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Material map cropping in GMax

S

Simon853

Messages
516
Hi,
When you have all your texture laid out in a bitmap for an object, do you create multiple materials, using the Material Editor's crop function to select the portion of the image you want to use for each surface, or do you just create one material using the whole image, and then the UVW mapping Gizmo to fit just the portion of the image you want?

I've been trying to use the crop method, but every time I make the slightest adjustment to the crop area in the View editor (opened from the Material Editor) it closes, and is really frustrating!

Thanks,

Si
 
Simon853 said:
...do you just create one material using the whole image, and then the UVW mapping Gizmo to fit just the portion of the image you want?

I've been trying to use the crop method, but every time I make the slightest adjustment to the crop area in the View editor (opened from the Material Editor) it closes, and is really frustrating!
Click to expand...

The latter! First, last and always! ;)

Add a UVW Map modifier to your object's stack, set the View angle to be parallel to the mesh, set the Height and Width so that the UWV Map is "square," then add a UVW Unwrap modifier to the stack.

Click on the "Edit" button in the UVW Unwrap rollout box to open the UVW Editor so you can then Select, Move and Scale the mesh mapping as desired. ;)

You might wish to check out this thread, as well as some others in the "Texturing" forum at:

http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1183043318/0#13
 
Thanks for that. I've tried it and it works a treat. (I also found a thread here about how to get FSX Materials to show up in the UVW editor - thanks to all.)

One thing I noticed though is that in the UVW editor, if I arrange the vertexes to match my texture patch precisely, I can see a border around it in the Perspective View. So I have to make my vertexes line up within the texture area to ensure that each side of my 3D building model is fully covered.

(Does that make sense?)

Si

EDIT: I'd forgotten that there's a specific GMax section in the Scenery forum. If a moderator wants to move this thread then that's ok with me.
 
Last edited:
Since I usually work the other way around (map mesh, export to bitmap, paint new layer above mesh layer), I typically select the mesh, then Expand the Selection by 3 pixels. This allows for a bit of "overlap" to eliminate the problem you've noted.

You can do the same thing though with your existing textures. Simply add about three pixels "overlap" around the edges of your bitmap's objects.

Alternatively, simply use the Scale tool in the UVW Editor's window to slightly reduce the mesh map by about three pixel's width.

I hope the above makes sense! ;)
 
Yep. That makes sense and is basically what I've been doing. I just thought it strange since everything else in GMax seems to be so precise I couldn't understand why it should behave like that and mis-measure the texture selection.

Thanks,

Si
 
Simon853 said:
Yep. That makes sense and is basically what I've been doing. I just thought it strange since everything else in GMax seems to be so precise I couldn't understand why it should behave like that and mis-measure the texture selection.

Thanks,

Si
Click to expand...

Actually, the UVW Map and Editor are extremely precise, but you do have to zoom in very closely to obtain a close enough view to utilize that precision.

That's why I work "the other way around." I know for a certainty that once my UVW Map is arranged, that I can "paint a single pixel" and have it show up on the precise x,y coordinates on the mesh that correspond to the U,V coordinates of the mesh map...

BTW, there's a handy little button on the lower edge of the UVW Editor: "Pixel Snap" It will allow you to "snap" to the nearext pixel when using the Move or Scale tools... :cool:
 
Hi Bill, where do you find this map mesh - export bitmap commands in GMAX, I could not find them? I know how to apply textures, but an export I never came across...
 
Burkhard said:
Hi Bill, where do you find this map mesh - export bitmap commands in GMAX, I could not find them? I know how to apply textures, but an export I never came across...
Click to expand...

Burkhard, I use two free "accesory programs" to accomplish this: the Quake .MD3 export plugin and LithUnwrap v1.3. Links to both may be found here: http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1183313723

In brief, the problem with taking a "PrintScreen" of the UVW Editor's window is that it is impossible to consistently and accurately crop/scale the screenshot to produce a 100% accurate bitmap of your mesh. While this might not be of too much concern for scenery, it is extremely critical for highly detailed models, particilarly those with lots of small parts. ;)

The thread linked to below has some screenshots illustrating the two techniques:

http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1183043318
 
Thanks for the links, got them, now I have to understand.

You know my projects are in between, trying to reach you level of detail with the performance of an autogen house:)

Best Burkhard
 
Burkhard said:
Thanks for the links, got them, now I have to understand.

You know my projects are in between, trying to reach you level of detail with the performance of an autogen house:)

Best Burkhard
Click to expand...

To be frank, using this technique will allow the modeler to actuall cram more detail to any given bitmap, and - more importantly - cram more mesh onto a single bitmap. The latter alone will result in greater performance.
 
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