Texture Mapping

Here is the screenshot of GMAX with UVW XForm tool:

I used AutoCAD 2000 to create a sample track section and applied ACLEANTRACK1.BMP texture to it using AutoCAD’s material editor and texture mapping commands. I found out that I have to offset the texture 0.14 of an unit to the right so that the texture appears correctly on the track section. How can I offset the texture in 3DC Pro? When I exported the track section into 3DC Pro, the textures were lost. I thought that there is a script that applies textures to 3D models created in other programs and imported into 3DC Pro. I found a script in the download section of this web site but I’m not sure. Jeffrey.

What I think is best for unwrapping is to switch to screen coordinates mode, turn on operation direction highlighting and then hunt for the best (least distorted) appearance.

I see what you mean. The reduce/enlarge/shift is intended to get you into the andquot;ballparkandquot; not set exactly where you want the mapping to be.

Richard

At the moment though, the reduce / enlarge and shift all points up / left etc happen to set intervals (not pixels it would seem) It would be useful if you could determine (ie type in) how much. Interesting though that you can try out different axes etc from the main toolbar and apply to this operation!

cue jeff to elaborate on what he means! <!– s:-) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:-) –> …That’s what I mean though!

Jon

The andquot;coordinate modeandquot; options on the main toolbar apply to all operations including the UVMap operation. You’ll want to experiment with those. It is actually considerably more powerful than just selecting an andquot;axisandquot;.

The wrapping mode is taken from the material palette. Normally you will want to use flat wrapping when UVMapping.

I still don’t know what you mean by scale and offset, but there is the ability to reduce/enlarge the area covered and shift the position of all of the points. I don’t know if these are the same thing or not. If you could expand on scale/offset and compare/contrast with the existing feature it would be helpful.

Richard

Take a look at UV mapping dialog boxes in 3D Studio MAX, AutoCAD, and GMAX. Those programs let me enter values for scale and offset, select type of mapping, and select which axis to be used to apply textures. In 3DC, the textures are applied to the 3D objects on the wrong axis if I rotate the 3D objects in 3D CAD programs so that they appear correctly in MSTS before exporting 3D models to 3DS files and importing them into 3DC for texturing and exporting to MSTS files. Jeffrey.

To be honest, I don’t know how that would work. You click a point and then adjust the position via entry of values?

What would this andquot;scaleandquot; value be?

Richard

Fair enough! Richard – a new feature for v6?

Jon

Obviously Jeffrey would have to explain really but I imagine something along the lines of a range from 0 to 1 in each direction, the amount of variation depending on the texture / crop of texture in terms of the amount of pixels available for both axes.

Also, multi point selection support, alt select for entire side (if you are uv mapping both sides at once). Currently if you have multiple points in the same place, it’s impossible apart from trial and error to select the one you want!

But as Jeff has used programs with better uv support, I’ll await his description!

Jon

The UV-Map and UV-ReMap tools don’t have input boxes for specifying scale and offset of bitmaps, and I need them. Using the mouse to move points is too much trouble. Jeffrey.

If you use the UV-Map / UV-ReMap tool, you will find that you can offset the textures – you may find that the offset is too much for 0.14 m but you can move all the points individually.

I have found this a very useful tool for texturing complex shapes.

Jon

Looks complicated. Not something that I would want to do.

I can see the need for finer control of scaling and shifting while using the UV tools. But, I think that in general 3DC provides the features required. It is just a matter of learning the basics of the coordinates modes and the previewing provided.

Richard