Texturing, extruding, lighting, glass and windows.

Today we did some more experimenting in 3D, first we went over textures quickly. These textures are made by using the material editor and simply click the box next to diffuse. You then select bitmap and simply choose any file with a texture and it will apply it, you then just click and drag the 'ball' onto the object you want to give a texture to. The problem with textures taken from pictures is that when they 'tile' (repeat again and again ) it can look messy and unrealistic so it's best to edit your texture first.

 We then made a new plane and added a texture of a house, making sure the plain is the same size as the picture. We then made the plane an editable polygon and added two things using the modifier list, editable poly's and UVW map, we then positioned the guidelines that become visible when you click on the little test tube icon in a grid around stuff like windows and doors by selecting 'edges' and moving them about with the move tool. Then we switched to 'polygon' and selected a window, pulling the sidebar on the left out and clicking the box next to extrude, we then set it to around -100 to make a dent. This is the finished result.

 We also learnt how to make glass using a texture. You simply go into the material editor and instead of adding a texture you scroll down and play with the glossiness until the ball you have selected looks shiny. You then scroll up a bit and change the colour to anything you want and pull down the opacity as low as you like.

 We also learnt how to make a 'window' or simply cut out a shape from another shape. First you make a new box and position it where you want the hole in the first box, then you select 'compound objects' from the drop down menu on the left and select 'boolean'. After clicking on your box it should make a hole where the second box was.

We also looked at lights. We made the quick skirting board using bevel and emboss on a box and added a quick shiny wood texture. Then to make light we clicked on the light symbol on the left control box and selected omni. We then played around with how close/far or high/low it was to get different effects.

We also managed to change the colour of the light by pulling out the menu on the right and changing the colour option.

Finally we were left to experiment and I managed to make this quick mock up of one of my houses for my street using the bevel and extrude techniques we learnt.