INSIDE 3DS MAX® 7 [Electronic resources]

Adobe Creative Team

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  • Planar Mapping

    When you apply a UVW Map modifier to an object or to selected object faces, the mapping gizmo defaults to Planar mapping coordinates, the simplest type of UVW mapping coordinates. Planar mapping simply projects a flat version of your bitmap onto your selected object or faces. (Procedural maps, such as Noise, Checker, and Smoke, don't need specific mapping coordinates.) Planar mapping works best when applied to surfaces that are mainly parallel to the mapping plane itself. If polygons on the surface slant more than 45 degrees away from parallel, then you'll probably see smearing or stretching of a bitmap texture along those areas.

    Planar mapping coordinates come in handy when you wish to create custom bitmap textures that fit your geometry perfectly. The basic approach is to apply the 3ds max rendering feature Render Bounding Box/Selected. This feature allows you to render an image of a selected object to specific dimensions constrained by an orthographic "bounding box" view. You can then load the image into any image editor and use it as a template for painting a custom bitmap texture for the object. When you're finished with the painted bitmap, load it into the appropriate map slot (usually Diffuse Color) and apply it to the original object. Since the object has already been UVW-mapped, your custom-painted details will fit it exactly.

    Using Planar Mapping for Texturing

    In the following example, we'll see how to use Planar mapping to create a custom bitmap texture for a simple jet fighter model.

    The scene shows a futuristic fighter plane model built using box modeling and MeshSmooth techniques. The model is split into two major componentsthe upper and lower fuselage surfaceswith a Fuselage Middle Strip piece running around the midline of the plane. The basic jet design is rather flat, so applying a Planar UVW map to the top and bottom surfaces will enable you to apply custom bitmap textures covering the majority of the plane's body. (You could then apply a separate Cylindrical UVW map to the Fuselage Middle Strip piece to finish it off.)

    1.

    From this book's DVD, load the file Future Jet Planar Map.max (Figure 11.1).

    Figure 11.1. The Future Jet Planar Map (Render Bounding Box/Selected) example scene.

    [View full size image]

    2.

    In the Camera01 viewport, click the Fuselage Top piece to select it. (If you go to the Modify panel, you'll see that it already has Planar UVW mapping coordinates applied.) Now click the Render Type drop-down menu (on your top, Main toolbar) to bring up a list of render options. Select the Box Selected option.

    3.

    Right-click your Top viewport to activate it, then select Rendering > Render > Render. When you do, a Render Bounding Box/Selected menu will appear (Figure 11.2).

    Figure 11.2. The Render Bounding Box/Selected menu.

    4.

    The Future Jet Height and Width orthographic rendering values are constrained by the Constrain Aspect Ratio check box, below; in most cases this box should be checked. The width of the top-view bounding box is 348 pixels; the height is 512 pixels.

    5.

    Change the Height value to 800 and hit Enter. When you do, you'll see the width "scale up" to match the new Height value.

    6.

    Click the Render button. After a moment, the image will render (Figure 11.3).

    Figure 11.3. The Render Bounding Box/Selected top rendering of the Future Jet fuselage.

    For this example, I've applied a black wireframe texture. This enables you to follow the actual wireframe contours of your model as a template or guide in placing painted details in your image editing program. You can also render a shaded version of the model or one with a preliminary bitmap texture already applied that you can then paint over or retouch.

    7.

    Click the Save Bitmap button in the Rendered Frame window and save the image in whatever file format you want. You can then use this example image as a painting template in your image editor.

    8.

    To see an example of the basic Planar maps applied to the jet, load the file Future Jet Top Texture.max from this book's DVD. When the file loads, activate the Camera01 viewport and render the scene.

    9.

    The rendered image (Figure 11.4) shows this simple fighter mapped with a basic texture applied to the Fuselage Top piece. I used the Render Bounding Box/Selected top view of the fighter as a template for the details, which I created in Adobe Photoshop. You can see the texture I painted by opening the Material Editor and looking at the Top Planar Map material's Diffuse bitmap image (Future Jet Top Color.tif).

    Figure 11.4. A rendered example of the Fighter Jet with a basic Planar-mapped texture on the top fuselage piece.