[SD5] Asphalt - Help/Critique

Seraphim3D

Hey there folks,

I'm learning how to use Substance Designer and I've just started out on my first tiling texture without the assistance of a guide or tutorial. I'm making some simple Asphalt, the kind you'd get on a road or runway. I think I'm heading in the right direction with it but something doesn't seem right and I can't put my finger on what it is. If anyone could offer any insight or feedback, I would hugely appreciate it!

3d View:


Graph:


Albedo/Base Colour:



Normal:




Roughness:



Height:



Ambient Occlusion:

throttlekitty

Here's some top image results from google to start with for comparison.

http://www.heartlandasphalt.com/ESW/Images/asphalt.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Ground_frost_damages.JPG/1920px-Ground_frost_damages.JPG (this is very common in my area, note the contrast!)

http://www.texturepalace.com/gallery/asphalt/100929/2_asphalt_texture_big_100929.JPG

http://wallpapercave.com/wp/wp1865377.jpg (not sure if this is real...)

https://img.gta5-mods.com/q95/images/gta-v-extreme-clear-hd-weather/f96d49-GTA V HD Weather (5).jpg (gtav)

http://www.landpbuilding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/road-surface.jpg (this is tarmac, slightly different from asphalt)

You're on the right track, I think an adjustment to your AO would make a better diffuse than what you're using now. The first thing that jumps out is the roundedness and uniformity of the shapes. In contrast, the real deal is mostly a jumble of gravel mixed with tar, then flattened with a steamroller. There's a lot of variation in the shapes and angles you could take advantage of. And in other examples, we can see that it looks very flat, but still with the geometric shapes.

Something to consider is the size this will be viewed at, and any particular style you're working in. Asphalt generally looks pretty smooth when you're not really looking at it or driving by quickly, and in a game engine, too much fine noise just looks... noisy. Something I think that helps the most is the variation/stains/wear/cracks that happen. The GTAV image is a good example of the bigger picture when it comes to ground textures- high contrast, interesting wear, and relatively sparse rock noise. Hope this helps

edit: you'd think that at some point i'd have learned to remember to say what I wanted to say before distracting myself with mashing around on the keyboard.

In your original style and some of the less contrast-y images such as the tarmac one, it's easier to think of building up the substance as a height map first, and work out your additional images from that.

Seraphim3D

Thanks for the response! Yeah I think you're right, I definitely need some variation in the gravel size and the surface should be flatter tha it is. I think if I make some size variations, I can blend them together with one of the perlin noises or bnw spots as a mask to create some interesting size differences. If that doesn't work, I can make some individual gravel shapes and run them through random tile generators. The variation really is the key to this.