Hello All,
I am a new user and would love some input on how to best add a texture to a model. I have some train track segments I modeled up in Solidworks and before I print them I would like to add some grass, rock and sand textures. Should I make some Alpha brushes to accomplish this or is there a better way? Does anyone know of a tutorial to help walk me through it? Many thanks in advance.
Hello @Warrenpfjr!
To clarify, you’re talking about a 3d print?
I will assume, since you’re talking about a 3d print project, that you’re talking about adding texture to your surfaces, and not applying A Texture in terms of an image mapped to the UVs of your model. Working for 3d print generally doesn’t concern itself with the latter, except to achieve a special modeling effect. It only cares about geometry.
The other thing about 3d prints, is that they don’t capture anywhere near as much detail as Zbrush is capable of generating. Different print processes vary, and printing larger increases the potential for detail, but they will all be limited in how small of a detail they can reproduce. Keep this in mind when creating things like grass or sand.
You’re going to be aiming for rocks and maybe larger pebbles, or maybe a general unevenness to the ground, but not “grains of sand” level detail. That would be something you create on your model after it is printed.
Same goes for grass. Most fine grass detail will be lost, and most print processes wont be able to print something as small as an individual blade of grass. You’re maybe looking to create an uneven surface that gives the suggestion of grass with furrows or curls. This is something that would be better to sculpt, similar to sculpting something like solid masses of hair or fur, rather than stamping the detail in with alphas.
Keeping these limitations in mind, you could use alphas with very coarse detail. The standard brush with a “Spray” stroke type and an appropriate alpha could create some nice pebble-y detail, but dont go too small. Focus more on giving the suggestion of the form of sand, so look at some sand dunes and try to sculpt the way it flows, but not individual grains.
Thank you for your quick response! Yes, I am talking about a 3D printed model. I should mention I am not looking for a total realistic look of grass, sand, rock, etc. textures. this is a prototype for a preschool toy so it will be quite stylized and chunky looking. The sand is probably beyond the capabilities of my printer in terms of detail but stones and clumps of chunky grass blades should be ok. We could sandblast some sections of the printed model to get a coarse “sandy” look before production. I think my question is now aiming at how to achieve a cobblestone, rocky, chunky grass clump sculpt to my Solidworks model without having to sculpt each individual blade of grass. I think your above answer will work for my needs and is something I will try. Thank you again.
Some artistry will be required for best results, I’m afraid. Think in terms of creating the kind of detail you’re likely to find in a traditional media sculpture.
Rocks and sand (form not surface) aren’t too tough. You can probably give both a somewhat bumpy surface, but most fine grain will be lost. During post work you could airbrush a sandy color effect on, or even glue actual sand to it.
Grass is more challenging, and a stylistic approach would definitely be safer here.
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Make sure that any objects resting on it “sink in” a bit to give the illusion of depth. Use the borders of those objects to build up taller clumps around, and give slightly sharper details.
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For a lot of useful techniques, search for “How to sculpt Fur” in Zbrush, rather than how to sculpt “grass”. Searches for the latter tend to turn up fibermesh related tutorials, but fur searches turn up a lot of approaches that would be similar to the way you might approach grass.
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Depending on the scale involved, you maybe be able to leave most of the grass as sort of a “bumpy carpet”, and just intensify detail at the borders and around other objects.
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I don’t want to bombard you with too many ideas, but a VDM brush could be useful and time saving to create a series of grass “clumps” (always clumps, not blades) with. See the following video, just remember printer limitations in terms of overhangs.