SECTION 2 - Modeling and Detail Editor

Bitmap texturing: hull plates.

The key element is not so much the shape but the surface variance. Our eyes are very good at telling us what's fake and what's real, and often tricked by "unseen" details. These details are not always easy to do. Imagine v3.x have some new and very usefull bitmap mapping tools that will help us with this.
If You download some of my bitmaps at the 402u page, You can easily see what I mean.
When You use a bitmap for the main surface, take a duplicate and use a image processor to highten the contrast by about 25-40%. Use the first as a color map, I almost all the time put dirt on it as well. If the map has to many hard details "white spots" use the mix/morph and fade it a bit until it feels right. Put on the second enhanced image and use it as a specular map.
For further details duplicate it and use it as a hardness map. The two first mapping methods however gives the most dramatic change in the "look", the hardness mapping only adds a faint effect, that is sometimes needed. But if You dont specificly need it, don't, use the overall hardness setting instead, since further mapping will increase Your rendering time.

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