Image Fills & Gradients

[Gryffe]

Long time Watcher first time Poster, Text version of Talk Radio . This could be the first of many !

Thanks in advance for any help.

How do I get my Image Fills and Gradients to show up when I render. I can see them fine in 2 D Plan View as long as it is just a 2D shape if I extrude a shape for instance they disappear. No matter what mode of Render I use they do not show up.

I did actually read the manual but obviously I am missing something.

Thanks.

I am using Spotlight 2010 with RW

17" MacBook Pro with 3G Ram

A Blank Look and A Nervous Twitch

[Ray Libby]

Welcome to the Community Board.

Image fills and Gradients are 2D only. Once you extrude they will not show.

If you want the original 2D object to show in a 2D view, duplicate the object before you extrude, then extrude the duplicate. Select both the 2D object and 3D object and create a symbol. This is a hybrid symbol that will only show 2D objects in a 2D view and 3D objects in a 3D view.

If you only need the image to show when rendering, you need to create a texture out of the image and apply the texture to the extrude (make sure the extrude has a solid fill).

[Kool Aid]

I find it very difficult to understand

(i) how gradients & image fills could be applied to arbitrary 3D-objects: where'd they start from, where'd they go, how'd they behave in between;

(ii) why is is not possible to apply an image as such on a 3D-object, at the user's risk & discretion and to his or her frustration.

With the time & effort spent in the development of (mostly, but not entirely, useless) image props, surely image mapping/draping could have been implemented?

EDIT

I decided to try with a gradient as a texture. No-go zone. Hopeless.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Kool Aid

[Gryffe]

Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try.

It does seem to be a very long road to put an image or a gradient on a surface and see it in 3D. I have no CAD training but I would have thought this should be an easy thing to do.

I can always use a projection screen and put an image on that. Then I would be wanting VW to play a video on it and then we have a whole new can of worms. Oops ! Forgot you can't play Video on any of the TV or Projection Screens

I was able to do this image and gradient stuff no problem ,years ago on Strata 3D. Maybe I am missing the obvious.

I am sure I will be back again with this one.

Thanks Guys

[Kool Aid]

Strata, Artlantis etc. are in another category of beasts as comes to assigning an image to a 3D-face. I don't believe you can do (or expect to be able to do) the same in VW.

[Pat Stanford]

Draping not so much, but have you taken a look at the new Decal Texture function in VW2010? It makes it fairly easy to apply images to textured objects. Renderworks only function though.

[Kool Aid]

Decal? No. What's a decal, except over-priced decoration of automobiles for hair-dressers?

(A decal (pronounced /ˈdiːk?l, ˈdiːkəl, ˈdɛːkl/) or transfer (chiefly British usage) is a plastic, cloth paper or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for "decalcomania." The word Decalcomania is derived from the French word "decalquer," and was coined by Simon Fran?ois Ravenet about 1750. The "mania" was added during the Decal craze of the late 1800s.)

[Pat Stanford]

A decal is a patch of texture different than the main texture of the object. Useful for putting things like posters on walls. Done through the Render tab of the Object Info Pallette.

The VW Help on the subject is typical, but should be enough to get you started.

[Kool Aid]

R i g h t. Should I ever progress to VW 2010 in my produxion (sorry, could not resist!) work, I may start to apply Warhol's Marilyns & Campbell's Cans to walls.

Anyway, thou bringest good tidings!