Texture Mapping

[glorybound]

I am amazed on how much I don't know . I found AutoGrid this weekend in MAX... pretty sad hu? I have been using MAX for 6 years and I didn't know about AutoGrid.

My question is. How do I texture map around an object, wrapping it? An example would be mapping stone around a box. When I apply by UVW to the box each face has it's own coords. The only way I have been getting results have been using cylindrical mapping, which is hard to control. Currently I have wood posts that I would like to map a wood material, but the alignment is different for each face.

I do get results when I use Box/Fit and change the textures tiling.... it this the way to go?

I am assuming this is simple, but I need help!

[flino2004]

Try mapscaler

[glorybound]

Mapping

That didn't seem to help. I record my screen and post it so you know when I am looking at/for.

[glorybound]

Mapping

Here is a quick example. The initial UVW mapping looks good, but when I try to tweak my map each face goes its own direction. You can really see this when I rotate the gizmo.

http://www.whitebirchstudios.com/pub...g/mapping.html

[rivoli]

I do get results when I use Box/Fit and change the textures tiling.... it this the way to go?

if it works then its probably the way to go. another way would be unwrapping the geometry and paint a custom map for the object, it usually gives great control over mapping, especially when dealing with complex geometry.
if you are not used to it, it may take some time though.

[glorybound]

unwrapping

I have been wanting to learn how to unwrapping. I have watches some tutorials, but I have never tried it. It seems to be the way to go to get realistic results. Maybe I'll try this evening.

[jonahhawk]

If you want the stone to wrap at the corners try this.
Add a PolySelect mod
Select one side of the box in Polygon subobject mode.
Add a UVW xform mod
Adjust the U offset until you like it.

Repeat this process for each poly or group of polies that you want to adjust, adding a new PolySelect and a new UVW Xform for each set. when you like it, collapse the stack. You can always come back and adjust it with the same process.

[Shimakaze]

It's really best if you get an understanding of exactly what happens internally in Max when using texture coordinates.
For instance, do the following steps:
Create a cube, collapse it to editable poly, and add an Unwrap UVW modifier to it.
In Click the "Edit" button in the Unwrap UVW modifier settings to open the Edit UVW window.
You'll see a green square. This is actually the texture coordinates for all sides of the cube.
in the top right, click on the "checkerpattern" dropdown and select your texture.
Under "Selection Modes" select "Face Sub-Mode" and check "select element". now click and drag on the green square and move it out of the way. There are four more underneath. so do it two more times until you have six individual squares. These are the actual sides of the cube.

In order to apply texture coordinates to a 3d object is has to be flattened. In the case of a cube, the optimal way to flatten it would be a cross like this:
--#----
-####-
--#----
You can do this automatically by selecting all the faces and choosing "Mapping" - "Unfold mapping" and pressing Ok.
But it will still only align 6 of the 12 edges.
(by that I mean only the edges of the cube that are connected in the cross above will line up. It's physically impossible for a standard texture to line up on all 12 edges)
So what are the alternatives? You have to either create a texture that is seamless, not only top/down and left/right, but that actually is identical on all four sides. Or you have to use manual unwrapping and paint the textures by hand.
To do this, in the edit UVW view, select all the faces of the cube and choose "Mapping" - "Flatten Mapping". The default settings is fine for a cube. This will separate all the 6 faces and lay them out for you. If you select any of the faces it will be selected in the main Max viewports as well so you can check which is which. Next, Choose "Tools" - "Render UVW Template" this will create a picture you can use as a template in your picture editing software to paint the textures.
Another hint, if you select any sub object in the Edit UVW view any edges that are connected to it will be highlighted in blue. so for instance if you go into edge sub-object mode and click on an edge, the edge that is connected to it will turn blue. Even though it will be on another square. This way you can see which edges should be tileable.
Hope that wasn't too confusing...

[glorybound]

Tilling

Great explanation! it seems like a lot of work... I ended up detaching each face and mapping them independently. I will try your post when I get a chance.

[jonahhawk]

If it sounds complicated...

Unwrapping is most useful on organic, irregular shapes and is not appropriate on rectilinear shapes found in archvis, IMHO. Also, the scale of the map is very important in archvis. You don't want to be stretching the UVs around and making a brick 4 inches tall and 13 inches long. I don't know that Unwrap works very well with real world coordinates... RWC is basically a 1x1 unit tile across the whole object. It is pretty hard to get the scale exactly right with Unwrap UVW.

Unwrapping is most crucial in gaming where video RAM is an important consideration and you need to pack all the UVs into a 2k x 2k map.

'Almost' all mapping in archvis can be accomplished with Planar or Box and real world coordinates.

Detaching all of the polygons may seem clear and straight forward but it is a lot of work. This is all easy on a 6 polygon object but what about a more complicated object? You need to be able to fix mapping here and there quickly, without complication.
Using PolySelect and UVW Xform is about the same as detaching each faces except it keeps your object in one piece.

There is an example scene attached. Each tile is exactly 12x12

[glorybound]

Mapping

Extra thanks for trying to explain. I will check out your example and try to implement your process on my next project.

[Shimakaze]

jonahhawk:
Works fine for a brick texture. Not so much for more complicated tilable textures since no matter how you do the actual unwrapping (unwrapping being every method of flattening 3d objects for 2d texture projection) you can never line up a normal tilable texture on all six sides of a cube because of the three dimentional nature of it. Half the edges will never line up against the normal "seemless edges" in standard textures. The good thing is you'll pretty much never actually be in a situation where you HAVE to do as in this thread's video example. But if you do, it won't matter how you unwrap the model, because it's the texture that needs to be changed.

Oh by the way, rather then using the xform method, an easier way is to apply an Unwrap UVW modifier, select the face you want to edit, and scale/position/rotate it in the Edit UVW view. Does the exact same thing, just you have everything in one place.

[rivoli]

'Almost' all mapping in archvis can be accomplished with Planar or Box and real world coordinates.

well, not quite. almost every texture we use here is hand painted to fit specific pieces of geometry, almost everything is unwrapped and doesn't tile. of course at the end of the day what works for you and does the job it's fine, I just don't find that almost anything can be accomplished with box or planar mapping, even in arch viz.

[beestee]

If you want the stone to wrap at the corners try this.
Add a PolySelect mod
Select one side of the box in Polygon subobject mode.
Add a UVW xform mod
Adjust the U offset until you like it.

Repeat this process for each poly or group of polies that you want to adjust, adding a new PolySelect and a new UVW Xform for each set. when you like it, collapse the stack. You can always come back and adjust it with the same process.

I am going to have to try this one out, it sounds much better than what I have previously tried for these situations.

[jonahhawk]

I've used Unwrap UVW plenty. In archvis it works great for photo modeling; stretching photo textures of buildings to the faces of a model. Great for quick and dirty context/neighboring buildings.

The problem I have with unwrapping is that the texture is scaled and/or stretched. In archvis, this is a problem. Materials are a specific size and scale. You don't want to unwrap them, it's bad news.

@rivoli, If you have time to hand paint your textures then you don't work in archvis!! I hand paint textures but they are always tileable. I don't have the luxury of time to unwrap and paint a texture for each side of an object. I can justify making new maps if they are reusable for other projects.

I would like to see an example of unwrapping using real world coordinates. This has never worked for me because of the 1x1 nature of rwc. The texture does not tile properly in the Unwrap window.

Is there a way to nudge UVs in Unwrap UVW? you have to move them around with the mouse correct? UVW Xform gives you the spinners and it is visible right on screen. I know you can set Constant Update (from memory?) but I still find UVW Xform to be a far more simplified solution.

We should submit a sample object for all to map in their own way. Leave all the modifiers in the stack and post it back on the forum. We will all learn a thing or two from the different methods.

cheers,

jonah