a document by dragging them from the Library panel. For help with this, see our earlier tutorials.

Double-click the Colorize node and give the gradient a number of control points with earthy tones, as shown below. We've used dark colors in this example because that seems to work best with the texture blending offered by Cinema 4D. You should experiment with what colors work best with your 3D app.

When finished, close the dialog by clicking OK.

Step 3

Genetica's node-based interface allows us to additionally tweak the gradient without actually needing to spend time shuffling countless gradient control points around. This can be a big timesaver.

For example, you may wish to soften the striations a little by inserting a Gaussian Blur node at the end of the tree, and setting its Radius property to 0.005.

You can also add more details to the striations by fractalizing them, as shown below.

Finally render and export the texture as we did at the end of Step 1.

Step 4

Create a terrain model in your 3D application. This can be accomplished by creating a plane and then elevating various points within it, but in our example we simply made use of the terrain generation feature offered by Cinema 4D (found in the main menu by clicking Objects > Primitive > Landscape). Our terrain was customized with the attributes shown below.

Step 5

Still in Cinema 4D, create a new material using the menu found within the materials panel.

Click the button shown below to load the rocky texture that we had exported from Genetica in Step 1.

Apply the material onto the landscape object by dragging the material from the materials panel and dropping it onto the landscape within the main viewport. The terrain should now resemble the example shown below.

Step 6

To make the texture repeat more often on the model, select the texture tag shown below and then increase the Tiles X and Tiles Y values.

Step 7

Repeat Step 5, creating a second material in Cinema 4D, except this time you should import the striations texture that we had exported from Genetica in Step 2.

Again drag the new material onto the model. As shown below, the striations will be applied, but they'll be oriented the wrong way.

As we saw in Step 6, the texture tag can be used to modify how a texture is applied to an object. Now that we've dragged two materials onto the landscape object, it will have two texture tags. Select the texture tag corresponding to the striations (it should be the second one), and then change the Projection mode to Flat.

The striations may not initially be lined up with the model as desired. To move and scale them, select the Coordinates section and then adjust the values found within.

Step 8

All that remains is to mix the textures together. With the striations texture tag still selected, switch back to the Tag section and then check the Mix Textures box.

Here's the final terrain!

What is a Seamless Texture (3D Texture, Tileable Texture)

2010-07-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

This article describes what seamless textures are, how they are created, and what they are used for. Other terms for seamless textures include 3D textures, tileable textures, and texture fills.

What's a Seamless Texture?

A seamless texture is an image that can be placed side-by-side with itself without creating a noticeable boundary between two copies of the image. Consider the following seamless texture.

If the seamless texture were repeated four times, it would create a continuous pattern without it being obvious where one copy of the image began and another one ended. This is demonstrated below.

By contrast, consider the following texture photo that the seamless texture had been based on.

When repeated four times, visible seams form at the image boundaries. These seams mean the image is not seamless.

How Are Seamless Textures Made?

Seamless textures can be made with a variety of software. Many artists use generalist applications such as Photoshop, where seams can be carefully painted away. Others prefer applications like Genetica which are specifically created for seamless texture artists and automate much of the process. A tutorial for creating seamless textures with Genetica can be found here.

Why do People Care?

Seamless textures are especially important in 3D computer artwork, where arbitrarily large surfaces can be covered by a seamless texture without the appearance of distracting seams. The texture presented at the beginning of this article, for example, could be turned into a large floor.

Create Custom Brick and Tile Patterns

2010-07-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we'll examine how to create custom brick and tile patterns in Genetica. Genetica can be downloaded here.

Making a brick wall or a tile floor in Genetica is fairly straightforward. To get started, combine a Synthesis node and a Cut & Tile Lab as shown below.

After you insert the nodes into a new document, double-click each node to customize it. When customizing the Cut & Tile Lab you'll find dozens of built-in brick or tile patterns to choose from.

To create a custom pattern, begin by selecting "Use Input" as the pattern type.

Then insert a Canvas node into the Cut & Tile Lab's second input. As shown below, the Cut & Tile Lab is no longer making a tile pattern. That's because we told it to check its input for the pattern to use, but haven't yet drawn the pattern we want.

Double-click the Canvas node to edit it. From there you can start laying down bricks using standard drawing tools, such as the Shape tool which will allow you to create rectangles.

More exotic brick shapes can be created with the Edit tool. With an existing shape selected, choose the Edit tool and then click the Convert button. This will reveal handles that can be dragged to manipulate the brick's shape.

Cut down on drawing time by activating the symmetry option. Make sure that all brick shapes are placed within the same layer in the Canvas node so that the symmetry gets applied to your entire design.

Following is the pattern I created, but just about any pattern will do as long as some space has been left between the pieces. You can get a lot fancier than I did by using curved brick pieces. I chose to use the symmetry option so that I'd only need to draw the top half of the pattern.

At first our pattern won't be interpreted correctly by the Cut & Tile Lab. This can be fixed by setting the layer's style as shown below.

When you click the final Edit button, following the steps in the above illustration, the Gradient dialog will open. Here you need to appropriately position the two gradient handles by dragging them. There's no specific place where these need to be placed. Just move them until the brick pattern appears in the small preview, as shown below.

You should now have a brick or tile seamless texture that uses your custom pattern.

That concludes the primary focus of this tutorial. But as a final treat, here's an even more sophisticated brick texture that I put together using the principles discussed in this article.

The Genetica file for the above texture can be downloaded here. Open it in Genetica to explore how it was put together and to customize it. You'll see that this texture was made from two separate brick patterns, each of which can be easily modified by double-clicking the respective Canvas node.

And of course don't forget to double-click the Synthesis node to change the material that the bricks are made out of. With just a few changes, countless variations are possible!

How to Import Models and Textures into Unity

2010-07-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we'll examine how models can be imported into the Unity 3D game engine, along with some of the pitfalls you may run into along the way.

We'll be using a Creative Commons model by artist Nobiax that can be downloaded by clicking the Download File button on this page. The file is a ZIP archive that can be unpacked to reveal color, specular, and normal maps, in addition to the 3D model itself.

The Model

In Unity, open the Assets menu and then select the Import New Asset command.

Find the plastic_barrel.obj file from the unpacked ZIP file and double-click it.

Drag the plastic_barrel object from the Project panel into the viewport to create an instance of the object in your scene.

The Texture

Again select the Import New Asset command as we had done to import the model, but this time choose the diffus.png file.

Select the plastic_barrel-plastic_barrelmat entry from the Project panel, and with that still selected, drag the diffuse image into the Base slot as shown below.

The Normal Map

To open up slots for the additional material channels, click the Shader dropdown in the Inspector panel, and select Bumped Specular.

Import the normal.png file following the example of the last few steps. Then drag it into the Bumpmap slot of the material.

The normal map has loaded in, but there's something strange about that shading when the viewport is rotated. Additional clues that something has gone amiss can be found by comparing our version with the artist's original depiction.

The trouble comes from there being two prevalent normal map conventions, each of which interprets the green channel of the normal map in the opposite way. In this case the artist and Unity happen to use different normal map conventions.

The normal map can be fixed by flipping its green channel. This is a job that can be done in most image editors, but we'll do it in Genetica. Genetica is nice for these kinds of jobs because each action taken is represented visually by a node. The node graph can then be saved for easy reuse if we ever need to manipulate a future image in the same way, or if we simply want a reminder of exactly what was done to the image. Download Genetica here.

In Genetica, start a new document and drag an Imported Image node into the empty slot in the middle of the workspace. In the dialog that pops up select the normal.png file

Next drag an Invert node onto the Imported Image node, and then select Insert Below in the little menu that pops up.

We only want to invert the green channel of the normal map, so set the Invert node's Affect Red and Affect Blue properties to No.

We want to recolor the individual pixels of the normal map without resampling the image in any way, so make sure the Anti-Alias button is not pushed, and that the render resolution is set identically to the original image that was imported into Genetica (1024 x 1024 in this case). Then render the image and export it as a PNG file named "normal inverted".

Import the inverted normal map and apply it to the model in the usual way.

The middle strip of the barrel is now indented as expected.

The Specular Map

The artist has also supplied a specular map, but there's no image slot to import it into our material in Unity. The label "Gloss (A)" is our clue that Unity is looking for the specular data in the alpha channel of our main color map. Because the artist has supplied the specular information in a separate image, we must combine them in Genetica.

Start a new document in Genetica and then drag an A + B node into the empty slot. This node can be found in the Combine category of the Library panel. Then insert an Imported Image node into each of the A + B's two empty inputs. In the first Imported Image load diffus.png, and in the second one load specular.png.

Drag a Colorize node over the second Imported Image, and select Insert Below in the little menu that pops up. Then click the Edit button appearing in the properties panel.

Delete the two color handles on the gradient by selecting each one and tapping the delete key on your keyboard.

Then create two handles on the transparency bar. Drag one handle to the leftmost position and give it a maximum value. Drag the other handle to the rightmost position and set it to zero. Close the dialog by clicking OK.

The color and specular maps are now properly combined into a single image. Don't worry about the combined map looking semi-transparent. Unity won't make the barrel transparent, but instead will interpret the transparency as glossiness or specularity.

Back in Unity, import our combined map and apply it to our material. Also make the Main Color and Specular Color properties of the material pure white in order to increase the vibrancy of the material.

The model and its material channels have now been successfully imported into Unity. Woo!

How to Make a Checkered Tile Floor Texture

2010-07-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial we'll learn how to make the following checkered tile floor seamless texture.

Step 1

Load Genetica and then start a new document. If you don't have Genetica already, download it here.

Step 2

Genetica will automatically switch to the Nodes tab. With the Advanced Nodes category selected, drag a Synthesis node into the empty slot that can be found in the middle of the workspace.

The Synthesis node is the quickest way to get a texture started since it will automatically make seamless textures from photographs.

With our newly-created Synthesis node still selected, click the Edit button in the Properties panel.

Step 3

The Texture Synthesis dialog that pops up is a lot of fun. With it you can create countless seamless textures from photographs, many of which take just a few seconds to create.

For this tutorial we’ll just pick one of the ready-made presets. From the Rock category, select the Red Mottled Rock preset, and then close the dialog by clicking OK.

Step 4

If you look closely at the texture we're creating, you’ll notice that the different tiles use the same base texture, but are colored differently.

Although we could copy and paste the Synthesis node, that would create an inefficient texture because the material would need to render twice. Instead, drag the node to a blank spot in the workspace while simultaneously holding the Ctrl key.

This results in two Reference nodes being created, both of which refer back to the original texture. A more detailed explanation of how this works is available here.

Step 5

Let’s modify the color of the second Reference node. With the Color section of the Library panel selected, drag a Change HSB onto the Reference node. In the menu that appears, select Insert Below.

This causes the output of the Reference node to be passed into the Change HSB node for further modification. But the Change HSB won't actually do anything until its properties have been adjusted, so set its Hue property to -42.

Step 6

Repeat the process, this time dragging a Change BCI node from the Library panel onto our newly created Change HSB, remembering to select Insert Below in the little menu that pops up. Set the Change BCI node’s Brightness property to -20, and its Contrast property to 13.

Step 7

Now that we’ve created the two differently colored versions of the texture, it’s time to combine them. Insert a Combine node below the first Reference node.

Then drag the disconnected branch into the Combine node's second input.

Your node tree should now look like this:

Step 8

We need to tell the Combine node how to mix the two versions of the material together. To do that, drag a Gradient node into the Combine’s third slot. Then set the Gradient node’s Size property to 2 x 2, and its Gradient Type property to Dimples.

At any time during the tutorial you can click the Render Texture button to see how our texture is coming along.

Step 9

The checker pattern has started to take shape, but it needs to be sharpened. Insert a Change BCI node below the Gradient node, following the example of step 5. Then, set the Change BCI's Contrast property to 3000.

Step 10

Now that our checker pattern has been created, let's accentuate the effect by adding thin lines between the checker squares. Start by inserting a second Combine node below the existing one.

Step 11

Insert a Gradient node into the newly-created Combine node's last input. Set the Gradient's Size to 4 x 4, and its Gradient Type to Pyramidal.

Step 12

Again we want to sharpen the Gradient node that we just created. Insert a Change BCI node below it, and set the Change BCI's Brightness to 49, and its Contrast to 3000.

Step 13

Select the final Combine node by clicking it, then set its First Input property to Input 2, and its Opacity property to 0.4.

Step 14

Here's the texture that we have so far:

If you want a newer-looking version of the texture you can stop here. Otherwise, insert a Weather Lab below the final Combine node. The Weather Lab can be found in the Advanced Nodes category of the Library panel. Next, click the Edit button appearing over the Weather Lab, which will take you to a special tab containing the node's properties.

First, select the Adjust Color section and set the New Color Strength property to 80. This will give some parts of the texture a dirty, greenish tinge. If you'd like to change the color of the dirty areas, experiment with the New Color property that is also found in this section.

In the Indent section of the Weather Lab, set the Depth property to 30. This will give our texture a pitted appearance. To change the shape or frequency of the pits, experiment with the properties found in the Area Selection section.

Step 15

Our texture's complete! All that remains is to select our desired render size, to render the texture, and to export it.