Texture Maps

[Andrew West]

I am hoping someone can help me figure out how to globally texture map a group of objects all at once.  In 6.7 I would select all the objects that had a similar texture,  join them together,  apply the texture to all at once and then I could adjust the scale and placement of the texture to all of them.  Now in 8 I select a group of objects, join them and when I go to edit the texture I can only scale  it on one object at a time. 

 

I would also really like to figure out a way to get around an objects wireframe color being assigned a material average.  In 6.7 I could create a material (texture map) and assign it a specific color for wireframe mode.  This enabled me to have anything that is subsequently built using that material to have that wireframe color. Keeps things very organized.   Now in 8 each object I create with the same material has to be selected and edited individually under "attributes" to get its wireframe color to change.  Very time consuming.   Has anyone figured out how to get around this huge problem?  Could someone write a script to get the old functionality back?

 

While I am at it I could really use the old functionality of the way 6.7 dealt with ghosted operands.  Now it deals with ghosting on a program level rather than through an individual tools operands.  Maybe someone could write a script to get that back.  Or am I missing something here?

 

Thanks

[Tech]

Hi Andrew,

 

It should be pretty easy to get what you want.  To do this, Map one of the objects across all the others:

 

 

Select all the objects except for this one:

 

 

And click on the first object with the Copy Attributes tool:

 

 

Being able to create a custom material edge color override has been suggested, and we will see if we can include this in the future.

 

The Status of Operands is controlled by the setting in the Edit Menu.  If you like, you can set a Key Shortcut to toggle between different values if you like.  Perhaps I am old school, but I never toggle those settings.  I leave it on Ghost, if I want to Keep an Operand, I Copy it first, Execute the Operation, and then Paste.  (If I forget to Copy, just Copy the result, Undo, and Paste.)  After significant progress is made on a project, Save it, Clear All Ghosted, and Save As to continue fresh without them.  Then you can always return to the previous iteration if you decide you do want those ghosts...

 

Hope this helps!

[Andrew West]

I am not sure you understand the problem here so I have attached a small sample model to demonstrate the issue.  I want the texture map to mirror and tile smoothly across the geometry.  The objects have been joined together but I can not texture map them globally. 

 

By the way when I did a "save a copy as" in version 8 the five simple cubes saved as a 31 MB file.  When I saved it down to version 7 it turned it into a 48 MB file.  When I saved it out as a version 6.7 it turned it into a 1.9 MB file.  Whats up with that? 

wall test.zip

[Tech]

Dear Andrew,

 

Yes, we understand.  Did you try to follow what we posted above?  To get what you want in v8:

 

1.  Open the file and use the Map Texture tool to apply cubic mapping (since it is not currently set that way):

 

 

2.  Use the Edit Texture to size one as you would like:

 

 

3.  Select all except the one you mapped, and Use the Copy Attributes to apply this to all the others:

 

 

And the results:

 

 

By defaults image files are saved uncompressed inside the v7 and v8 files.  You can change this from the File Menu: Project Settings: Project Files options if you like.

[Andrew West]

By defaults image files are saved uncompressed inside the v7 and v8 files.  You can change this from the File Menu: Project Settings: Project Files options if you like.

 

Is this the cause of the huge discrepancy in file size?  There was one image map in the file and it was only 1,600 K. 

 

Thanks for the tip on the texture mapping.  I came up with another solution.  If I join the objects together and then switch the mapping type to UV the texture map scales and mirrors correctly on all the objects together.  Then if I change it back to cubic I get the functionality back that I was looking for in the first place.  Just another step in the process.

 

Now I am having another frustrating issue.  I have some simple geometry (walls) that I want to put a window opening in.  The program will not let me do it on this model and I just get a red circle with a slash through it.  However, if I copy the geometry into a new file I can do it.  Weird. What is interesting is that I was able to put openings into three sides of the building using the insert opening tool but not this one wall.  The walls are solid and object doctor found nothing. 

Attached is a screen shot showing a partial of the model. 

If I save the file as version 7 I have the same problem.

And of course if I save it as version 6.7 I have no problems at all.  The most stable build you have ever come out with which is why I always will keep it around.  Unfortunately, there are some improvements in 8 that I would like to use but am unable to for just this reason.

[Tech]

Dear Andrew,

 

Yes, if you open your image and Save As to an uncompressed TIFF file, it will become much larger.

 

The Insert Opening only works in Shaded mode because it needs to find the surface upon which to insert.

 

If you are having trouble with a specific object, copy and paste it into a New Project, verify the issue still exists, save, zip, and post it so we can do our best to help you.

[Andrew West]

Unfortunately, there are times when it is beneficial to work in wireframe mode so you can see what you are doing more easily.  Or at least easier for me.   This is especially true when you want to put a hole in something that is partially obstructed by other geometry in shaded mode.  My work around is  to select and isolate all the objects that I want to work on and then insert openings.  This is slower.

[Tech]

If you want to insert a hole in Wireframe, Draw the desired shape while snapping to the face and then Difference.