Texturing a track/aquaduct (tricky)

[amv256]

I am modeling a lofted track for an aquaduct-like structure. It has a constant cross-section that follows a path, and a clearly defined, top and bottom. I'm not an expert on texturing and need some help mapping this in such a way that I can texture each side in a specific way.

 

Loft objects automatically generate their own UVs, which is helpful, but I need more control over the texturing than just U and V tiling. How can I apply a map in such a way that the top surface, bottom surface, and sides can all be textured intelligently? For instance, I may want to put the age/erosion of water currents on the top and inner sides, while the bottom and outer sides will be textured more subtly, or with a different kind of age.

 

NOTE: The solution must still involve tiling a map along the path, because I will need to apply this to many different tracks using the same technique. It would not be feasable to take each final track and texture them as arbitrary objects. The solution must take into account that they are lofted along paths.

 

Thanks!

[JamesTaylor]

it is possible to loft sections that are made up of a group of individual splines, once extuded you can then applied a number of different materials to each object via the sub object material.

 

i'm guessing this isn't 100% what your after but it may help a little.

 

Regards

 

James

[oluv]

have you tried uvw-unwrap modifier? if your object already has uv-coords you can easily use the unwrap feature to project your bent faces into a linear ones and edit your mapping-coords there.

[Quique]

Make sure that you assign a Material ID for each segment of your cross-section shape (under Surface Properties when in segment sub-object mode). When the shape is lofted, apply a multi/sub-object material to loft.

Quique