Texturing Roof Shingles

Never one to sit still long enough and conceive an image of great detail, yet always impressed by the amount of detail applied in art by others, I have begun to face my demons.

How he looks is how I feel.

Task 1 was to create the basic design of the cabin/cottage where the majority of my story takes place. Several attempts were made to box out a design that looked good on the outside, and was practical on the inside. I modeled some uniform wood panels to all sides of the exterior, then added a deck, then window shutters and rows of roof tiles.

My first attempt at designing roof tiles was to take the standard rectangle and apply a custom texture painted in photoshop. Of course, this looked like hell and was not giving me the amount of flexibility I wanted in terms of applying greater detail and making the roof look weathered.

So I modeled individual strips of shake shingles with edges, grooves, and character. Using photoshop again, and a great tutorial from IceFlowStudios on how to make wood textures, (which is probably the best wood texture tutorial I’ve come across yet), I came up with this UV texture map. What follows is a great starting point for further detailing my shingles.

Alas, the design is coming together and there’s plenty of room for additional detail and character.