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[wallworm]

Here is a new document to help you start thinking about texturing world geometry in 3ds Max.

[apm1]

Hi Shawn, I have some questions about texturing and UVs in Max:

Im Trying to find a quick and convenient way to apply tiling textures to surfaces without the stretching.

Ive had a quick look over the content you posted and Im thinking of buying CorVex.

Have some questions about this:

I see CorVex places much emphasis on working from splines-Can existing geometry in the form of editable polys be textured in the way described above using CorVex?

Is it possible to select faces of the geometry and apply the tiling texture to those faces ( and manipulate it- i.e scale, rotate, align )?

Many thanks

[wallworm]

Im Trying to find a quick and convenient way to apply tiling textures to surfaces without the stretching.

If you are sticking with simple standard primtives, you have the option of using what is called Real World Scale. RWS lets the object derive the UV scales from the bitmap texture in the material's diffuse texture--and then the scale is determined in that texture when you turn on Real World Scale inside that texture. (The bitmap coordinates section has a checkbox for that and when on, you can set the physical dimensions of that texture.)

Another way is to apply a single UVW Map to multiple objects at once in Box mode (or whatever mode is best for that moment).

So, in essence, you can control UVW in either the material OR in the geometry UVW (or both).

Ive had a quick look over the content you posted and Im thinking of buying CorVex.

Have some questions about this:

I see CorVex places much emphasis on working from splines-Can existing geometry in the form of editable polys be textured in the way described above using CorVex?

I maintain that you will not find a more convenient way to work with tiling textures and making brushes at the same time than just learning CorVex. If you are familiar with Max and how brushes in Source work, there just isn't a better way. One of my good friends who I never thought would ever change his mind on using Hammer recently told me that he now understands why it's better to use Max for this and is now building he next level entirely in Max.

That being said, to answer the specific question.

The closest way to make currently existing editable poly objects to work like a CorVex geometry works is to use another commercial plugin called Polygon Map. It will allow you to create seamlessly flowing UVs around the object often in a couple seconds. If you don't have polygon map, your only options are either UVW Map or Unwrap UVW.

Is it possible to select faces of the geometry and apply the tiling texture to those faces ( and manipulate it- i.e scale, rotate, align )?

Yes.

General solution with no plugins is this:

1) Apply a Poly Select Modifier to your object.
2) Go to Polygon sub-object mode and select the Face(s) to edit
3) While still in Polygon sub-object mode, add a UVW Map modifier
4) Set the tool as needed with the UVW controls OR edit the gizmo sub-object and move/rotate/scale it.

[K@rt]

As Shawn says the "unaided" by scripts or plugins solution to the problem is to apply a PolySelect modifier to your object, select the face you want to edit, then put on a UWVMap with a planer map. You can do this for each individual face in your object, but it is a little time consuming. You can set up one box like that then clone it and edit it, but you will still need to adjust the parameters for each UVWMap, takes quite a lot of planning and thought.

Corvex now essentially gives you more or less the same control over texturing that the face edit tool does in hammer, each face can be manipulated independently and assigned different materials. It is a little different in its approach which you need to get used to a little bit when planning things, but I think that the majority of the texturing can be handled directly with its default controls, with maybe the odd occasion when post-corvex, specific UWMapping may need to be applied.

I don't know about how much you have used hammer, but as I got more experienced I didn't the vast majority of my brush manipulation in hammer using vertex mode. It is by far the best tool for making changes to large numbers of brushes, changing heights of buildings etc. (provided you know what you are doing). Working with corvex is (ironically) very similar to that I find, except that corvex is probably simpler and it is considerably less likely you will mess up :)

[apm1]

thanks guys-

Ive been messing around with various brush editors since Hammer was WorldCraft- although Ive been out of the game for some time. looking to get good with 3D so this is why Im learning Max. Geometry editing is really intuitive. Texturing is just so...weird. stretching everywhere like crazy.

so with CoVex, is all geometry created from splines with a height dimension?- doesn't that limit the amount of geometry manipulation you can do compared with an edit poly?

is this the plugin you mentioned?

http://3d-kstudio.com/product/polygonmap/

best,

-A

[wallworm]

so with CoVex, is all geometry created from splines with a height dimension?

Sort of. That's really too simplistic of a description. There are too many controls and functions available in it to boil it down to just that. Your best bet is to watch some of the videos I've made that demonstrate CorVex. You can find them with the docs on CorVex. I haven't demonstrated all of the CorVex functions yet, actually. You can see the basic layout of a level made quickly with CorVex in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5on5u4nMzzQ&list=PLlBuIU3hqWiyTldiLJWvAbegRq5Gt4Ifb

doesn't that limit the amount of geometry manipulation you can do compared with an edit poly?

No.

The greatest hurdle that I think anyone has is simply abandoning the Hammer mentality to designing brushes. That is really the only main challenge. The reason I say this is that you can't work efficiently with CorVex (or Max) if you think of building and editing in the same fashion you do in Hammer. So once you start thinking about new design strategies, you'll see that all the limitations were just perceptual.

Beyond that, there are other reasons this isn't really true. You can always apply an Edit Poly on top of a CorVex object (or collapse to editable poly) and now edit it with epoly tools.

is this the plugin you mentioned?

Yes. I've always bought through the VG Plugins site, so I can't vouch for the site. There is a free demo version but k@rt has told me the demo is very handicapped with a function to pause Max when you use it.

[apm1]

thanks that sounds good. Good video- Ill buy Corvex

[apm1]

Hi Wallworm guys, So I've got corvex, and it works great when I make a corvex object- textures tile well just like in your videos, but when I convert it to edit poly to manipulate the geometry I run into the original problem of texture stretching (i guess because its not a corvex object anymore =). Sorry if I'm being dumb but I'm just trying to get my head around this.

Im not sure how I would go about creating semi-complex geometry for example like this brushwork:

http://41.media.tumblr.com/784666c73443f3eda68a6de5a898832c/tumblr_ngj007dhs01u34e3ko1_1280.png

but still have all the texture options given by corvex? and have tiling across the surfaces without stretching.

The only way I can imagine creating something of that kind of complexity is by using the edit verts/edges sub object tools.

[wallworm]

There are a couple things. These are just tips and not rules.

1) If you want to edit geometry on an editable poly without stretching the UVs, you can check the Preserve UVs checkbox in the modify tab.

2) A lot of things Hammer users make on-the-fly (because they are used to Hammer being the only way to make geometry) should often be a model instead of a brush.

3) In most cases, you shouldn't need to convert a CorVex object into editable poly. Often you can remain parametric with CorVex objects. So instead of collapsing, edit the splines controlling them. I'd keep the CorVex live until very late in your design.

4) If you do want to collapse CorVex, think modularly. So in the arch case, create the arch on the ground as a corvex object (probably in Wall Mode) and when happy, convert that single arch to editable poly and tag it as a concave brush. Then instance that object around the scene.

5) For arch brushes... save time: Arch Primitive

6) More UV help: Learn how to utilize a standard UVW Map modifier to sub-selections of objects: Poly Select > Polygon Sub-Object Mode + New UWV Map Modifier. For brushes, stick with Box, Cylinder and Planar.

7) Learn how to use the Unwrap UVW modifier and explore the Flatten Mapping function. Remember that in the UVW Editor you can flatten currently selected faces.

8) Another brush time saver is this: Use World Scale on primitives (like brushes or spline). Look into the docs on what that is (in both objects and in textures).

Those are most of the tips I can think of off the top of my head. You will have to take some time and learn some basic UV concepts in Max, so expect some initial growing pains as you change how you think about things. The sooner you learn how to apply single parameters to many objects are once, the better. For example, make a scene with 20 random boxes and apply a brick texture. Notice how they all have what Hammer would call Fit to each Side. Now select all brushes at once and add a UVW Map modifier and set the mapping type to Box. Change the map height/width/length as needed. Notice how all are updated at once.

[apm1]

Thanks that's very helpful!