texture mapping issues

[Andrew West]

I have been using 8.5 and previously 7 for quite some time now and I just switched back to 6.7 for various reasons.  The most important one being that I truly miss the way that texture mapping was done in 6.7.  I have some complicated texture maps on a complicated model and I felt that 8.5 fought me constantly on what I was trying to do. 

To give you a couple of examples:

1.  I create a 3D box for a roof plane and it has a simple wood texture map.  I want to globally map the texture and align it properly.  By default form.z has it mapped as planar rather than cubic.  So then i have to use the Map Texture tool to get it to cubic. Without doing this I would have to map each face individually which is a real pain.  So then I have to select the edit texture tool start to map it.  But by default the Lock Size icon is off.  So then I have to select that.  Then i can go to proportions and select the size of the texture map.  Then select mirror in vert and horiz..  Then I can go and align the texture.  WHEW!  That was a lot of clicking where as in 6.7 it took half that time.

2. For whatever reason on some of my models if I want to apply a different texture to a face of an object I hold down the control key and drop the material onto that face.  However,  it is locked to the size of the texture on the entire object.  I can not scale the map of that one face without changing the maps on all faces.  My work around is to extrude that face a fraction and then texture map it as a separate object.  Slow. 
3. While we are on the subject of extrusions in 6.7 any new object extruded would acquire the current material that is selected in the palette.  In 8.5 by default the new object keeps the material of the object it is extruded from.   Most of my extrusions are by nature a new material.  Which means that i then have to go and re apply the new material and start the whole texture mapping process again.  Slow.

4. In 6.7 I could go into the material palette and assign a wire frame color to a material.  Anything built with that material showed that wire frame color to keep things organized. Without it all objects show a wireframe of grey making it impossible to know what you are selecting.   In 8.5 I have to select every single object I build and individually assign it a wire frame color through the attributes pull down.  I would love to talk to the programmer who came up with this to see what they were thinking. 

 

Perhaps one of you gurus out there has come up with a better method.  I am all ears.

[Andrew West]

While I am on the topic of glitchy little issues I would like to see if anyone else is experiencing a few things here. 

1. in shaded render my ortho guides work infrequently.  I just started a project and I have 7 objects (plane boxes) that I was moving around and copying.  All worked fine with ortho guides until I built the 8th object.  Then ortho guides did not work in shaded. Only in wireframe.  I have had this issue on every project I have worked on for the last two years.  My work around has been to ALWAYS switch to wireframe mode when moving an object (or a part of an object) along an axis.

2.  I don't know how to disable this but there must be a way:  When creating geometry if I create a box and then another overlapping box in wireframe the two are placed on the current active plane.  If I do the same thing in shaded mode the second box is placed on the face of the first box.  This is HIGHLY undesirable and leads to very unexpected results.  It should be noted that all snaps are off. 

Thoughts on a work around?

[Tech]

Hi Andrew,

 

Yes, objects are automatically mapped, so it may take another click or two to change that mapping if you want something different, but it shouldn’t be a big ordeal.  Perhaps we can help.

 

1.  First, we would recommend starting with a tile-able map, so you don’t have to choose the Mirror option, but even if you do want the texture to mirror, once you map one, you can then select any others, get the Copy Attributes tool, and click on the one you mapped.  This should then transfer everything properly to the other objects — with the one exception being the origin — which you can fix with two clicks of the Edit Texture Tool.

 

2.  Coloring a face is different than Mapping a face.  If you want to create a separate Texture Group, click on that face(s) with the Map Texture tool (and any mapping type other than Best Match).  Then it will size separately.

 

3.  By default the Extrusion will use the same material, but if you want it to use the Current active material, just choose that option from the Edit Menu.

 

4.  Yes, that was a nice feature that is not currently possible with the new material system.  Hopefully this can be restored in the not too distant future.

 

Does that help?

 

 

[Tech]

Hi Andrew,

 

With regards to your second post:

 

1b.  We have never seen this.  If you find a way to reproduce this, please let us know.  Or if you quit formZ and reopen the file and it still happens, just send us the file.

 

2b.  By default formZ has automatic reference planes, and you can see these planes changing as your cursor goes over different surfaces.  If you don't want this, just click the Lock Reference Plane icon at the bottom of the window and that will turn this feature off.