Reitveld Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 Hello, And The Web Page I have a question about how to map a grass texture to a patch. I created the ground plane in the foreground of the image and applied a box UVW map to it. Things looked good but when I stretched the road and grass patch downward 6+ feet I got some nasty stretching of the grass (foreground). I’ve tried other UVW maps but can’t get results that look realistic. I have also tried removing the UVW and applying a new one but I don’t get the results I am looking for. So… I’m doing something wrong and my question is… how do you map to a patch or mesh to not get distortions? I think that I need to apply a map just as someone creating a character, a head, or something else organic… however, I’ve never done this before and also I’m not sure how to unwrap a mesh in Viz 3 and get it into photoshop… I’m not sure if it may be worth the time as these projects move fast. I guess I'm stumped. On a side note… I know the colors and building design are dry… This was designed by someone else… I’m just modeling it for the architect. Cheers, :angecool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kid Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 You're on the right track. Add a Unwrap UVW modifier then hit the edit window and start dragging the vertices in the edit window around, you'll see how it affects how the image mapping is. By playing with these vertex positions you can get rid of the stretching on the slopes. You might find it easier if you use planar mapping. You won't have to export and paint a custom texture in photoshop. [ March 17, 2003, 05:37 AM: Message edited by: kid ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawyer Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Kid's idea is the best but here is one thing to keep in mind: Much of the geometry we deal with is simple (box plane cylander etc..) But there is a lot of stuff that won't fit in a box. If you can't figure out what the shape is & you don't want to do some fancy painting apply your uvw map to the subobject level. This way you can apply many projection maps to your object, in certain places using a box others a sphere or cyl. Just place an edit mesh mod, select faces, apply uvw map get it to fit for just the selected faces, repeat. Just remember not to deselect the faces or you will loose your spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastic Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 i never care about uvw maps, i use box 1x1x1m for everything, or plane mapping... [image removed by me because of uncertain NDA situation] [ March 18, 2003, 05:29 AM: Message edited by: plastic ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reitveld Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 Sawyer: Thanks for the advice!!! I did not know you could apply UVW to the sub level. Very Cool! I think I will be using this a great deal. You are right that a complex patch/mesh/etc can get confusing. Kid... I guess my skills are not up to your level cuz I can't seem to find anything in Viz3 regarding an Unwrap modifier. What version are you using? Viz 4 or Max 5? Plastic: I guess I use UVW for everything that has a texture... the only time I don't is when I just apply a color to an object (no texture). I must say that you have some mean water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kid Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 oh, maybe Viz 3 doesn't have the Unwrap UVW Modifier. I use Max 4.26. Does Viz 3 have NURBS? You could make that part of the terrain with a NURBS surface, then you won't need to worry about UVW Mapping modifiers because NURBS surfaces have mapping co-ordinates following the surface automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reitveld Posted March 18, 2003 Author Share Posted March 18, 2003 Hey thanks Kid for the advice. I never knew that NURBS did not need UVWs… that said, I’ve also not done much with NURBS. This sounds like a good option for me. I must say that my model is coming along nicely by applying the UVW at the subobject level. I really want to thank everyone for your help!!! A round for everyone! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plastic Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 i used to make terrain with nurbs for some time. the problem is that max's nurbs editing is awful. modelling the terrain in rhino is an option, but i noticed that max likes to become unstable when a lot of nurbs objects are in the scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 Why not make a 3d procedural texture? No problem with mapping... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rays2003 Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 When we texture mapped anything like grass or any kind of repeating texture it is good to use a box uvw map and make it unilateral like 10 x 10 x 10 this will keep your textures from stretching. Keep this a constant then you will have a way easier time of using repeating textures. You dont need to have the uvw map fit the object exactly unless it is not a repeating texture that you need to use. Go into the grass material in the materials pannel and adjust the tiling of the material untill you get the result that you want. I have done lots of landscape architecture and this always worked best for me. [ March 20, 2003, 06:41 PM: Message edited by: Rays2003 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reitveld Posted March 20, 2003 Author Share Posted March 20, 2003 Rays: Great Idea. I guess I need to make my textures in photoshop square to fit the square uvw map. Great advice, I will give it a try. Nisus: once again you prove to be on top of things more than I. I'm not sure how to creat a grass procedural texture. Maybe I'm not thinking about this the right way but I thought I only had a few of them to choose from. Am I way off target? If you have time, could you walk me thought your line of thinking? Plastic: eeeek. The word Unstable scares the holy crackers out of me!!! I will have to experiment with nurbs more. Thanks for the heads up. Thanks again for everyones help!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Hi Reitveld, The clue to make good materials with procedurals is making DEEP materials, i.e. adding several levels. This is especially great using the MIX material/map because you have a first texture, second texture and a control of how to mask both. In the diffuse level I start by a basic grass in the first material, a color for walking paths in the second and a mask (perlin marble or map) to place those. Next I substitue the basic grass material into a basic grass (1), a mowed color (2) and a mowing mask. Third level of the grass will be a mix between to mixed maps (4th level) and a noise as mask. The forth level are a splat and a speckle procedural with grassy colors... Repeat the same techniques for bump and specular maps, but use different seed settings... Once you have control over procedurals and mix maps, you'll be able to make large brick maps of at least 20x20m without any tiling at all that will also do well viewing from about 50cm away from the surface... Using different layers of specular and bump, you can even extend to extremely large surfaces which simply won't tile! Really nice, nothing to worry about, change bond types or stone sizes with a click... rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reitveld Posted April 9, 2003 Author Share Posted April 9, 2003 Wow!!!!! I figured out how to do it. It was easy using the tips found at CADTutor Very Simple... 1) Pick the Diffuse color map and pick the grass texture 2) At the very top of the coordinates window choose 'Planar from Object XYZ. That's it!!! The grass maps great!!! I did reduce the blur to make it really crisp and had to adjust the tiling spinner but that was a tweak. Check it out!!! Its easy. :ebiggrin: Thanks everyone. I tried it all out with mixed sucess... but this seems to be the fastest way. [ May 04, 2003, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Reitveld ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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