Interactive Texturing
Interactively controls all parameters of texture mapping shaders. In other words, thanks to this tool you can position textures and more in general any material containing a texture mapping shader. Supported shaders are the most commonly used, i.e. UV, planar and cylindrical.
Please, note that this tool is NOT provided for applying materials (for this purpose you must use the shading panel) but only for positioning materials that you have already assigned.
How to use
1. Select the object whose material you want to position. Note that selected object must already have an assigned material containing texture mapping shaders.
2. Click the Texture Positioning icon or choose the Tools > Texturing > Texture Positioning command from the menu.
3. The Modelling Tool panel allows you to choose the texture mapping shader you want to modify.
4. Set the parameters of the modeling tool to obtain the desired result.
The first parameter of the Modeling Tool panel shows a list of texture mapping shaders active in the selected object. The list can have more than one element in case of decal shaders; in all other cases the will list include only one element.
After selecting a shader in the list, the appropriate mapping tool is activated. The texture to be mapped is represented as a blue grid. The grid is pickable and can be moved to position the texture.
For UV and planar mapping, the grid borders have a different function. Top and right borders allow the user to scale the texture (vertically and horizontally) while the bottom and the left borders (displayed in yellow) can be used to rotate the texture.
In particular, for UV mapping the grid lies over the surface to which the texture is applied. The texture can be moved and scaled in the UV domain [0,1]x[0,1].
If the current object is composed of more than one surface, the texture is mapped in all surfaces at the same UV position.
Note: You should pay attention to texture mapping type in polygonal object materials as UV mapping is not supported.
In case of planar mapping, the projection plane is shown in green. The blue grid representing the texture lies on this plane and can be moved, rotated and scaled just like UV mapping.
User can also edit the direction of the projection by changing the orientation of the projection plane in space (the projection direction is always perpendicular to the plane).
When you are working with NURBS objects you can also enable the Show projected grid option which is useful to see the exact position of the texture on the objects.
Cylindrical mapping is similar to planar mapping. The difference is that the projection surface shown in green is a cylinder instead of a plane. Moreover, the texture can only be moved and scaled but not rotated (the rotation of the texture on the surface can be achieved by changing the projection direction).
In this case the Show projected grid option is not available.
Note: It is possible to modify texture mapping shaders of more than one objects simultaneously. Note that texture mapping shaders that can be edited are those present in the material of the first selected object.
Options
Active maps
The texture mapping shaders that can be interactively modified.
If selected objects have different materials only shaders applied to the first selected object and present in materials of all other objects can be edited.
Modeling Tool panel. Select from the list.
Mapping Type
The mapping type of the selected texture mapping shader (this parameter is read-only). The supported mapping types are: UV, planar and cylindrical (the only not supported texture space shaders are auto axis and spherical.
Options
Various options to control user interaction.
Modeling Tool panel. Switch one of the following radio buttons on:
Interactive changes changes interactively the shaders (not only at mouse button up). This is useful (but can be slow) in texture visualization mode.
Show projection surfaces shows projection surfaces (plane or cylinder) when the mapping type is planar or cylindrical.
Show projected grid shows the exact position of the texture when the mapping type is planar.
U Origin
To set the U position of the texture in a surface (active only for the UV mapping).
Modeling Tool panel. Set the position either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
V Origin
To set the V position of the texture in a surface (active only for the UV mapping).
Modeling Tool panel. Set the position either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Angle
To set the angle of the texture with respect to the U isoparametric lines of a surface (active only for the UV mapping).
Modeling Tool panel. Set the position either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Default directions
To set the projection direction for planar and cylindrical mapping.
Modeling Tool panel. Switch one of the following radio buttons on:
X, Y, Z: projection direction is aligned to the world X, Y or Z axis.
Horizontal, Vertical: projection direction is horizontal or vertical on the active view.
Custom: user can specify a custom direction both interactively and numerically.
Orbit
The starting point of the projection direction.
Modeling Tool panel. Type the new values in the XYZ data fields and confirm them by pressing Enter .
Center
The end point of the projection direction.
Modeling Tool panel. Type the new values in the XYZ data fields and confirm them by pressing Enter .
Horiz. offset
For planar projection, it is the displacement of the texture along the horizontal direction of the projection plane.
For cylindrical projection, it is the angle in degrees that identifies the position of the texture horizontally around the projection cylinder axis.
This parameter is disabled for UV mappings.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the offset value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Vert. offset
For planar projection, it is the displacement of the texture along the vertical direction of the projection plane.
For cylindrical projection, it is the displacement of the texture along the projection cylinder axis.
This parameter is disabled for UV mappings.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the offset value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Azimuth angle
The angle between the projection direction and the world XY plane.
This parameter is disabled for UV mappings.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the angle either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Radial angle
The orientation angle of the projection direction around the world Z axis.
This parameter is disabled for UV mappings.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the angle either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Inclination
The inclination of the texture respect to the horizontal direction of the projection plane (active only for planar mapping).
Modeling Tool panel. Set the inclination value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Horiz. scale
For UV mapping, it is the U extension (parametric) of the texture (in the domain [0..1]).
For Planar mapping, it is the linear horizontal extension of the texture to be projected.
For Cylindrical mapping, it is the angular extension of the texture around the axis of the projection cylinder (expressed as a percentage of 360∞ as in the shading panel).
Modeling Tool panel. Set the value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Vert. scale
For UV mapping, it is the V extension (parametric) of the texture (in the domain [0,1]).
For Planar mapping, it is the linear vertical extension of the texture to be projected.
For Cylindrical mapping, it is the linear vertical extension of the texture to be projected along the axis of the projection cylinder.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Center
UV mapping. To make the center of the texture coincident with the center of the parametric domain of the surfaces ( at [0.5, 0.50] ).
Planar mapping, Cylindrical mapping. To make the center of the texture coincident with the center of the projection plane (or cylinder) and the center of projection coincident with the center of bounding box of the selected objects.
Modeling Tool panel. Press the Center button.
Fit
UV mapping. To make the texture cover exactly the entire surface.
Planar mapping. To make the projected texture optimally cover all selected objects.
Cylindrical mapping. No effect.
Modeling Tool panel. Press the Fit button.
Horiz. grid detail
Number of horizontal subdivisions of the grid representing the texture.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.
Vert. grid detail
Number of vertical subdivisions of the grid representing the texture.
Modeling Tool panel. Set the value either by moving the slider or by typing it in the data field and pressing Enter.