Rendering tutorial continued.

Click the Read More link below for more of the tutorial.



To add texture to areas like mesh and PU, I use a method that combines illustrator and PS.



For this quarter mesh section, for example, what is to be a heavy weave nylon mesh with 3M reflective threads, I make a swatch in illustrator first that approximates the weave. This swatch is then used to make a large rectangular shape with the pattern.



This shape filled by swatch can then be modified to have a more 3D look in a few simple steps. First, expand the filled rectangle you've made, (under Object > Expand). Then, use the Envelope Distort (Object > Envelope Distort > Mesh) to allow you to warp the pattern into a 3D like mesh texture.



This texture can then be copied and pasted back into PS as pixels, blurred and then cropped to your selection (select the path that contains the area, then inverse select it, and delete the parts that fall outside the shape), for a good approximation of mesh. I set the layer with the texture to Multiply and you can further adjust by layer opacity.






This same technique was used on a different illustrator swatch of small white squares, then warped and brought into PS to create the highlight thread reflections. Once the swatch is brought into PS I also use the airbrush eraser to take out bits to leave the highlight only in spots that would be caught by the light.

Continued-


Part 4

Part 5

Part 6