Mapping bricks to an arch

[John Martin]

Just a quick question. I have an arched object in Max (imported from ADT 2004) that I need to apply a brick soldier course texture map to. How do I apply the map and have it follow the curve of the object and not just map straight ahead?

[Quique]

I would suggest recreating the arch using a loft object. When you repeat tiling in a loft object, the tiles follow the path.

[DennisHolland]

Yes it does, but then you got to be carefull and prepare your map before applying it to your object. The loft technique is correct, but only if NOT uv mapped afterwards. Calculate your brick amount and adjust your brick texture in Photoshop before start....

 

Regards. Post your stuff when finished?

Dennis

[theqball]

Hi john, you are going to want to read up on "unwrap uvw".

[ZFact]

When doing soldier courses on an arch i always find it alot

easier and less time consuming to actually model each brick

and mortar joint. They can be modelled in minutes and if

they are repeated over the facade use instances to duplicate

them. That should save you alot of photoshop and mapping time

[markf]

I have often assigned the soldier course map to a box created with multiple segments. Add the UV map. Add Bend modifier. You may need to mess around with which veiwport you create the box in and which axis you use the Bend on, but this has worked well for me.

 

hope this helps

[theqball]

It always amazes me what everyone goes through to not learn Unwrap UVW. This is really a simple 1 minute (maximum) task in unwrap, it's just a different way of thinking about texturing. I really need to get on the ball and write a tutorial for this one of these days....

[philix]

while auto-learning maxscript i have made an "arch generator" (just for fun )

it uses a torus to make the arch, so it's automatically mapped

 

i'm sorry but the interface is in italian and i have not the time to translate, maybe in the future

 

here's the script:

http://www.treddi.com/upload/philix/MaxScript/GeneratoreArchi004.ms

 

here's a little movie that shows the script in action (techsmith codec):

http://www.treddi.com/upload/philix/VideoTutorials/MaxScript_GeneratoreArco.avi

 

PS

i'm agree with thegball, the best solution is the unwrap UVW

[notamondayfan]

nice script, but i agree unwrap uvw is soooo useful.i usually end up using it when im creating roads, car parks, or even skinning characters and things like that.

[ZFact]

It always amazes me what everyone goes through to not learn Unwrap UVW. This is really a simple 1 minute (maximum) task in unwrap, it's just a different way of thinking about texturing. I really need to get on the ball and write a tutorial for this one of these days....

 

I would greatly appreciate it if you could write a wee tutorial

on this subject as it is something i always struggle with