Texturing for roads

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Looking for steer on how to texture a road. This is only a small part of a larger road network, so I'm not sure I can create one 'giant' texture.

Just wondering how other people would approach this?

Thanks

Paul

[Anonymous]

I've done similar on many occasions - just take that screenshot into Photoshop, or similar image editor, and use it as the base for either painting a road texture, or use some overhead road images from Google or Google Maps.

[Anonymous]

Hello Paul,

I am currently doing a similar project. A 12 Mile stretch of road with the main highway as well as frontage roads. My method has been to use composite maps and materials. Using a image for each portion results in an out of control material editor to coincide with my relatively clean scene explorer.

have you completed your project? If so what method did you use? If not, maybe we have some tips for one another to tame the "simple" scene that is a accurate roadway.

Cheers.

Matt

[dbhinnant]

I've seen visualizations where the road surface had to be a painted map.  They look really good.  I've never thought that method would be feasible for large projects like ours (maybe I'm wrong?).  We normally just use a procedural asphalt texture and layer the pavement markings and oil lines using geometry and separate textures.

I'd love to hear from others with their process.  Examples would be great.

[hanselmoniz]

hi,

you would have to segment the road as seperate polygons ... ie main road segments and different intersections seperately then unwrap them and use textures as per the parts. You could use seperate geometry for the road markings and kerbs for a realistic scaling

[Anonymous]

I would highly recommend you follow this tutorial. It's been an excellent reference for me:

http://bertrand-benoit.com/blog/nakagin-photoreal-road-tutorial/

[Anonymous]

A method I've used before has been to create a center line spline for the main road sections and use that and the spline mapping technique (using a high quality tileable texture) for the majority of your roads, which would then limit the created textures to just the junction points where they intersect?

You could also then use the same splines to create offset Civil View road markings and lighting columns etc (if that's what you are aiming for).

[jeff]

I don't do a lot of civil engineering scenes, but on the occasions I need roads, I use the Sweep Modifier on a spline, generate mapping checked, and use a tiled road texture. You can set material IDs on the cross-section spline segments, and then have separate materials for road shoulder, median, etc.

Itoo software has a (free) plug-in to soften materials edges; pretty handy for this sort of thing. Look for "Color Edge" on their site (avoiding a commercial link here, but the web site name is itoosoft)

If you need intersections, then it gets trickier. The easiest way to manage that is by modular intersection meshes and modular road sections; making sure the mapping matches at the edges.