'Pologies for bein' out of the loop for a few days with a hand injury and ghetto cottage refurb commitments. I do , however, want to show you a technique I stumbled across to make realistic base textures to make objects appear more detailed than they already are.
You may have seen the start of this with some of the wheels a few posts ago. Above are two shots of some tank tracks, the first one being rendered [created] as if there is no material and is shot under a cloudy sky. That gives the deep areas crisp definition and nice shadows. Thats called Light Tracer.
The next shot is done with a polished concrete material and this time rendered under Mental Ray. Notice how much more realistic and softer the element appears. So, I'm in Photoshop messing with these two trying to pick which is best, can I blend them and I go to the Blending Options on the layers panel in PS and move the sliders at the base. This gives a crackin base texture for a tank tread, with very little extra to be added, change of colour, some dirt and scratches, and I'm happy. Pretty nifty I thought.
Bo
