So, you've been wanting to re-create that popular shoot-out scene from the government building lobby in "The Matrix", or maybe just want some sort of floor / wall tile as seen in every corporate showroom. If you've been struggling with trying to get this sort of effect then you may kick yourself when you see how easily this is accomplished. The only difficulty here is repetition in mass, but not to the extent that you'll need any patience.

    To start, open up Photoshop and make a new image 512 pixels wide by 512 high. Now go to your colors, choose solid black for your foreground color, and R:60 G:30 B:00 for your background color (should look like a dark, brown-ish orange). Go to your Filters menu and select Render > Clouds. Once you've done this, go to your Filters menu again and choose Noise > Add Noise. Now set your noise level to 10%, and make sure that the Gaussian and Monochromatic options are checked. You'll end up with something similar to this.

    Guess what? We're a third of the way done! Now we need to start giving this granite surface some life (my term for random chaos). Back to the Filters, select the Brush Strokes > Spatter option. Set your "spray radius" to about 15 and the "smoothness" to 10. Here comes the easiest part: simply repeat the last filter about 15-20 times using the "CTRL + F" key. When you're done, you'll get this.

    From here you can go in all sorts of creative directions, but i'm going to show you probably the most practical...a granite floor tile. Let's start by setting your creation aside and creating another new image - 1024 pixels wide by 1024 high. Now cut and paste your creation into each corner of the new larger image. You may even want to rotate a couple of the tiles in different directions just to better express the feeling of random. You'll want to keep them as separate layers for the next couple of steps.

    Select one of the tiles in your layers tab window, and then go to your Layers menu. From there, select Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss. I suggest using the settings shown here for the best results. Repeat these settings for all four tiles to give the whole image some consistency. Once you've finished go to your Image menu, choose Adjust > Brightness / Contrast and randomly adjust each tile's brightness within a margin of 20% (-10% to +10%). This not only helps set the tiles apart from each other, but also allows you to give them a more realistic quality. If you really want to give them the feeling of being worn down, go to your Dodge tool (press the "O" key), select a brush size of about 100, set your brush's exposure to about 15%, and then lightly dabble around the corners and edges of your tiles. Here's an example of what one tile might look like.

    Now we're ready to flatten the image and shrink it to a good texture size (512 wide by 512 high is my quality recommendation, but realistically for Quake 3 and most other games, 256 by 256 will do just fine). Some final finishing touches and you've got a great looking granite tile. What I suggest is using the Sharpen tool (opposite the "Dodge" tool on the tools menu, or "CTRL + R" key) and lightly touching up the edges of the tiles. Try not to make more than one or two passes per edge because when you use too much of it, you'll have over-exposed lines and impurities that will detract from the realistic qualities of your texture. When you're done, your new texture should look similar to this.

    I know what some of you are thinking..."That doesn't look like the tile from The Matrix." True, but just to show you how easy it is to simulate it, open up the Hue / Saturation options (press "CTRL + U"), reduce the lightness by 10, saturation by 60 units, and move the hue up a good 25 points...doesn't this look familiar? Ten points to whoever can name the movie with the lobby shoot-out sequence featuring these tiles. :-)

Questions or comments? E-mail Mr. Lake