Designing & Printing Brickwork

[Ron Heggs]

Having been asked on a number occasions for details of how the brickwork on my models is produced. This topic will hopefully answer a few questions, and probably generate one or two more

 

Creating brick paper for Manchester Central

 

Use of a computer with graphics software, which can create 24 bit colour bitmap .BMP file, is the minimum requirement

 

I use MS Paint which is a very basic program, but more than adequate

 

The most important item is the paper and/or card which is to be used for printing and fixing to a backing/support of card/foamboard, etc. It must resist absorbing too much ink and adhesive

 

If the intention is to use both printed paper and printed card on the same model structure it is vital that the two are of similar types and finishes, otherwise there will be colour variations between them, due to the chemical and material make up of the paper/card, and surface finish which will react with the ink and its absorption. Matt smooth non-photographic media is preferred. Artist watercolour papers which may have a rippled surface can be used with discretion to achieve visually different surface detail

 

Printing ink should be as colour fast as possible, although it doesn’t harm to apply a clear finish to the final structure

 

Outline of the Process

 

Produce two layers i.e. separate drawings/files. One for the brick surface, and one for the brick bond mortar lines

 

The brick surface with a number of colour variations is produced in one drawing, and saved

 

The brick bond mortar line with added shading is produced on a new drawing, and saved as a second file

 

A new third blank drawing is created, and the brick surface file is pasted into this blank drawing. With Image Transparency set On, the brick bond mortar file is pasted into the new file. This drawing is your brickwork image and is saved, ready for printing

 

Detail of the process

 

The drawing files are usually produced suitable for printing on A4 sized material, and for 4mm scale modelling. Other sizes and scales can be produced in a similar way

 

Note: These instructions are for using Windows 7 Paint, other versions may differ slightly

 

Create the brick surface colour with embodied colour variations

 

Open Paint which automatically opens a new blank drawing space

 

Click on Properties, and set the Width to 4656 pixels and the Height to 3264 pixels, based on 16 pixels per millimetre. This is A4 size in Landscape format. The printout will have 3mm margins. It is possible that this scaling may be different on printers other than Epson CX6400 and DX7400 series inkjet printers

 

This next step allows you to set the overall background color for the brick surface -

 

Click on Color 2 or Background Color, this is normally White

Select a suitable color from the Palette (say Dark Red – RGB 136,0,21)

or

Click on Color, select Edit Color, and create/select a more suitable color (say RGB 128,0,0)

 

Click on Tools, select Fill, Right Click on the drawing. The drawing should now be a single colour as the selected background colour 

 

To produce random colour variations across the drawing -

 

Click on Color 1 or Foreground Color, this is normally Black

Select a suitable color from the Palette

or

Click on Color, select Edit Color, and create/select a more suitable color (say RGB 128,64,0)

 

Click on Tools, select Brushes, select Airbrush

Click on Size, select the widest

 

Left Click and spray across/up & down to create a light random pattern of colour

 

Repeat the above with a number of different colours to achieve the required overall colour rendering (say RGB 102,71,49 and RGB 71,71,80)

 

 

A typical brick surface drawing produced with the RGB colours selected as above, at 800% magnification to show individual pixels

 

When completed, Save the drawing in BMP format with a suitable name

 

It may be worth printing this drawing to check that the required effect has been achieved

 

See later how to print these drawings in a consistent way

 

Create the shaded mortar lines for specific brick bonds

 

Open a new blank drawing

 

Click on Properties, and set the Width to 4656 pixels and the Height to 3264 pixels, as previous

 

Decide on which Brick Bond is to be reproduced

 

Leave the background colour as White

 

Select a suitable color for the mortar as Color 1 Foreground. This can be changed quickly later if required for different effects

 

Draw a straight line 2 pixels wide and 50 pixels long horizontally from the top left corner

 

Draw a straight line 2 pixels wide and 18 pixels long vertically from the same point

 

Select Black for Color 1 Foreground, and draw a line 1 pixel wide from the side and end of the last line 48 pixels long horizontally

 

Draw one further line in Black from the top and end of the last line vertically to meet the first mortar line

 

The drawing should look like this –

 

 

The drawing should be exactly 50 pixels by 18 pixels

 

Now, draw another similar item on the same drawing, close to the last item -

 

Select the mortar color again as Color 1 Foreground

 

Draw a straight line 2 pixels wide and 25 pixels long horizontally from the top left corner

 

Draw a straight line 2 pixels wide and 18 pixels long vertically from the same point

 

Select Black for Color 1 Foreground, and draw a line 1 pixel wide from the side and end of the last line 23 pixels long horizontally

 

Draw one further line in Black from the top and end of the last line vertically to meet the first mortar line

 

This drawing should look like this –

 

 

You now have a full faced brick/mortar drawing, and a half faced brick/mortar drawing

 

To produce the required brick bond outline. Copies of these items should be placed adjacent to each other

 

Example 1 – Stretcher Bond – All full face, offset by half a face on alternate rows

 

 

Example 2 – English Bond – Alternate rows of full face and half face/Header, offset by a quarter face

 

 

Example 3 – Flemish Bond – Alternate full and half faces/Headers, offset on alternate rows by three quarters of a full face

 

 

Example 4 – Common Bond – Five rows of full face, offset by a half face, with a Sixth row of half faces/Headers, offset by a quarter face

 

 

There are many other bonds, such as Common Bond- Flemish, Garden Wall Bond, Stack Bond, etc., and all can be produced using the method outlined above

 

The copy and paste should be repeated to cover the entire drawing. Be sure to keep the correct register of the mortar lines throughout

 

When complete, save this drawing in BMP format with a suitable name

 

A number of these bond drawings would be useful in future brickwork modelling

 

Produce a full colour brickwork drawing

 

Open a new blank drawing

 

Click on Properties, and set the Width to 4656 pixels and the Height to 3264 pixels, as previous

 

Click on Clipboard, select Paste from, browse and select the Brick Surface Drawing File for the colour variation you saved

 

The file will display and fill the blank drawing frame

 

Click on Image, Select, Transparent Selection

 

Click on Clipboard, select Paste from, browse and select the Brick Bond Drawing File for the brick bond you saved

 

The brick bond will overlay the brick surface drawing, creating a completed brickwork pattern

 

 

Typical Red Brick in English Bond

 

Save this drawing in BMP format with a suitable name

 

Note: It is important that drawings are always saved in 24 bit BMP format to maintain the sharpness of the detail

 

A number of brickwork drawings incorporating different combinations of colours and bonds would be useful in future brickwork modelling

 

Printing

 

Dependant on which printer and paper/card is used, your printer software will allow you to change the type of media which is being used, modify the text/photo setting, vary the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and individual colour ink densities, etc.

 

It is important to select the highest resolution, such as Best Photo, to ensure that the printed detail gives that 3D effect

 

These settings will allow the printed standard colours to be varied to give a wider range of brick/mortar colour variations

 

You may be able to save these custom settings for future use, otherwise make a note of the settings which make the colour variation you require for future reference

 

Check paper/card size is A4 – 297mm x 210mm

 

Check orientation is Landscape

Load the paper/card

 

Then go for Print

 

-----

For my Epson printers, the standard settings are –

 

Best Photo

Plain Papers

A4

Borders

Landscape

 

Color Controls

EPSON Vivid

 

High Speed

Edge Smoothing

 

Brightness          +0

Contrast             +0

Saturation           +0

Cyan                  +0

Magenta             +0

Yellow                +0

 

Examples of finished items –

 

 

 

 

These were all produced as purpose designed single drawings on 240gsm white card 650mm long x 210mm wide, using cut and paste from previously created brickwork drawings. It enables the appropriate bonding on corners to be produced, and patterned brickwork to follow the prototype structure

 

Tedious and time consuming – Yes, but it produces the required visual effect

[artizen]

Sensational write up! And all while waiting for the glue to dry..... 

[corax67]

Quite frankly - WOW !!!!!!!!!

 

A brilliantly comprehensive write up and screenshots plus I love the finished articles.

 

Many thanks for this thread.

[Chubber]

One of the finest 'how-tos' I've read on RMWeb, and there have been plenty of good ones....

 

I especially appreciate the level at which it was delivered, for once this one did not zoom over my head like a fleeting seagull! The results are 'museum quality IMHO.

 

Thank you, saved to a file at Chez Chubber.

 

Doug

[Bedders]

I love this, simple to do but hugely effective and more importantly for me - takes the absolute minimum of artistic skill

 

How did you do the arches though?

[stannyblade]

Have to say drawing the bricks is easier in MSPaint than on photoshop 7.

[Gruffalo]

Yes, a great help to anyone interested. I have drawn out the English Bond at full size using both a grey mortar colour and a sand mortar colour for Imperial brick sizes and then reduced them in scale to 1:76.2 (4mm:1') and these are attached below if anyone wants to use them to print over a sheet of paper already coloured to your ideal brick colours.

 

 

Common_Bond_Sand.pdf

Common_Bond_Grey.pdf

[Campaman]

As already said excellent write up and excellent result, will give this a go, not sure if I have the patience to do all the copying and pasting, but I suppose once you have created your bonds they are re-usable, I really like the ability to have the variation in brick colouring.

 

Really cheeky question but I don't suppose you would be willing to share your bond files?

 

There is another thread in this section where I have shared some of my stone texture sheets via my dropbox account, I could do the same if you have no where to share them from.

 

You never know if you don't ask

[Ron Heggs]

I love this, simple to do but hugely effective and more importantly for me - takes the absolute minimum of artistic skill

 

How did you do the arches though?

 

This takes a slightly different approach to create the basic arch

 

As most of the building windows have brick-arched tops, and there are a fair number of brick viaducts arches of varying radii and spans, with upto 5 brick courses in depth, and a variety of brick bond arrangements. A relatively easy way was needed to produce all these when required without drawing individual bricks at varying angles in MS Paint

 

I don't have have any more sophisticated graphics software beyond MS Paint. This where CAD came in useful (AutoCAD in my case)

 

A brick & its associated mortar/shadow lines was drawn, then arrayed in a defined circular path denoted by its radius. This produced the necessary brick bond drawing which was exported as a 24 bit BMP file

 

This file was then pasted over the appropriate brick surface drawing in MS Paint - hey presto, a brick arch of the required size, shape and colour to match or contrast with the wall brickwork

 

This is a small example -

 

The basic brick/mortar bond outline drawn in and exported from CAD

 

In MS Paint the inner and outer blank areas were filled with an unrelated colour - this to ensure that only the brick arch when pasted over the brick surface will show the brick colour

  

The blue/grey brick surface showing with one of the outer coloured areas blanked - i.e.filled with white background. Blanking the remaining coloured area will leave a fully coloured arch, ready for printing or pasting into a previous brickwork drawing

 

A larger example -

 

Close-up of part of an arch for the Viaduct along side the Rochdale Canal, exported from CAD into MS Paint

 

A zoomed out view

 

The unrequired areas coloured

 

After pasting over the brick surface drawing

 

The finished arch with the unrequired areas blanked

 

The arch as it appears in the viaduct wall drawing ready for printing

 

Various examples -

 

A close-up of the window arches on the GNR Warehouse prior to printing - the finished item is shown above in the last two pictures in the first post

 

The internal window arches at high level within the Train Shed

 

The internal window arches at low level within the Train Shed

 

Hope these help you understand the process

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Benbow]

Brilliant!!

[Gruffalo]

As already said excellent write up and excellent result, will give this a go, not sure if I have the patience to do all the copying and pasting, but I suppose once you have created your bonds they are re-usable, I really like the ability to have the variation in brick colouring.

 

Really cheeky question but I don't suppose you would be willing to share your bond files?

 

There is another thread in this section where I have shared some of my stone texture sheets via my dropbox account, I could do the same if you have no where to share them from.

 

You never know if you don't ask

Let me know which bonds you want and I will do them as a .pdf file (see post 7 above). Using that method, you can prints a striated colour for bricks onto a sheet and, once it is dry, overprint whichever .pdf file you want (sand-coloured bricks with a grey mortar and red or blue bricks with a sand mortar). I haven't done any arches but will study Ron's excellent methods and see what I can do.

 

I am looking to use this method to create the west portal of Box Tunnel on my layout where the twin line disappears and then make Twerton Tunnel west portal for where it re-emerges using the yellowish Bath Stone with a grey division line. The beauty is that I can draw the keystone in AutoCAD and then reduce it to scale.

[Ron Heggs]

As already said excellent write up and excellent result, will give this a go, not sure if I have the patience to do all the copying and pasting, but I suppose once you have created your bonds they are re-usable, I really like the ability to have the variation in brick colouring.

 

Really cheeky question but I don't suppose you would be willing to share your bond files?

 

There is another thread in this section where I have shared some of my stone texture sheets via my dropbox account, I could do the same if you have no where to share them from.

 

You never know if you don't ask

 

There are 3 files - each BMP file is 43.4MB, for an A4 4656px by 3264px image

 

A bit big for an email attachment

 

A DVD posted to the UK would cost €1.75, about £1.50

 

- Any suggestions ?

[Gruffalo]

Ron, I wonder if DropBox is a suitable option. I will see if I can set up a box for you if you would like to PM me with you e-mail and then I can send you an invite to share the DropBox. If it works, I will invite those wishing to take up your offer to PM me and I then can invite their participation. As you are offering to do this FOC, I see no reason why I should be any different!

[Ron Heggs]

Yes, a great help to anyone interested. I have drawn out the English Bond at full size using both a grey mortar colour and a sand mortar colour for Imperial brick sizes and then reduced them in scale to 1:76.2 (4mm:1') and these are attached below if anyone wants to use them to print over a sheet of paper already coloured to your ideal brick colours.

 Hi,

 

Have viewed your PDFs, but they seem to have excessively thick mortar lines compared to the brick depth, and no shading. Could be a function of scaling to 4mm

 

Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Ron, I wonder if DropBox is a suitable option. I will see if I can set up a box for you if you would like to PM me with you e-mail and then I can send you an invite to share the DropBox. If it works, I will invite those wishing to take up your offer to PM me and I then can invite their participation. As you are offering to do this FOC, I see no reason why I should be any different!

Thanks will PM my email address

 

Yes - FOC to all

 

Ron

[Gruffalo]

 Hi,

 

Have viewed your PDFs, but they seem to have excessively thick mortar lines compared to the brick depth, and no shading. Could be a function of scaling to 4mm

 

Ron

Hi Ron,

 

I am not a user of MS Paint or Photoshop. In my version, the bricks are drawn as 223mm x 68mm x 107mm whilst the mortar spaces are 10mm all round. I have applied no shading. In AutoCAD LT, I chose to print the file at a scale of 1 : 76.2 with the plot centred so the printable area is full. It is highly likely that the line thickness is due to the  shrinking process as the line weight used in the original .dwg files is the default value. If you increase it, the chances are that it will become even thicker (I did try it at 1mm thickness and it was a mess).

 

Just as OO is a compromise, my mortar is a compromise from your excellent work for anyone who wants something ready-done in two dimensional representation!

[stannyblade]

There are 3 files - each BMP file is 43.4MB, for an A4 4656px by 3264px image

 

A bit big for an email attachment

 

A DVD posted to the UK would cost €1.75, about £1.50

 

- Any suggestions ?

Could they not be zipped up? I dont really know much about computer related things but it may work.

How many brick bonds have you done Ron?

[Gruffalo]

Could they not be zipped up? I dont really know much about computer related things but it may work.

How many brick bonds have you done Ron?

Gavin, any ZIP program will compress at the expense of something and often this results in lower definition when un-zipped. The beauty of Dropbox is that you do not need to alter the file for transmission.

[Miss Prism]

- Any suggestions ?

 

Try saving the bmp files as png. That will reduce the file size considerably without loss of quality.

[CourthsVeil]

Try saving the bmp files as png. That will reduce the file size considerably without loss of quality.

 

TIF-compression too reduces file size without quality reduction.

 

PS: if ZIPped files would result in lower definition, then I could never retrieve any of the many XLS, Doc or RTF files I become sent and read them without problems ...

[norseman]

Or you can even save the files to jpg, which will lose some quality, but in a 4mm printout no one would be able to tell the difference.

[Gruffalo]

To those who have successfully used ZIP programs - I am glad you are happy. I have not always had the same results so I tend to avoid such programs if I can. Ron's work is very high quality and compressing something very good may be fine to produce something of good quality when unzipped. Each to his own, my inkjet printer is never going to do more than 4800dpi so I can live with the compromise.

 

As Ron also points out, the definition of my mortar lines as not as crisp as his when converting an AutoCAD drawing to a pdf. The pdf format offers much better definition that AutoCAD LT's conversion to jpeg. It can be readily used by anyone without the need to have a CAD application that can open .dwg or .dxf format files.

 

In short, my files offer an easy version removing some of the effort described by Ron and is in no way offered as being at the same quality. To paraphrase a well known statement, "You pays no money and you takes your choice"!

[stannyblade]

It is really quite easy to do. Time consuming but easy. I just kept copying and pasting the rows to speed it up.

 

Thanks Ron

[Ron Heggs]

Hi, All

 

Any compression of a graphics file reduces the quality/resolution

 

I am in the process of uploading 6 files to Dropbox. These are -

 

Bond-English 4656px x 3264px.bmp

 

Bond-English-Common 4656px x 3264px.bmp

 

Bond-Flemish 4656px x 3264px.bmp

 

greybrickbgd.bmp

 

redbrickbgd.bmp

 

yellowbrickbgd.bmp

 

Each are 44MB iin size

 

Will post the links when uploading is complete

[Gruffalo]

Ron's files are in the Dropbox and I have viewed them ok. To access, you need to install DropBox from www.dropbox.com and then supply Ron or me with your e-mail address. You will then get an e-mail invitation to share the Dropbox with the brickwork files. Log into Dropbox and you can open Dropbox shared folders that you have been invited to access.

 

Ps. - any other simple display files needed in simple format, anyone? I will do them over the next couple of weeks.