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Texture mapping


sjj

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Hi All,

 

Is it just me or is texture mapping a long winded process in Formz? The fact that you have to select a face, then select the Texture edit tool, then only be allowed to manipulate it in one transform say scale in y when i click I lose the controller then have to do the whole process again to do a rotation etc?

 

Is this how Formz does it or am i missing something or bug issues on the tutorials this doesn't seem to happen?

 

Any help much appreciated

 

FormZ v8.6.2

OSX 10.13.4

Imac 2010

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Texture mapping is a bit cumbersome in formZ.  Personally, I don't understand the use of having three tools for mapping (paint, map texture, edit texture map) when I use edit texture map 95% of the time.  I will often switch between Edit On Face and Edit in 3D when mapping a new texture to get the most efficient workflow.  Example, if your texture is backwards, rotate it to the proper orientation with Edit in 3D and then go back to Edit On Face for the size of the map.

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A few things about Texture mapping and Workflow...

 

I agree, and I think the 3 texture tools could easily be combined into 1 or 2 tools that work together automatically.  Example, if I Paint a Material on an object or face, it could then automatically switch to the Edit Texture tool, saving a step of needing to go and select that tool.  I find the Map Texture tool only necessary when using more complex mapping of faces of an object.  It works OK, but in my opinion the old pre v7 FormZ Detail Mapping worked better with more options, and I wish we could have some form of it back.  It sure seems like the Edit Texture tool and Map Texture tool could be combined at the very least to help reduce the number of tools used while mapping.

 

Regarding the newer style of mapping, I REALLY like the visual feedback of quickly mapping textures using Shaded View.  If you aren't using snaps, Snap to Points, and Snap to Interval are really great, and provide 99% of any snapping I need in modeling, and make mapping textures a VERY speedy process.  Way faster than anything I've used elsewhere.

 

I've found if you customize your toolbar, you can keep all 3 Texture related tools more quickly accessible (and Set Layer !!), so quickly switching between them is less of a big deal.  I've also been using a right sided toolbar lately because it reduces the amount of mouse movement across the screen going from Tools to Tool Options.  I feel like it's reduced unnecessary mouse movement by enough that I'm less worn out after a full day of modeling and rendering.  Check it out! 

 

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I too have been extremely frustrated with the texture mapping process since 7 was introduced.  The thing that I am most disappointed with is the automatic texture mapping when an object is created.  The program assumes a certain type of map and it gets it wrong for me about 90% of the time.    As a result I then have to go and clear the texture map type and assign a new one (like cubic) using the Map tool.  It would be great if I could just set the program to make all my maps cubic by default since that is what I use 90% of the time.   The second issue that is killing the mapping process is the fact that the Copy Attributes tool has become useless.  For me this tool  was the single biggest time saver introduced in many years.   Again, I think it is related to the program automatically assuming a map type.  When I finally get an object to be mapped correctly I then try to copy that map to some new geometry.  It works about 20% of the time and the rest of the time I usually have to go back and clear the mapping using the Map tool again.  Even then it works sporadically at best.  Using these tools on imported geometry further increases the unreliability of the mapping and the time involved.  It was all so simple and easy in 6.7 and I really hope they can come up with a solution in future releases. 

 

So to start here are my suggestions:

Combine the Map Texture and Edit Texture tools into one tool.

Allow users to define the mapping default type in the Preferences.  ie default is Cubic

Have the program automatically look at the Image Map of your texture and set the proportions of the map to that size.  

When copying the texture attributes of one object to another have the program set the map origin to the new geometry center.  Trying to find the texture map origins is a waste of time.

Lastly, now that we have V-ray it would be nice if the texture maps of V-ray materials showed up correctly in Shaded Mode.  Sometimes I see them and sometimes I just get blank geometry and I have to guess on the map size and placement.

 

Please feel free to chime in with other suggestions. 

 

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I've also been using a right sided toolbar lately because it reduces the amount of mouse movement across the screen going from Tools to Tool Options.  I feel like it's reduced unnecessary mouse movement by enough that I'm less worn out after a full day of modeling and rendering.  Check it out! 

 

 

holy sh*t this is smart.  I can't believe I've never thought about doing this!

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