Presentation Series: Texture Mapping

PR E SE N TATION SE R IE S a concise guide in x texture mapping

Before we begin... these are simply a few tips help you along the way with your modelling & rendering adventures. You can only learn so much by example, so feel free to stray away from these tips and experiment! Have fun!

And remember: breathe. The solution could be right under your nose. So sit back, relax, and don’t worry; you’ll do just fine. all the best, d

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IN THIS GUIDE...

STEP 1

Apply Material

STEP 2

Set up Texture Mapping

STEP 3 Render!

In this guide you will need: Rhino V-Ray for Rhino

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STEP 1

Apply Material Here we have a box. A very typical, two metre cube.

Go into your Material Library and apply a material to the layer the object is on. In this case, we are going to use a wood material1.

PROTIP:

For the love of God, please apply your materials by layer, not by object. Not only is it good form, your sanity (and your unpulled hair) will thank you. Plus, it’s pretty cool when you can think about your projects in regards of materials.

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For this guide I’m using “Wood-01.vismat” found in the default V-Ray material folder.

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STEP 2

Set up Texture Mapping Before we continue on, let’s test out our new material:

Sure, it’s cool, but that texture isn’t doing anything. Let’s mess around with it. Head over to your properties toolbar. If you don’t have it docked yet, press and the toolbar will pop up for you to dock.

When you select the object, your properties toolbar will change simultaneously.

Click ‘Object’ to reveal a drop down menu...

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Select ‘Texture Mapping’ in the drop down menu,

Check the box corresponding ‘Show advanced UI’ and hit ‘Add’ in the revised menu.

With that, you can select the drop-down menu next to ‘Projection’, where you can see a number of options, and they all correspond to various geometric types. In our case, we’ll choose ‘Box’.

PROTIP:

Texture maps are finicky because they can’t always be seen while working, even if you right-click the ‘Rendered’ tab under your viewport. Be sure to do as many test renders when working; not only can you see your progress, it makes it more fun!

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STEP 3 Render!

The menu will once again transform and you are now free to manipulate the texture based on a series of integers set on the Cartesan plane. I’ll rescale the texture to be 1500 mm by 1500 mm by 1500 mm, and rotate the texture by 45o on every axis. Under ‘Size’ more options are available: Equalize - Sets your texture to be equidistant in all directions, but be warned; it may not be the best choice.

Size to objects - Re-fits your texture to what Rhino thinks is best for the object at hand. And again, it may not be the best choice.

Now, here’s the fun part: Hit Render!

Our new texture-mapped box is on the left. Notice how the texture is now significantly smaller, and is rotated 45o. Feel free to mess around with your texture maps, experiment is key.

PROTIP:

While materials are best applied by layer, you can only map textures by object. I know, it’s painfully inefficient. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t select multiple objects at once to map...

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