Did you know that JPEGs saved out from Photoshop can contain Vector artwork?
It blew our minds when we discovered random web images that contained forgotten paths that were likely used as clipping masks.
After this discovery, we decided to include line art Paths that were drawn in many of our Architectural facade textures. Paths come in handy, particularly with buildings that have unique or detailed silhouettes.
One of our free samples contains a vector outline if you would like to try: check out _LE_ARC0143D_SQ
Paths add minimal additional filesize, but greatly increase the power of Texturama's Architectural textures. Be sure to read the file descriptions to see whether vectors are included in the file.
All you need to do, is to open the uncompressed JPEG in Photoshop, and then export path to Illustrator through the file menu. Next step is to open the path in Illustrator, then save it as a legacy Illustrator 3 file format. This good 'ol format will import into 3DS MAX like butter.
Once you have the path in 3DS MAX as a Spline, you can extrude it, or convert to polygon, (add a planar UV map modifier) and then slice away at it to make windows, ledges, doors, pitched roofs- whatever you like.
In our free sample _LE_ARC0143D_SQ, the path can simply be extruded, and then voila you have a building to add detail to your landscape.
Additionally, if our Architecture texures include reflection maps (as our free sample _LE_ARC0143D_SQ happens to have a reflection map, this will add a lot of realism to your building shader.