Can one copy a mapped texture between objects?

[Yon]

Is it possible to copy a texture from one object, and have the texture apply to the new object's center (not the center of the object you copied from)? 

In the project below I've tried 'Copy Attributes' to the spheres on the right of the cube.  The sphere on the left is what I was expecting the result to be. For sphere on the left, I copied the attributes from the cube, then used "Map Texture: Best for Object"and then used the 'Map Texture Classic,' and then scaled things until it looked close. 

These are all mapped Spherical and not UV, to keep the UV mapping from overwriting things. 

The sphere on the left copied the attributes, then "Map Texture: Best for Object"and then used the 'Map Texture Classic,' and then scaled things until it looked close. 

Does anyone have a professional method, that makes more sense at scale (many objects at once)?

Thanks,

Yon

texture swap test.fmz

[Justin Montoya]

Hey Yon,

I don't have a method for doing that as it's a bit out of my scope of work.  But I wonder if using Cloned objects would help you here?

[Yon]

Thanks Justin,

I was trying to get this texture effect, which is trivial with a gradient in the transparency.  But as soon as I got it all aligned on a test sphere, there was seeming no way to get that on to the 4 pieces model that make up the manufacture's glass. 

Is there a way to edit a texture map in 3D?  Changing it on a face, you get a cute arrow.  But in 3D (Mac) there is only a number option for scale... you can rotate. (That was not an insult.)

Yon

 

 

[Yon]

Is there a way to copy a texture map between diffuse and other channels?  Or should I add that to the suggestion box?

[Justin Montoya]

Hey Yon,

You're trying to do one of the trickiest VRay materials.  Light emitting glass.  I've only been able to get this close using a VRay Two Sided Material.  Basically, create a glass material as the Front Material, then create another material for the inside of the glass, in this case a gradient for the frosted gradient effect.  THEN, create a third material, this is the Two Sided Material where you layer the previous materials into one.  Here's an example you can play with where I quickly recreated the light and using an invisible sphere light inside.

As far as mapping, you don't need to do some annoying spherical mapping here.  A simple flat mapping type will work since it will project around the whole sphere.

black-up-gradient.psd FMZ Light Gradient Test.fmz

[Yon]

Justin, you rock.

And you beat me to it!  Spherical mapping was the wrong idea. It emits from the center I assume... no scaling up arrow. 

Your flat map works great, or if you need a round wrap, cylindrical worked for me, with arrow on the Mac.

And bonus, you taught me new tricks.  Your 'two-sided' V-Ray material in your test, to bring in reflection and glass.  Awesome. I was trying the 'blend' in the beta. Thanks for taking that time.  I'll post my final test here, when it all sits in the scene.

Yon

[Yon]

Can you guess what item the client collects?

[Justin Montoya]

Shoes?

[Yon]

Found a method

Three different planes below, (first image) You see them textured, and how the map starts at the bottom corner of each plane.

Clicking on the middle plane with Edit Texture, and you see where the map starts.  Move it, the center of the circle, to the same spot for each plane (second and third image)

Then re-render, and the maps match. (image 4)

And the last image is why it matter at all to me. Many objects can be textured at once and textured again, and the tiles align.  Yay.

Note: Map Texture will center the image on the face and ruin it.  You can use paint bucket, or Inspector to change the material non-destructively.

[Justin Montoya]

Hey Yon!  Glad you found something that worked for you.

I guess it should be worth mentioning that you can also do this by using the Join tool on the 3 planes.  Map them as a whole, and they will use the same Texture mapping.  Then if desired, you can use the Seperate tool to separate them again and they will keep the mapping after separation.   

I often do this in trade show exhibit designs where I want a door and a wall to share the same texture or graphic mapping.  Or an LED tile installation where the LED tiles are spread out on a wall or throughout multiple places and I want to map them all with the same content, the same way.  Joining these objects, or surfaces first lets you apply the overall map and you can always separate them again if need be.

[Yon]

Justin, you where holding back originally!  And thanks again. You solved it for non UV mapping.  If you have a way to say 'solution found' at the top, too?

Note:  you can't mix solids with surfaces in a Join.  Grouping, and also Joining other things to the group after, will give you different results (so un-group old models). There may be an object level thing too, a sphere and a cube joined don't seem to scale together unless both were Map Texr'ed first, and sometimes you have to reapply the texture. Especially if you change mapping types.  My original tests the sphere cube thing, so I was running at windmills.