Split Face Concrete CMU Material

[Bcavender]

Hello,

I am looking for how I can acquire the material of a common split face CMU (basic concrete gray) that will give the true irregular texture when rendered.

 

I am relatively new to searching for materials with HD and probably just missing something easy, but after a good while searching, I am coming up empty.

 

Can anyone suggest where/how I can find this particular material?  (Or roll my own?)

 

Thanks!

 

Bruce

[DavidJPotter]

Read the Reference Manual section on "Custom Materials". If you cannot find or alter an existing material you can do a web search for a suitable texture to import that does work. Textures must be edited so they repeat properly across a 3D face in render views as well. This is not an automatic process but after study and practice it is a skill that one develops with an image editor application.

 

DJP

[Bcavender]

David,

 

Thank you for your guidance.  This is a skill that I would like to acquire. I will dig into the Reference.

 

 Best regards,

 

Bruce

[katalyst777]

If the existing concrete blocks in the Library Browser aren't "irregular" enough, try a Google image search for something like "free seamless concrete blocks" - You're going to want a very large high-quality image to create a texture that looks "irregular" when tiled across a large surface like a wall.

 

KB-01084: Creating a Custom Library Material

[Bcavender]

Friends,

I do appreciate the pointers. They were very helpful in getting the custom materials/texture process down.  After stumbling though it one time, it is actually very easy to do. 

 

I can see the right off what I need to do up front to avoid the GIGO. Clearly any non-random cleaning/cloning of the image becomes very apparent when you see the wall at a narrow angle making any repetitive patterns pop right out.  Also, the aggregate in this photo was a bit too large to look realistic when scaled to the size of the CMU. Ditto on the joint color and texture.  So my next step is to pop out the SLR and get a good high res photo of a running bond of maybe 9 or 16 CMUs and lock in the correct textures/colors of the block/joints/aggregate and get them into my library. (If I were in the building supply business, I would be all over getting my products photographed and processed into Chief Architect's general libraries so the designers could spec exactly my CMUs (or whatever). That would be a slick marketing move and likely save a bit of diddle time for the designer.)

 

Again thanks for the good advice from all!

 

Bruce

Test Split Face Stacked.bmp