DarkTree on Mac?

[TommyDAQ2]

Is there a way to use DarkTree materials on a Mac yet?

[Rodney]

There was a topic posted on this just a week or so ago.

 

To answer the question though:

 

No, not directly.

You'd have to render out the material via PC and then use the resulting image as a decal.

 

Currently Darktee isn't even selling their product as they have entered a research and development phase in anticipation of determining where their product might go.

 

Added: Just so no one thinks they can't use Darktrees at all..

The darksim materials and such are still available for downloading via the site.

It's the full Darksim package sales that currently isn't available.

 

 

Here's the other topic: LINK

[TommyDAQ2]

Thanks Rodney... I didn't think it ever became available, but wanted to check.

[Guest]

If you can scrape together $50 USD you may want to look into Enhance A:M http://www.shaders.co.uk/enhance_am/index.htm . It might be somewhat overpriced but it does give you fairly complex and fully tweakable materials that work in A:M 64. He even makes a sub-set of textures and combiners available as a free demo.

[largento]

Unfortunately, that's Windows-only, too.

 

I'm thinking about giving this PixPlant app a try. You find an image and work with it to create a seamless tile and it can generate normal maps.

 

From the website:

 

PixPlant Features

• Quickly generates seamless textures from images assisted by smart tools like the Seed Wizard.
• 3D preview area with displacement and parallax rendering.
• Fully editable maps at pixel and whole-surface level with shading and sculpting tools.
• Ambient Occlusion rendering from a displacement map.
• Project files simplify continued work with multiple 3D maps.
• Available for Windows and Mac OS X. DRM-free and no activations or online connections needed.

 

 

It says it can run on its own or as a plug-in inside Photoshop and it appears to give real time views of the results. It's $49 for the "freelancer" license (one-person biz).

[TommyDAQ2]

That looks interesting, Mark!

[Rodney]

Definitely looks interesting.

I need to keep PixPlant in mind for realisticly rendered projects.

The call to realism is ever present but for the most part I continue to resist it.

I have never liked long render times and targeting realism easily multiplies the time it takes to complete a task by five (a conservative estimate).

Refining my workflow would certainly help but as of yet I'm not that organized.

[largento]

I gave it a try today and have mixed opinions on it.

 

There seems to be a whole lot of sliders that do things I don't understand, meaning that I'm sure you could accomplish great things with it if you knew what it was you were doing.

 

It does a pretty good job of automatically making a seamless tile, but it's hard for there not to be a visible pattern.

 

I played with an image of tree bark.

 

I was able to select an area that didn't include the sides where the texture was compressed and with one click, I got a seamless tile.

 

Original:

 

 

Seamless:

 

 

It also lets you make normal, displacement, specular and ao maps.

 

I don't know if I'd use it enough to justify purchasing it, but it's a neat option.

 

 

 

 

[TommyDAQ2]

Hey Mark, did that tool allow you to set the dimensions of the tileable area? Like could you set it to 512x512 or 3600x3600, or is it just it's fixed size?

 

I think it's pretty easy to make tileable textures in Photoshop using the Offset filter. If anyone needs a tutorial on it, I'd be happy to throw one together. Been making them for decades! (literally - that's kinda scary!)

[largento]

I believe so.

 

I hadn't realized that Photoshop now natively can create bump and normal maps from images. In the not-too-distant past, it wasn't an easy thing to generate a normal map on a mac.

 

Yes, you could create a seamless image the traditional way, but it's pretty neat that you can do it with by pressing just one button.

 

I think this PixPlant plug-in would be great for people who like a lot of fine-tuning control, which really isn't me. :-)