changing render image for brick walls ?

[Anonymous]

i am rending my model, using a standard brick wall graph from the catelogue.
But in the model im making, i want the wall to have a special brick design, three layers dark red brick and then 6 layers yellow brick.
here is a photo of what i mean.

Any suggestions are warmly welcome !
Thanks.
Ian

[Karl Ottenstein]

You have to build your own texture (image) and attach it to a new material (duplicate an existing brick as a starting point - and remember to set the Lightworks to 'match internal' after you've attached and scaled your new texture image.) If you're comfortable with a photo editor, it's pretty easy.

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:
You have to build your own texture ...

If I want to create my own material, a new brick texture, how should I proceed?
I'm not familiar with any photo editor, except Corel.

[Dwight]

Build any brick texture without a photo editor:

1: Model a wall of bricks with mortar
2: Assign colors/textures to the individual bricks [consider making the individual brick textures with LightWorks shaders
3: Render an elevation view - no shadows.
4: Place the rendered image in a new folder you create in the Archicad library and reload the library to include the new folder.
5:Create a new material by DUPLICATING an existing brick [since this material should already have the correct alpha channel information that creates the depth effect] material and replacing the texture with your new rendered image [do this using the Internal Rendering Engine dialog since it has a more graphic interface than the LightWorks Material Dialog]
6: To use the material in LightWorks, click the "Match Internal…" button to transfer the new values into the LightWorks material appearance.

OR: use a built-in LightWorks shader to replicate many brick types with a seamless, randomized brick pattern that is totally computer-generated - no image required at all.

Find this shader in the LightWorks Arcihve:

[Dwight]

Understanding a shader is more difficult than understanding an image, but you can see in this attached image how to control aspects of the tool.
This will only work for a LightWorks rendering. To use the final shader as edited by you, save the edited shader with a new name.
Use this new shader as a material on a flat wall and render an elevation. Place the new image in the image box for the internal engine version of the material, but in this case, DO NOT click the "Match Internal" button since each rendering engine needs a different data source.

[Dwight]

Lightworks offers several brick-like shaders.

To roughen shader appearance for aging, use Displacement Class shader additions and edit 'Rough Scale" and "Rough Amplitude" Parameters.

It bears noting that all LightWorks shaders are merely variations on a single application feature creating ANY material from ANY dialog, but that relying on established LightWorks variations [from the archive that we all have built-in] is a better foundation for experimenting.

[Anonymous]

where can i find where the bitmap images are saved in my archicad programs folder ?
can i just open the normal red brick in photoshop, change it to what i want and save it as a new bitmpa?

then drop it into the same folder?

a little question.
if i use remote computer with my own installation, but the project is being stored on a remote server and different people will be opening this project, then where can i save this new graphic wall update, so all users will get it?

Thanks.
Ian

[David Maudlin]

pixpast wrote:
where can i find where the bitmap images are saved in my archicad programs folder ?

On the Mac this is Applications > Graphisoft > ArchiCAD 15 > [TImg] Textures 15 (this is why adding an informative signature helps).

pixpast wrote:
can i just open the normal red brick in photoshop, change it to what i want and save it as a new bitmpa?

then drop it into the same folder?

Yes to the open and edit question, no to the save location. Occasionally Graphisoft puts out a new ArchiCAD library to replace the old one. Any texture (or any other file) saved to the ArchiCAD library would get deleted when the library is replaced. So you should create a new library folder elsewhere for your custom parts and textures.

You should add a Signature to your Profile (click the Profile button near the top of this page) with your ArchiCAD version and operating system (see mine for an example) for more accurate help in this forum.

David

[Anonymous]

thanks david for the help.
I have just updated my profile.

Also about the question, i found where the brick wall bitmaps are, have them in photoshop and can change them easily.
BUT now i have the new file.

HOw do I name it in the archicad folder?
And how do i pick it up and apply it to my wall in archicad ?

Thanks a million for the help.
Ian

[David Maudlin]

pixpast wrote:
HOw do I name it in the archicad folder?

It should not be in the ArchiCAD folder, as this might get replaced when a HotFix is issued. These bitmaps should be treated like any other of your documents (pln, txt, etc), they should be where you store your documents and get backed up regularly. Place your custom bitmaps in a folder anywhere on your hard drive, then load them for your project using the Library Manager. If you have not used the Library Manager, read about this function in the Help files.

David