Shop front window texturing?
polycounter lvl 11
When texturing windows in an urban environment whats the best way?
I've read people criticising the plastered on, real shop window method, stating that using an environment map for reflections would be best. However, does that not require the materials to be black so that the reflections show up? If a player is close to the window won't it look a bit boring having all windows black/dark? I'm working on a tall building so the top floors won't require a high res texture and almost certainly no normal map, whereas the lower windows will be seen close up by the player. How do you make it look realistic?
Any suggestions?
I've read people criticising the plastered on, real shop window method, stating that using an environment map for reflections would be best. However, does that not require the materials to be black so that the reflections show up? If a player is close to the window won't it look a bit boring having all windows black/dark? I'm working on a tall building so the top floors won't require a high res texture and almost certainly no normal map, whereas the lower windows will be seen close up by the player. How do you make it look realistic?
Any suggestions?
Replies
Seriously though, mostly games just shutter the windows so there are no interiors. A flat image of an interior looks pretty bad when you're closeup to it, but it does look OK for something like a racing game.
this interiour mapping is aweseome
If not, most people just have some plastered image on the outside.
Personally, if you're down to a single poly for the window, I would much prefer a dark, generic glass texture for a store window, than a brightly lit image of the interior of the shop.
For sure. Pasted on photos look terrrrrible. Better to just do a nice reflected glass texture, or maybe those security type bar things than an interior with a single plane
If there are closed blinds a few inches behind the window, those can be OK in texture. The slight error in perspective is not noticable.
If your glass is not transparent, just paint them black if it is bright outside. For night, you can self-illuminate and paint them yellow for lights on, or any other color you want.
If your glass is transparent, make some simple false backdrops. Just a box or something similar with textures mapped on the walls. If you like, add a simple prop or two in the foreground behind the window to give it some more depth. Just butt these little interior facades right up close to the inner portion of your window. Even if it's a fairly low resolution texture, it shouldn't be too noticeable if the glass has reflections of the exterior environment.
Doing a mix of painted/closed blind windows with texture, along with some transparent glass windows with false backdrops seems to be a nice combination. I personally prefer to paint 6 or 8 false backdrops on a texture sheet (reduce calls) with a variety of different lighting conditions. (i.e. room with bright lights on, a dark room, a dim room with one lamp on in the corner, etc) Then I apply the textures to my interior facade boxes, and just set the shader to self-illuminated. That way they show up nice, and there's no niggling with lights to get them to show up correctly.
On a serious note, simple scene behind some windows like a display is a great way to get the job done for shops. For the large majority of the windows cover them up, most people draw their blinds for privacy at least at street/player level they do. But blacking them out with some simple details over the black is good too.