Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

[WESTON_WILLIAMSON]

I have just read a few threads, and hope this isnt to do with the SketchUp 7.1 release, but i have run into a problem with my diffuse map loosing its scale when i apply a bump map to the texture.

My process is that i import the texture, and scale it via sketchUp, then i use the Vray materials window to add a bump map, and in the past as you all know the bump map is automatically scalled to the size of the diffuse map.

Now what is happening, is that when i apply the bump map image the diffuse is loosing its scale in the image, please see attached.

Help this is bit of a major. Think i might have to downgrade sketchUp

Also SketchUp crashes when i try to apply certain images as textures via the import mode

please see link below for before and after test

http://s820.photobucket.com/albums/z...0bug%20images/

[thomthom]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

Are you looking at the right ride of the face?

[WESTON_WILLIAMSON]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

The view point never changed, but I tried again applying the texture to both sides of the surface, and it worked(the bump appeared, and the diffuse didnt rescale). But i dont know why. I am sure after using vrfsu for 2 years now i haven't always applied the material to both sides, but i could be wrong.


Please tell me i'm not crazy....

[mjm223]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

Try checking the Diffuse layer again. Sometimes, when I edit a material, my diffuse layer automatically changes from Bitmap to Blend. When that happens, my image looks like a single color with a bump map over it (kinda like how your second image looks).

Check to see if your Diffuse layer still has the Bitmap and not the Blend. If so, just change it back to Bitmap.

I don't know why it changes to blend sometimes after adding a bump map. I just started getting into the habit of constantly re-checking my diffuse layer everytime I add any new layer to the material.

[WESTON_WILLIAMSON]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

Cheers Marcus Sounds exactly what i am experiencing. It is a work project, and I wont be able to check it until monday.

Its strange how It just happens all of a sudden. Did your problems coincide with the update of SketchUp 7.1?

Will let you know if your fix works for me.

[Jackson_cg]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

If you make ANY hue, saturation or brightness adjustments (sometimes even without realising) whatsoever in the SU Material Editor the VfSU material will change from a "bitmap" material to a "blend" material as VfSU tries to alter the bitmap HSV by combining it with a diffuse colour. It can be a weak point in the SU/VfSU workflow as it sometimes results in washed out, faded diffuse textures. The best solution (which is good practice anyway) is to do all HSB adjustments to diffuse bitmaps in an external photo editor and "Save As" so you gradually build up a library of work-straight-out-of-the-box diffuse textures, which will also come in handy if you ever switch render or modelling software.

With regard to the bump map/scale problem, to use a bump map properly you MUST apply a diffuse bitmap in SU first. If you use just a plain colour in SU, it doesn't set up any UV coordinates or scale for faces with that material, so it consequently doesn't pass any UV info onto VfSU which means that VfSU can't work out what scale the bump map (or any other type of map for that matter) should be. Best solution in create a folder of square bitmaps in a photo editor of solid colours in a few useful hues and tones. They can be any size, but I use 200 x 200px so they're easily viewable as thumbnails as it's only needed for one thing: to make SU give a scale to it's diffuse materials. After that all VfSU Material bitmaps are automatically scaled at 1:1, so if you've set the scale of the square diffuse bitmap to 1000mm x 1000mm, any square bumpmap applied will also render at 1000mm x 1000mm. For this reason it's important to ensure that bump, reflection, displacement, etc maps are the same proportions as their respective diffuse bitmaps or you'll have to do lots of manual adjustments in the VfSU Material Editor to account for this. You can use the default VfSU blend material setup to make fine adjustments to your new diffuse material as using a blend material with solid colours bitmaps doesn't have a detrimental effect like it does with textured bitmaps.

[WESTON_WILLIAMSON]

Re: Diffuse looses scale when i apply a bump map> SKetchUp 7.1

Cheers Jackson,

I already follow the process that you outlined, and when i make my textures i do so in the same photoshop file for dif,bump,refl, so there shouldnt be any problems with differnent aspect ratios i wouldn't have thought. The images that i used in the initial post are using arroway textures too so that takes my inabilty out of the question(LOL). I have always imported the materials via sketchUp first, and then modified in vray. Now that you mention the blend problem, i do sometimes get this issue, when i leave the sketchUp edit open after rescaling a texture, and my shortcuts(lazy hands) modify the rgb scale by mistake, so this may not be the issue.

Cheers for the input. I will check the issues when back at work on monday, but as i say i have never had this problem of the diffuse rescaling when the bitmap is added, until i updated to SU7.1.