Texture Mapping

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Texture mapping properties manage texture map projections for selected surfaces, polysurfaces, and meshes.

Mapping is a process of defining how to represent a 2‑D image on a 3‑D model. Mapping transforms a 2‑D source image into an image buffer called a texture.

A texture can be applied to the surface of a 3‑D model to add color, texture, or other surface detail like glossiness, reflectivity, or transparency.

The problem of how to represent the texture in 3-D rendering can be overcome by means of uv‑mapping. U and V are the coordinates of the texture corresponding to X and Y. Think of u as one direction on a piece of graph paper (side to side). Think of v as the other direction (up and down).

Any time an image is applied in a material and then applied that material to a model, uv‑texture mapping is used.

Mapping channel

A mapping channel holds a set of texture-mapping parameters. Each mapping channel is identified by a number. An object can have any number of channels and therefore can hold any number of texture mapping types.

Textures in materials can be assigned a channel number. When the textures are applied to an object, the texture is applied using the matching channel number on the object. Texture channels default to channel 1.

If an object has no applied texture mapping, surface mapping is used to map the texture.

Options

Default

The default texture mapping method for surfaces and polysurfaces is set by the control point structure of the surfaces and is called surface mapping.

Custom

The Custom option allows any other texture mapping method.

Name

The name of the mapping.

Projection

The mapping type.

Surface

Surface mapping stretches the texture over the object.

In this example, a variable radius fillet connects two planar surfaces and all are joined into one polysurface. The default surface mapping method uses the control point structure of each individual surface to orient the checkered texture map applied to the material. Notice how the checker texture does not match across seams in the polysurface.

See: ApplySurfaceMapping.

Planar

Planar mapping projects a 2-D plane onto the side of an object.

See: ApplyPlanarMapping.

Box

Box mapping projects a 3-D box onto the sides and top of an object.

See: ApplyBoxMapping.

Spherical

Spherical mapping wraps the object around a sphere. The top edge of the texture shrinks into the top pole and the bottom edge into the bottom pole.

See: ApplySphericalMapping.

Cylindrical

Cylindrical mapping an image around an object like a cylinder the left and right edge will join each other.

See: ApplyCylindricalMapping.

Capped cylindrical

Capped cylindrical mapping also maps the image to the top and bottom of the objects.

See: ApplyCylindricalMapping.

Texture space

Single texture space (left), divided texture space (right).
Single

Specifies that the texture will be mapped individually over each independent space.

Divided

Specifies that distinct regions of the texture will be used for each space, matching parts of the mapped object to the six independent texture spaces.

Position X / Y / Z

Sets the center point of the texture mapping widget in world coordinates.


Default position (left), position moved to a different location (right).
Rotation X / Y / Z

Sets the rotation of the texture in world space.


Default rotation (left), x rotation 60 degrees (right).
Size X / Y / Z

The texture size.

Equalize

Sets the texture size to be equal in all three directions.

Size to objects

Fits the texture to the object as established by the original mapping.

UVW offset

The amount the texture is offset from the origin of the UVW texture space.

UVW rotation

The rotation angle of the texture over the object in UVW texture space.

UVW repeat

The number of times the texture repeats across the object in UVW texture space.

Related commands

ApplyBoxMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplyBoxMapping command adds a box texture mapping channel to an object and sets the mapping type to box.


Object with box mapping widget on.

Steps

  1. Select objects, and press Enter.
  2. Draw the mapping widget.
    See the Box command for option descriptions.
  3. Enter a mapping channel number, or press Enter to accept the default value.
Command-line options

BoundingBox

Uses the object bounding box to determine the box location.

BoundingBox options

See the BoundingBox command for detailed option descriptions.

CoordinateSystem

The coordinate system for the bounding box.

CPlane

Construction plane coordinates.

World

World coordinates.

3Point

Pick three points to establish a coordinate system.

Capped

Applies the mapping to all six sides of the box.

ApplyCylindricalMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplyCylindricalMapping command adds a texture mapping channel to an object and sets the mapping type to cylindrical.


Surface mapping (left), cylindrical mapping (right).

Steps

  1. Select objects, and press Enter.
  2. Draw the mapping widget cylinder.
    See the Circle command for option descriptions.
  3. Enter a mapping channel number, or press Enter to accept the default value.
Command-line options

Direction
constraint
options

Direction constraints restrict the direction of the circle.

None

The center can be anywhere in 3-D space.

Vertical

Draws an object perpendicular to the construction plane.

  • Pick the center and a radius or diameter.
AroundCurve

Draws a circle perpendicular to a curve.

  • Select a curve and pick the center of the circle on the curve and a radius or diameter.

Solid

Fills the base with a surface to form a closed solid.

BoundingBox

Uses the object bounding box to determine the box location.

BoundingBox options

See the BoundingBox command for detailed option descriptions.

CoordinateSystem

The coordinate system for the bounding box.

CPlane

Construction plane coordinates.

World

World coordinates.

3Point

Pick three points to establish a coordinate system.

Capped

Applies the mapping to all the top and bottom of the cylinder.

ApplyCustomMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplyCustomMapping command adds a custom texture mapping channel to an object.


No mapping or surface mapping (left), custom mapping object (center), result of custom mapping.

A specified mesh or NURBS surface or polysurface acts as the mapping for the selected objects. The mapping object is preserved in the mapping table so deleting the mapping object does not affect the mapping on the target object.

Steps

  1. Select target objects.
  2. Select the custom mapping surface or mesh.
  3. Enter a mapping channel number, or press Enter to accept the default value.

ApplyPlanarMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplyPlanarMapping command adds a texture mapping channel to an object and sets the mapping type to planar.

Steps

  1. Select objects, and press Enter.
  2. Draw the mapping widget.
    See the Rectangle command for option descriptions.
  3. Enter a mapping channel number, or press Enter to accept the default value.
Command-line options

BoundingBox

Uses the object bounding box to determine the box location.

BoundingBox options

See the BoundingBox command for detailed option descriptions.

CoordinateSystem

The coordinate system for the bounding box.

CPlane

Construction plane coordinates.

World

World coordinates.

3Point

Pick three points to establish a coordinate system.

Planar UV

The U and V coordinates are taken from the plane size, and the W coordinate is taken as the distance from the plane along the normal.

Planar UVW

The U and V coordinates are taken from the plane size, the W coordinate is always zero.

ApplySphericalMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplySphericalMapping command adds a texture mapping channel to an object and sets the mapping type to spherical.

Steps

  1. Select objects, and press Enter.
  2. Draw the mapping widget sphere.
    See the Sphere command for base sphere drawing options.
  3. Enter a mapping channel number, or press Enter to accept the default value.
Command-line options

BoundingBox

Uses the object bounding box to determine the box location.

BoundingBox options

See the BoundingBox command for detailed option descriptions.

CoordinateSystem

The coordinate system for the bounding box.

CPlane

Construction plane coordinates.

World

World coordinates.

3Point

Pick three points to establish a coordinate system.

Capped

Applies the mapping to all six sides of the box.

ApplySurfaceMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The ApplySurfaceMapping command adds a texture mapping channel to an object and sets the mapping type to surface.

ExtractUVMesh

The ExtractUVMesh command creates separate mesh objects extracted from the flattened UV meshes of a model.

MappingWidget

Toolbar Menu

Render Tools
Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The MappingWidget command turns on the mapping widgets for the selected objects.

The box mapping widget:

Steps

  1. Select objects.
  2. Type the mapping channel number or press Enter.

MappingWidgetOff

Toolbar Menu

Render Tools
Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The MappingWidgetOff command turns off the mapping widgets for selected objects.

MatchMapping

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The MatchMapping command changes the texture mapping properties of a selected object to duplicate a specified object.

You can also use the Match Mapping button in Texture Mapping Properties.

RemoveMappingChannel

Toolbar Menu

Texture Mapping

Not on menus.

The RemoveMappingChannel command removes the specified mapping channels from an object.

Steps

  1. Select objects.
  2. Type the mapping channel number.

Unwrap

The Unwrap command projects the texture coordinates of the selected objects to a specified region of space.

The render meshes for the selection are flattened and that flattened mesh is used as the mapping space for applying textures.

Surface mapping texture coordinates and the texture assigned to the objects are projected onto the world xy plane.

Steps

Command-line options

Chain

Chain select the seams.

PreviousSeamSelection

Reselect the previous set of seams.

Apply

Applies the seam selection.

Edit

Opens the UV Editor.

Cancel

Cancels the command.

UVEditor

The UVEditor command edits meshes that affect the texture coordinates of the original object. The texture meshes can be joined and split, and their control points edited.

Steps

  1. Select objects.
  2. Draw a rectangular region on the world xy plane.
    See the Rectangle command for detailed option descriptions.

The packed surface mapping texture coordinates are projected onto the world xy plane, and the texture assigned to the object is drawn in the same region.

The texture coordinates are represented as a collection of texture meshes.

When the texture meshes are edited, the texture changes on the object.

If an interior surface seam is selected in the polysurface prior to unwrapping, that seam will separate in the resulting flattened mapping meshes.

While the editor is open, control points for the mapping mesh objects can be turned on, and modeling commands such as Scale1D, SetPt, and CageEdit can be used to adjust the mapping mesh.

Unwrap Textures

Texture transparency

Sets the transparency of the texture in the viewport for visibility.

Highlight selected

Highlights the surface mesh when the projected mesh is selected.

Show wireframe

Shows the mesh wireframe on the object even when in a viewport display mode that does not support mesh wires.

Texture
Use material

Displays the texture associated with the diffuse channel of the material assigned to the object being unwrapped.

Use texture

Displays a specified texture from the Textures panel.

See also

Render

Render the objects using the current renderer.

Use materials and textures

Wikipedia: Texture Mapping

About.com: Surfacing 101 - Texture Mapping

 

 

 

Rhino for Mac © 2010-2017 Robert McNeel & Associates. 24-Oct-2017