Drawing white lines on a grass tennis court

[Andrew Davies]

Hello -

I need to draw a 3d tennis court.

I have everything drawn in 2d already but am stumped as to the best way to draw it in 3d.

I could make the grass a floor and add a texture, but what would be the best way of drawing on the lines ? They need to be accurate so don't want to add them as a texture. How about a 3d poly or a Nurbs surface (which I don't understand !)

Any suggestions !?

Many thanks,

Andrew

[Ray Libby]

I would draw a polygon in Top/Plan view, extrude it, switch to front view and make it a hair above the grass.

[islandmon]

Per Ray's post ... a separate 3D object overlayed with just the lines having a variegated masked-semi transparent texture would do the trick.

[Andrew Davies]

Daft question, but how thick should I make the extrude ??! 10mm ??

[Ray Libby]

It doesn't really matter, you can extruded it to 0mm

[islandmon]

Here's an example using a Dupont Zodiac texture and converting the grains to transparent mask for the painted lines:

[Andrew Davies]

Wow ! Fantastic - thanks so much.

Not sure what a Dupont Zodiac is, but I added your CC_Cloud image as a texture to my 3d Polys. Works well.

Many thanks,

Andrew

[cad@sggsa]

Islandmon

Just so I understand it correctly, CloudWhite is the texture you used for the lines and made a separate 3D object to the grass, inotherwords overlaying it??

[islandmon]

The Dupont Zodiac textures are from Zodiac corian products.

CC_CloudWhite works well because it has the granular texture available for the necessary transparency effect.

The image is composed of 3 layers:

1) Thin White line overlay with transparent mask

2) Block with a Grass texture

3) Block of sod with a Zodia texture of some sort.

Both the Zodiac & Cambria Series provide sophisticated textures with infinite possibilities.

[islandmon]

Pickup the CambriaStone textures here:

http://www.fractalnet.org/gallery2/v/CAD/CambriaStone_Textures/

Pickup the Dupont Zodiaq textures here:

http://www.fractalnet.org/gallery2/v/CAD/Dupont_Zodiaq_textures/

[cad@sggsa]

Thanks a million Islandmon

Added to favorites....

These will help alot with the texturing for the walls of the venues I draw up.

[Andrew Davies]

Hello chaps -

I hope you don't think I am just getting you to do my work for me - but this is my next question - the net.

I have made a texture called net, used grid colour and got the net the right size.

But I can't get the transparency to work. I thought grid transparency would have worked, but it gave me a solid. Have got fairly good results by just reducing the transparency of the whole texture, but it is not great.

Any ideas ?

Thanks all

Andrew

[islandmon]

To get a net to look like a net takes a wee bit of effort.

Rendering an aviary with a specific sized stainless wire mess brought that lesson home a few years back.

The key is to not only get the transparency 'knock-out' color right but also to allow the wires to be modeled with a soft gradient to diffuse the lighting without setting up a series of moire patterns across the scene.

Grid transparency has nothing at all to do with it.

You must first model the wire mesh with the exact gauge & spacing .. then render it to get the correct look to the gradient. Finally fill in the holes with a knock out color compatible with the over all scene. Then create the final texture with a transparency mask using the knock-out color ... apply contrast & softness as required.. depending on the focal length of the image. Higher values of contrast for close ups with less softness, etc. You may need to compose a couple versions depending on the scene.

[CipesDesign]

Hi Andrew, here is a screenshot one of many playing fields/courts I have created. The VW's object is a 2d/3d Symbol. I used a texture for chain link fencing for the net (I fiddled with the size of the texture mapping a little). Basically, the court itself is a single extrude, and the lines are a second, slightly thicker, extrude. Let me know if you have further questions.

[Ray Libby]

Nice grass texture.

[CipesDesign]

Thanks Ray! I call it "real grass" and it's from a photo of a lawn. It is a little less cheesy than the grass (or turf) textures that ship with RW's. It has those realistic brownish splotches (like my lawn!).

[Ray Libby]

Yah, it's the brown spots that make it look real. I'd love to have it.

[Damon Design]

Yah, it's the brown spots that make it look real. I'd love to have it.

Especially for those of us in drought stricken California. I surmise most lawns will be looking more than a bit patchy brown this summer.

[islandmon]

Here's another dirt&grass texture.

[cad@sggsa]

Another one added to the collection

Thanx islandmon

[Andrew Davies]

Really helpful everyone !

Many thanks.

Andrew

PS - Have only been using VW seriously these last few weeks and am amazed by it. Wish i'd got into it sooner. My clients love the stuff I am sending them !