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Ultra large wood textures needed

T_K

New Member
I'm looking for some very large, hi-res images of wood, stone, concrete, metal, etc. We are doing some large wall graphics that will be viewed from as close as 1-2 feet, so we need great image quality.

So far, I've found Arroway Textures, which looks like a possibility, but it's hard to tell if their products would look good printed, or if they're more for the 3d rendering market.

Part of what we're looking at doing is something like this custom office.

Let me know if you've got any recommendations on where to find some image libraries. I've already tried several standard stock image sights like Bigstock and Shutterstock. They don't have what I'm looking for.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Have you considered using seamless texture tiles? We offer over 2,000 tiles, all of which are intended for creating large high resolution backgrounds and fills. Here's a link to our wood tiles.
 

T_K

New Member
Have you considered using seamless texture tiles? We offer over 2,000 tiles, all of which are intended for creating large high resolution backgrounds and fills. Here's a link to our wood tiles.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep this in mind for other projects, but I don't think it's a fit for our current project. We're trying to avoid tiles if possible, since they're rather noticeable at the viewing distance for these graphics. People will be very close to them, and we're trying for the illusion of real materials (minus the 3d texture, of course). We've experimented with tiling wood, but the grain shows the repeating pattern, which our customer is not too keen on.

I have managed to tile together some sand and concrete textures, which are ok. But I just can't find wood textures that will work right. Again, viewing distance is expected at 1-2 feet, so people will pick up on detail.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep this in mind for other projects, but I don't think it's a fit for our current project. We're trying to avoid tiles if possible, since they're rather noticeable at the viewing distance for these graphics. People will be very close to them, and we're trying for the illusion of real materials (minus the 3d texture, of course). We've experimented with tiling wood, but the grain shows the repeating pattern, which our customer is not too keen on.

I have managed to tile together some sand and concrete textures, which are ok. But I just can't find wood textures that will work right. Again, viewing distance is expected at 1-2 feet, so people will pick up on detail.

That's a legitimate concern. Just to be clear though ...

Our tiles are generated with that in mind and the repeating typically only just begins to be noticeable after four or more repeats in either direction. The tiles are 3,600 x 3,600 pixels in size so if you're printing at 72 DPI each tile is 50" x 50" before you even need to repeat. Or at 100 DPI, they're 36" x 36".

When you tried tiling wood, were your images seamless tiles? If they weren't then you would pick up a visible seam at every repeat. With a seamless tile the only concern is seeing a pattern in the distinctive features of an image as it is repeated. For example, a teak tile has great grain by very few unique features to form a pattern. A plywood tile has knots and unique irregularities that will cause a noticeable repetitive pattern in only three or four repeats.
 

ams

New Member
I tried to help you out and give you free ones, but Fred said its illegal and self promotion. So much for helping each other out.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
I tried to help you out and give you free ones, but Fred said its illegal and self promotion. So much for helping each other out.

Among the several things I said to you after removing your post was:

  • Your post did not make any mention of free. Rather it stated that you are a contributor at Shutterstock.
  • Your posts appeared to be an offer to sell which would be in violation of our self-promotion rules.
  • Your post violated our file sharing rules.
The forum description clearly states what the rules of the forum category are:

Product and Supplier Referrals

Requests for recommendations of where to buy a product or find a supplier. Not to be used for self recommendation unless you are a Merchant Member.

Members at Signs 101 manage to find hundreds of ways to help one another without violating long standing rules, infringing or appearing to infringe on the artist's rights and copyright law, or undermining the rights of paid merchant members.
 

ams

New Member
1. Like I said in the PM, do you want me to make it say free? No it's "self promotion" even if it's free.

2. You wouldn't let me repost to mention it was free.

3. I took the photos with my own camera, I edited them with my own software, I still have the original photos on my camera, so explain to me how they aren't mine? Please tell me, I'd love to know how I don't own copyright to images that I took myself.

Oh by the way, mentioning shutterstock means it is good images. They are extremely strict on what they allow, I've had dozens rejected and some multiple times.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
...People will be very close to them, and we're trying for the illusion of real materials (minus the 3d texture, of course)...

Not so fast on dismissing what you call '3rd texture', depth or dimension I assume is what you mean.. When you find the image you want to use crate a bump map using that same image. Use the inverse, an option on most all bitmap editors, and set the height to maximum. Done properly this gives a rather nice illusion of dimension of dimension and depth.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
1. Like I said in the PM, do you want me to make it say free? No it's "self promotion" even if it's free.

2. You wouldn't let me repost to mention it was free.

3. I took the photos with my own camera, I edited them with my own software, I still have the original photos on my camera, so explain to me how they aren't mine? Please tell me, I'd love to know how I don't own copyright to images that I took myself.

Oh by the way, mentioning shutterstock means it is good images. They are extremely strict on what they allow, I've had dozens rejected and some multiple times.

1. No. It's a violation of our file sharing rules.

2. Because it's a violation of our file sharing rules.

3. No one ever said they weren't yours. If you take the time to read the rule, you will understand the reason for it and that you violated it.

You're welcome to mention Shutterstock all you please. Great site! I understand the difficulty of getting images accepted at such sites. In addition to my own site, I publish my images at 123RF.com, Dreamstime.com, Fotolia.com, DepositPhotos.com, Ingram Publishing, and Professional-Vector-Art.com.

The simple truth is that you agreed to abide by our rules when you joined Signs 101 and you are taking it personally that I removed your post. That decision had nothing to do with the quality of what you proposed to give away for free. It had everything to do with violating a rule that has been in effect here since 2005.

attachment.php
 

ams

New Member
1. No. It's a violation of our file sharing rules.

2. Because it's a violation of our file sharing rules.

3. No one ever said they weren't yours. If you take the time to read the rule, you will understand the reason for it and that you violated it.

You're welcome to mention Shutterstock all you please. Great site! I understand the difficulty of getting images accepted at such sites. In addition to my own site, I publish my images at 123RF.com, Dreamstime.com, Fotolia.com, DepositPhotos.com, Ingram Publishing, and Professional-Vector-Art.com.

The simple truth is that you agreed to abide by our rules when you joined Signs 101 and you are taking it personally that I removed your post. That decision had nothing to do with the quality of what you proposed to give away for free. It had everything to do with violating a rule that has been in effect here since 2005.

View attachment 116816


There you go making up your own rules again.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
There you go making up your own rules again.

You incredible nincompoop, Fred can make up any rules he wants for whatever reason or no reason at all. You get to participate in this forum at his sufferance. You have no say, none, nada, zip, zero in any aspect of managing this site.
 

10sacer

New Member
Somewhere on here are companies that print simulated wood grain for the wood industry for flooring and paneling and I would suppose they have what you need. I know there is an Italian coating company called CEFLA that makes the coating machines that seal the texture after they are UV printed, maybe someone there can give you a referral of a company that prints these textures and they can point you in the right direction.
 

T_K

New Member
It sounds like some pretty common textures. Why not just shoot some photos yourself?

Time. We've got a photographer/videographer on staff, but he's bogged down in other work. If we can purchase a library, that saves us many hours compiling it ourselves.

We might have to end up shooting what we need after all, but it's worth a little bit of time researching first.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I'm not sure if this pertains to the OP's question or not, but I'd like to know something about this. When making these wood, cement and other panels and not wanting a repeat in the picture...... how long will one of these panels be when completed ?? I can see/understand the grains, knots and crack lines not being repeated, but to/for how long must this not take place ??
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
I'm not sure if this pertains to the OP's question or not, but I'd like to know something about this. When making these wood, cement and other panels and not wanting a repeat in the picture...... how long will one of these panels be when completed ?? I can see/understand the grains, knots and crack lines not being repeated, but to/for how long must this not take place ??

As it pertains to the OP's info, people up close won't see a repeat. Viewers from far enough back to see several repeated tiles will become aware of a pattern. Depending on the nature of the tile that would probably kick in from 15 to 20 feet away if the print is 200"+ wide and therefore calling for four or more repeats.
 
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