Migration Tips - Vectorworks 2011 - Textures

Mapping support is the same as in 2010, there should be no loss of mapping info. (The only caveat is that OpenGL and RW match with respect to spherical mapping and they sometimes didn’t before. This can cause 2010 files to show different spherical mapping in 2011 in RW modes.)

Textures are translated when opening a 2010 file in 2011. Image textures translate with no losses. 

Shaders that used LightWorks technology are translated as closely as possible to Maxon shaders. This means that shaders can look different in 2011 and the user may have to adjust them. Things that can look different are:
 

• Glass 

(making the color shader use a dark color makes the new 2011 glass look less milky)
 

• Metals 

(the user should choose Metallic for more rough metallic looks and Mirror with a reflection color for more mirror-like metals)

Glass can be done several ways. It depends on what kind of glass object they are used on.

• For a simple glass-like texture for building window panes, you can still combine Mirror reflectivity with Plain transparency
• Otherwise a good accurate clear pane glass would be a color shader of plain black color, reflectivity of glass, transparency of glass, uncheck cast shadows, turn off emit and receive light in the texture Indirect Lighting Options dialog.
• A simple colored glass can be done by setting the Color button in the Glass transparency shader dialog
• Much more accurate colored glass that should only be used for closeups would be to use the Absorption Color and Absorption Distance parameters in the glass transparency shader. The object should be a closed volume like an extrude, sweep, or solid for best results. Set the color to the color of glass, and the distance so that the color shows stronger as the ray travels further into the object. The Color field for the glass should be white, only the Absorption Color should be set to a strong color for this type of glass.The Constant shader in 2010 is handled by Glow in 2011. 

The Translucency shaders in 2010 are handled by Backlit in 2011. 

The Anisotropic shaders in 2010 are handled by Metallic in 2011. The Filtered Image shader’s color filtering is in the 2011 Image color shader now. "From Color" bump is not in 2011. 

The Fresnel color shader can be useful for fuzzy-looking surfaces like furniture. Set the edge color to a lighter color than the center color and curvy things like couches will look kind of velvety.For car paint use the Metallic shader with Reflection >0% or Glass reflectivity. Try out the low and high clip of the Noise shader to open up more texturing possibilities. (For example you can make metal flecks by using a Noise reflectivity shader with a Cell Voronoi pattern and setting the Low Clip at 50% or higher.)

The Relative Scale values in the Noise and Tiles shaders let you squash the pattern to make them similar to wood grain or other stretched patterns. 

Pavement bump can be used to make a leather bump effect.

Backlit textures should usually have Cast Shadows turned off so that the light inside gets out into the room.