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Textures that scale automatically : image props do - 3D models don't. Why?


Mattheng

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I have tried this repeatedly.

If I make an image prop of an image I can scale it, symmetrically or asymmetrically and it works fine. The texture "knows" that I am scaling the Image prop and scales itself accordingly

I can apply the same texture to a surface but then I have to use the OIP to scale the texture or it doesn't change. This is obviously infeasible when I have hundreds of polygons (e.g. leaves on a tree) and doesn't seem to work anyway.

If I just scale the texture directly in the resource browser it seems to forget what it was applied to and no longer fit properly which takes you back to the hundreds of polygons problem again.

How can I get any normal texture to act like the texture in an image prop?

I have asked this before but since then the fact that it works on Image Props has made me realise that VW can do it so it must be possible.

Mustn't it?

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It is frustrating. VW doesn't seem to have UV Mapping of textures, which is why images applied to polygons don't scale and why tree leaves, etc. don't scale. But, as you pointed out, VW does have the ability to scale image props. So UV Mapping must be in there somewhere, but not fully implemented? Only half implemented? For it to work on everything, you would need an option in the render tab along with Plane, Sphere, Cylinder, Perimeter, that would be UVM. Every other 3D app I've ever worked with, whether free, cheap, expensive or otherwise, have this. It's pretty standard stuff. But I can't find it anywhere in VW. I've posted several times about it but never got a response from anyone. So I'm assuming it just isn't there and there's no way to do it.

It really is a hurdle to developing 3D plants for use in VW. Or any other 3d models that use UV mapping of textures. Which is a very common thing to do in the 3D world. The lack of it renders many models available on the web useless, or at least limited.

One work around, if you're dealing with .3ds models, is to set a scale when you are importing it, and (if I remember correctly) it will adjust the UV mapped texture during import (so again, it seems to be able to handle UV mapping, but just once, then you can't change it). So if you want several sizes, just re-imort it several times and use different scale settings. I'm not positive this will work, but I seem to recall doing that once with a .3ds gravestone I brought in.

I really hope someone from Nemetschek will chime in here, and let us know whether it is possible but just not obvious, or if it isn't possible, tell us when it will be?

It's good to see I'm not the only one frustrated by this. At least there's two of us.

Thanks.

Monadnoc

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Pleased to hear it's not just me too.

This wouldn't be some perfidious method of ensuring that we only buy VB Visuals 3D efforts?

Don't get me wrong, they seem very well done but

a) They are a bit expensive and

b) They are a bit lacking in content.

Artlantis seems to have some link up with VB Visual too but it's all a bit vague on what you are getting exactly with the plants and if, indeed, it's any different from what VB Visual are selling direct anyway.

Hmmm, any Artlantis / VB Visual users out there care to talk about what you get? Or any other program, VUE for example...?

Matt

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