Reproducing Etched Glass

[DaForce]

Yeah i reckon once he gets the spray painting, lighting and shooting down to a tee he could rip them them in a minute or 2 each. (not including drying time for the paint obviously)

Will be very interesting to see the results.

[jujubee]

If the company would move forward, there would be thousands of these things to do. Hence, I need to find the most efficient way to reproduce their work.

Spray paint and dry would take time, then the clean-up (removal) would be a slight pain. I also wonder if it will get into these fine cracks.

Pencil and sketch is a good idea and I didn't think of it before either - but there would be lots of photoshopping afterwards.

As for modeling out of plaster - forget it - but you gave me an idea to use children's play-doh putty as an imprint - it's something which can easily be reformed every time. I'm too poor to buy it - so I'm going to make it myself LOL:

http://recipestoday.com/recipes/crafts/playdoh.htm

...now I'm not making pizza tonight...

[Gijs]

if the budget alows...3d scanning, zbuffer, displacement, voila...

[jujubee]

anyone have any links to homemade 3d scanners?

[natty]

Maybe a stupid question but why are'nt you just reproducing the maps in PS, rather than going to all this trouble ? .. im sure it would be pretty simple.

[percydaman]

I would have thought depending on the material in question, it would be very painful to create correct bump maps.

[jujubee]

It is painful - I just bought the Fimo clay to see if that will work - my recipe for play-doh sucks - not smooth enough. Do not use!

I can do alot by hand in PS - but we're talking a potential of thousands... I personally don't think it will get to that point - really depends on whether traffic gets driven to their site and if their revenue ultimately increases cause of it - if its just 3d people than that won't do much good - they need designers ordering their products.

[DaForce]

I really think the spray paint and light box is your best bet.
Spray paint drys in like 10-15mins, so you do like 10 of them and the drying time is still only 10-15mins for all of them.
Cleaning would be easy.
Just a small bucket with some paint thinners, give them a dunk and a scrub and the paint will fall right off

I really think it would be worth while trying atleast one.
None of the other methods will give you a very accurate bump map IMO.
Unless of course the Fimo Clay works out and your able to use the ligth box with the imprint that you get on that.

[Dynedain]

If there could potentially be thousands of these from a manufacturer... how is the manufacturer coming up with the design?

I'm betting on the non-random stuff, someone, somewhere has an illustrator file or a mold or diagram that can be scanned a hell of a lot easier than the tiles themselves.

[jujubee]

I had asked if they had any files they were working from and I received no response on that end... Going to write them one more time - I think they're keeping it hush-hush as its part of their manufacturing process.

Here's an update:

1) Final box setup.



2) 'Fimoplacement' from Fimo Clay. Still some imperfections and plus it picks up on finger prints... I think a better more maelable substance needs to be found.





3) 'Glass displacement.' Straight from the camera lens.






You can download the two composited, color-corrected, and aligned PSD files here. (3,334 KB) if you want to test the displacement methods here:
http://66.70.170.53/Ryan/nrmphoto/nrmphoto.html

[DaForce]

Mmm you really need something which to pick up the shadows better. Try laying a few sheets of wet toilet paper over the tiles, and try to get them to conform properly by using your fingers. See of that makes the shadows show up better.
The only issue with your light box is that cause its a box its bouncing alot of the light around and potentially washing out any shadows you might get. I suggest you try with no light box, a completely dark room (or as close as possible and then see what you get.

(similar to how that did it in the link that i posted)

[Da_elf]

why not spray paint the glass with white paint? then its no longer a transparent object

[DaForce]

ahh yeah a suggested that a few posts ago

[CCS]

Or to avoid the cleanup you fear...

Is there some other process you could use to make it opaque? Corn starch? Chalk dust? Things like this could be easily rinsed or blown off.

Or a different direction. Could you use frost or steam to your advantage? Maybe if you packed a small form full of dry ice and placed the glass on top of it. Would it fog up a bit?

Or... I wonder if you could pour a bit of face masque over it. (You know, that superthin stuff women use.) Would it harden? That might just peel off.

Other ideas?.......

[jujubee]

Not so much cleanup fear- just most efficient method. Chalk dust and corn starch could be uneven. Frost/steam would fog up the camera lens. Face masque might work if it doesnt bend and layers evenly - I think that might create a mess and I'm not about to invest in beauty supplies.

I just spray painted a couple glasses - a fine mist works probably the best so far. I'll post some results soon.

As for the box being to bright - you guys are right. The box provides control with light distance (and allows to film during daylight conditions) and stabilizes the camera however. It's probably best to coat the box on the inside in black paper.