Sequins (Paillettes)
Ralf1958
Posts: 688
Hello everyone. Here is a question for texture experts! I have a seamless texture with sequins. I want it to look as sparkly (shiny) like on those "Las Vegas" costumes. How do I create a specular map for it? Do I have to add a normal map as well? Or do I have to use the reflection? I tryed a few things but nothing really satisfies me. Anyone knows a Special trick for how to get a "Wow-Effect"? Thank you! :-)
Post edited by Ralf1958 on
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Presumably in DS ?
Oh yes I'd like to know that as well! I use Studio.
Yeap! In DS! :-)
I know how I do it in Poser, but I have a feeling that it may not work in DS. I actually make a dedicated reflection map which has just the bead or sequin pattern on a black background, as in the Poser material room this map loaded in the reflection channel can be set to apply to the model in the same way as a tex map does.
There are probably several other ways to do it, but this is how I do mine.
I'd do it in a pretty similar way in DS. The dedicated map is the important part, if you can isolate the sequin pattern on a black background. Then plug that map into the relection strength channel and the specular strength channel. The lights you use will be important too for ultimate bling.
Ah good, I wasn't too far out, thanks. I know Neil always used to get my bead patterns working quite well in DS, he did all my DS settings for my freebies. I couldn't ask him though as he is busy studying for his Masters.
Thank you! I will try that! :-)
Not really getting what I want... The reflection I am looking for Needs to be White... any suggestions?
Something like this, without those sparkling stars of course ;-)
What kind of lights do you have in the scene? You can add a standard DS distant light or spotlight and set the illumination type to specular only. Then crank up the specular settings on your surface and use a light specular color like maybe light grey. It will probably take a bit of trial and error and many test renders to get the exact look.
The sequin texture you are using is probably not going to reflect and shine like the ones in reference picture no mater what you do, as your sequins are all overlaping and the ones on the costumes are in flat rows.
Have you tried Fisty's Sparkles Shader? It might save time over tweaking the surfaces yourself.
http://www.daz3d.com/sparkles-for-studio
Hmmm, as long as you have a black and white version of sequins pattern set up should work in bringing out more reflective qualities. I'd try putting it under the Reflection, Refraction (set that very low) and play around with the loading the either the color or b&W under the Glossiness or Specular or Specular Strength area and do some test renders. You will have to play with the strength sliders also to see if it works out for you. If it does and you get the results you like then save that out as a Shader preset so you don't have to go through all the fiddling around again!
For now I've only tryed one and two Spotlights. This shader is going to be used in a Scene like a Broadway stage, with Spotlights. I already tryed the specular, the reflection... but I haven't tryed the refraction Thing. The reflection I got until now would work fine if it only would be White! But it always turns out the same Color of the Diffuse. That bothers me :-) I'll go on and try for a bit. If nothing works, then I will go for Sparkles for Studio :-) Thanks again for your suggestions! :-)
Maybe your shader is set to the "metal" lighting model? If you copied the diffuse to use as a reflection map be sure you turned it greyscale.
You asked about normal maps, and that would be a good way to break up the reflections, since few of the sequins would all be facing the same directions uniformly. Not fun to easily make in 2d; you'd need random gradients within each sequin in the pattern, then run a normal map filter.
Like Kitty said, make sure you're not using metallic or glossy metallic lighting model, use glassy plastic or plastic. Glossy plastic has a sharper edge on the highlights, which will look better will be up to experimentation. Keep you specular color and any textures plugged into the specular color channel greyscale, as well anything plugged into the reflection channel.
I am coming back with my question now that we have Iray! :-) Should be much easier now to create sparkling reflections. Any good ideas?
I would apply a silver shader to the sequined item, dial the reflection up to 1 and them apply your sequin textures as masks. That should give you the shiny mirrored effect along with the textures.
I used a gold shader in a similar manner for this Orion Slave Boy's briefs.
Thanks Tim OG. This is what I was looking for. How do apply a "mask"?
I used Sparkles for Studio (http://www.daz3d.com/sparkles-for-studio).
First I applied the metal IRAY shader. Then I adjusted the reflection to 1.
Then for the color and glossy settings, I applied the applied the round sequin bump map as the texture image. I applied the displacement map as is. Then I adjusted the tiling to get the size I wanted.
If you have that set, or the Genesis Supersuit, I can upload a DUF file or a sphere with the settings for you to look at.
Sorry, I don't own that product... yet
I will go through the steps you mentioned with some of my files, I think I got the idea. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks.