BAT Help - Texturing Issues

[aldara6166 109]

Bixel,

 

Have you connected all of your sliced cylinders to make one solid window, or are you trying to texture several different objects to make one window?

 

If you haven't combined them in to one solid object for each window, you could try that.  Go to your create panel, select the first option (the sphere, forgot what it was called. ).  In the drop down box, change simple to compound.  Then, choose connect (upper right corner of the menu).  Then select the choose operand button about an inch below the connect option.  This will then give you the small white cross that will allow you to choose different pieces to combine in to one single object.  It is kind of like creating an image with different layers in Paint Shop Pro or Photo Shop.

 

Then, you can texture the object and play with the different settings for the UVW map...Box, Face, Cylinder, etc.

 

Hope that helps...

[bixel 1,223]

I could do that, but then I would have to combine all the textures into a single large map. As it stands the different colored horizontal bands have a slightly larger radii, meaning they extrude out slightly farther than the windows themselves.
Later when I get back from work I can post another pick to show all the levels of detail better.

I created window textures for single window boxs of varying design, that is why I need each window face to be independant.

I thought about first making this with a spline arc, closing the spline at a desired width then extruding it horzontally. Then using vertexs draw in each level of detail and extruide accordingly. However I have done this in the past and it was very messy, and i couldn't get the window textures correct so I opted to draw rectangles within the arc vertices then umv mapping them each. Unfortunatly it resulted in bad scaling and dimensions plus the fact that my glass windows were not curved. Maybe I should post this problem in the Modeling thread, since it seems to be both a modelling problem and a texture problem.

Oooh this is tough, I wouldn't go through all the trouble for this but I am re-creating a perfect copy of an actual building so it must be perfect. Many thanks to any who have some ideas.

[DjSkynet 0]

Hello, I have a problem with texturing. Once I have created a new building and textured the roof...

 problem becomes after rendering.

This problem never happen to me in 3d studio max.
Could anyone tell me simple what to do with this problem?

This is my second building created in BAT. It is an Polish art museum, with giant panoramic picture of battle under the Raclawice, located in Wroclaw city.

P.S. Sorry for my english

[SC4BOY 20]

Date: 8/15/2005 9:06:27 AM Author: bixel

Alright I got a small problem. I don't know how to texture these windows correctly. This the model thus far. I'm not the best at curves so inorder to get all the windows right I used several sliced cylinders to break up areas into windows.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

quote>  

 

     I posted an answer to this question on the other spot you posted.. Take a glance there...  GL                                                                                                  

[Odd from Sweden 129]

DJ skynet, try to change the width of the roof material. If textures are too detailed, they will create such graphical errors at low-resolution renders.

Very nice building btw!!

[tchntm43 0]

I'm having some issues with windows. I want to apply a light blue - dark blue gradient as a texture. However, when I apply a texture to an object, the opacity setting doesn't work at all, and so my windows become opaque (and thus the internal nightlighting won't be of any use). I'm pretty sure it isn't due to my video card, as the rendered version also shows opaque windows, and since the rendered image isn't calculating textures and transparencies in real-time, the video card shouldn't be involved there. Are there any specific settings in Gmax that have to be changed from the default setting to get this to work right?

Also, how does the opacity mapping work? Does it take a greyscale image where white is opaque and black is transparent? Will this work at all if I can't get textures to be transparent the regular way.

-Justin Smith

[6459978. 106]

tchntm43:  That's a bizarre problem you're having. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. But let's just go through this step by step. You create a new material in the material editor, right? Now to change the opacity you should change the percentage in the green box [below] to whatever you want. This change should immediately be reflected on the little sphere of your texture at the top left.

 

Now what you're possibly doing wrong now is changing the number in the red box [below] which would explain your problem. That setting pertains to the opacity map if you are using one. Opacity maps work just like you said, with white being opaque and black being transparent. An important thing to note is that if you are using an opacity map, you are bypassing the overall opacity percentage (green box), since an opacity map explicitly states all pixel opacities instead of just one global value. That help?

 

 

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/3166/texturething3xl.jpg align=baseline>

[tchntm43 0]

No, I have not touched anything under the Maps header. Here are a couple screenshots to help with solving this. The first is have the texture set up on an object, where pretty much everything else besides opacity change is properly set.

And then I change opacity to 50% and click apply again (I don't know if I actually need to reclick apply, but either way, I don't get a transparent object. I also circled everything just to show I have set this up correctly.

[6459978. 106]

Okay, well just because you don't get a transparent object in the GMax viewport is not a sure indicator that transparency isn't working--- how does it look when you render it?

[JayStimson 211]

I created this arch using splines, 2 rectangles at the ends and 4 arcs, and got them to align perfectly and then attached them. Everything looks perfect and lines up but I can't seem to get the texture to apply itself to the outer surfaces. I have a UVW map assigned to the arch but no luck. It worked fine on other spline pieces I attached to each other but doesn't seem to like this puppy for some reason. Can someone point me in the right direction ? Here's the pic.

I changed the color to yellow for visibility in the pic. It's final color will be the dark brown (hopefully) as on the frame pieces in the background of the pic.

[bixel 1,223]

JayStimson: If you are trying to apply UMV to the arch at that angle you might have problems. I always make sure they are perfectly aligned with either the x or y axis, ie. 90 degreess or 0 degrees. select the object from the Left or Front views, then apply the UMV map then rotate to desired position. That always works for me.

[JayStimson 211]

I did that bixel. I couldn't make anything without aligning it to the axis's first (I'm space orientation challenged). I only rotated it for the pic. After more futzing around it appears I don't really have the all of the vertexs (vertices actually I think <shrug>. Anyway, I'm playing around with some other approaches (building it in smaller pieces), but no luck so far. Any ideas on how to make this piece using an easier method. 4 arcs and 2 rectangles may be too much for gmax to get the vertices of all 6 pieces aligned perfectly. I don't know. I'm open to suggestions. It's a bit frustrating. This is the last piece I need for my little project. Thanks for responding though. Much appreciated.

EDIT: After playing around a bit I ended up making a 4 sided tube with slice on from 0 to 180 and I got the piece i wanted and it textured fine. Kinda disappointed with the other approach not working (in my mind it should have) but such is life.

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 9/1/2005 6:11:39 PM
Author: 6459978.
Okay, well just because you don't get a transparent object in the GMax viewport is not a sure indicator that transparency isn't working--- how does it look when you render it?

quote>
I wouldn't be wasting people's time here if I didn't test render it many times already. I also rendered it as a model to place on lots in the lot editor, just to be sure of how it was going to look. It looks the same.

Also, I now have another problem with the Sunnyside Up Apts building I have been working on. When I render the image, some of the textures disappear. This didn't happen until I started cloning lots of objects to decorate the building with (bicycles, potted plants, etc.). The polygon count is currently just over 200,000. Is that high? It appears to be somewhat random which and how many textures disappear, and if I immediately render again after the first render, it is usually different (and usually there are more missing the second time around). This strikes me as the sort of thing a memory shortage would cause, but with 1 GB of ram I really shouldn't have a problem with that, should I? Furthermore, I would expect it to give me a low memory message of some sort rather than just tossing out random textures.

[brtim2 11]

Date: 9/5/2005 11:46:35 PM
Author: tchntm43

I wouldn't be wasting people's time here if I didn't test render it many times already. I also rendered it as a model to place on lots in the lot editor, just to be sure of how it was going to look. It looks the same.

quote>

While I don't have an answer for the last part, I do have one for the quote above.

I stumbled across this before by accident. I think if you try and use a texture with the global opacity settings it won't work, however if you use a solid color instead of loading a texture, that will work. (Done that many a times for transparent windows, just a solid blue with global opacity.)

But, if you take a look at the picture, this is how you can achieve texture opacity. You just can't see it in gmax, only in previews and in the LE. (You have no idea how many renders it took me till I figured this out.) And I've always had the global opacity set at a certain level, but I don't think that is needed. However, if this doesn't work without global opacity set, then you need to try that too. In thios test the global opacity is set at 50. Hope this helps.



(and I'm only doing this because I want my hands on the green apartments you made. Only kidding. Or am I?)

[aldara6166 109]

Date: 9/5/2005 11:46:35 PM Author: tchntm43

Date: 9/1/2005 6:11:39 PM Author: 6459978. Okay, well just because you don't get a transparent object in the GMax viewport is not a sure indicator that transparency isn't working--- how does it look when you render it?

quote> I wouldn't be wasting people's time here if I didn't test render it many times already. I also rendered it as a model to place on lots in the lot editor, just to be sure of how it was going to look. It looks the same. Also, I now have another problem with the Sunnyside Up Apts building I have been working on. When I render the image, some of the textures disappear. This didn't happen until I started cloning lots of objects to decorate the building with (bicycles, potted plants, etc.). The polygon count is currently just over 200,000. Is that high? It appears to be somewhat random which and how many textures disappear, and if I immediately render again after the first render, it is usually different (and usually there are more missing the second time around). This strikes me as the sort of thing a memory shortage would cause, but with 1 GB of ram I really shouldn't have a problem with that, should I? Furthermore, I would expect it to give me a 'low memory' message of some sort rather than just tossing out random textures.

quote>

 

I can answer the last part.  I tried to find where I saw the answer before but couldn't, so I'll just relay the answer to you.

 

First, select the entire BAT.  I think it is easiest to do this in Perspective View.

 

Second, go to File / Save Selected.

 

Next, save this as a temporary file name which is not the same as your BAT.  I use temp.gmax just to keep it straight.

 

Next, go to File / New.  When it asks, select New All.

 

Lastly, go to File / Merge and find the temp.gmax (or whatever you named it) and select Open.

 

GMAX will now merge your temporary file in to your new BAT.  Simply do a Save As and select the original BAT name and replace it.

 

Hope that helps...PM me if these instructions aren't clear. 

[tchntm43 0]

Brtim2: Your advice worked very well. As far as opacity maps go, I am guessing from your screenshot that black is transparent and white is opaque, right?

Now I will easily be able to create windows which have a gradient from dark blue to very light blue towards the top, as well as having an opacity gradient from transparent at the bottom to less-so towards the top. I think it is going to look great!

aldara6166: I will try your suggestion overnight (as I wish to be able to use my computer at the moment and BAT renders kinda prevent me from doing anything else.) I hope it works.

Thank you both.

-Justin Smith

[brtim2 11]

Date: 9/6/2005 8:34:49 PM
Author: tchntm43
Brtim2: Your advice worked very well. As far as opacity maps go, I am guessing from your screenshot that black is transparent and white is opaque, right?

quote>

Excellent, glad it works. I have not tried it with another Opacity Map, only same Opacity Map as the texture itself. But I think you are correct in assuming this. Maybe I'll try it out later.

[tchntm43 0]

Hm. Aldara6166, your solution did not work. I am going to try something radical, and delete and reload all textures.

Also, I seem to have problems giving names to my new textures. Frequently when trying to name them, BAT crashes when I type the first letter, regardless of what that letter is.

[tchntm43 0]

Well, my radical idea did not work, either. I rendered after creating every new texture and applying it to each object. When I attempted to apply it to a particular object, all of my textures in the render vanished. I then deleted the texture I had just created, and removed the UV Map from the object I had applied it to. No good, the textures still would not show. I went back and removed another step of texturing, but I could not get the textures which had previously rendered fine. Then, upon exiting gmax, I was presented with an error message. I've gotten this error message once before, actually. It happened right around the last time I started losing textures.

Here are some screenshots to demonstrate the problem and facilitate solutions:


Here you can clearly see that there are textures on many of the surfaces. The colors that appear strange are just the default colors of the objects as gmax created them. The bicycles actually have no texturing, as solid colors work just fine for them.


And here is what my Sunnyside Up Apartments has been reduced to when actually rendered. :-(


And this is the nice present gmax left me with when I closed the program. I am pretty sure this is the same error message I got right around the other time I was having this texturing problem.

I'm really at a loss now about what to do.

[brtim2 11]

Date: 9/7/2005 11:28:54 PM
Author: tchntm43

I'm really at a loss now about what to do.

quote>

Well I don't have the previous experience to know what to do about this as I have never had this problem, however, I wonder if the lighting/camera rig has anything to do with it?

Again, I don't know, this is only a suggestion, but have you replaced the cameralight rig with the one in this thread?

Try that, it might not work, but it might. If that doesn't work could you provide a screenshot of your 'gmax material editor' window? Sorta like the one I offered up above? Maybe we can see a problem there.

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 9/8/2005 3:00:32 AM
Author: brtim2

Date: 9/7/2005 11:28:54 PM

Author: tchntm43

I'm really at a loss now about what to do.

quote>

Well I don't have the previous experience to know what to do about this as I have never had this problem, however, I wonder if the lighting/camera rig has anything to do with it?

Again, I don't know, this is only a suggestion, but have you replaced the cameralight rig with the one in this thread?

Try that, it might not work, but it might. If that doesn't work could you provide a screenshot of your 'gmax material editor' window? Sorta like the one I offered up above? Maybe we can see a problem there.

quote>
The building doesn't use the huge lighting rig that there is a problem with. It's not big enough.

Here's a screenshot. This is the texture for the sides of the walls.

[tchntm43 0]

DISCOVERY... and possible solution!

I had been planning to save a single wall from the building into a separate file to see if rendering from that one file would still generate the problem. If it did, I was going to upload it and ask someone here to download it and verify my problem.

So I ungrouped it from the other walls, and then I decided to render it (the first render since starting my computer up), hiding every other object. It rendered fine, so I unhid the rest of the building, and without regrouping the other walls I rendered the whole thing. All of the walls rendered perfectly fine, but the roof top objects were still missing. I had the beginnings of a suspicion now, and surely enough, all the roof objects were grouped together. I ungrouped them, and now all of my textures are displaying properly in the render.

Here's what I think... If you have several objects that have their own UV Mapped textures, and you then group them together, Gmax may have a problem with it. The solution is probably to ungroup everything before rendering. However, I don't know for sure how this will relate to objects which are grouped together and then given a collective UV Mapped texture. I will have to find out. I guess this is a rare bug probably caused by some minor compatibility issue with some part of my computer that is unusual in some way.

Am I correct that no one else has experienced this problem?

[debussyman 1,348]

tchntm43:
The loosing textures problem is very common in gmax, I get it all the time in grouped objects aswell that in ungrouped ones, the solution that usually works for me is saving, exiting the program and reloading, sometimes it doesn't work is very random, you can also try merging your objects into a clean scene; avoid merging cameras and default lights which might be currupted. Hope this help solving your problem.

[brtim2 11]

Ah yes. I do remember reading quite a few places that before you start to render to make sure nothing is grouped. Nothing, nada, zilch. I don't know why, but people had reported all kinds of problems (not just texture issues) with objects that were grouped. So, I always avoid grouping, and I have not had a major texture issue like you have experienced. I hope this helps you out and you get to be able to render it fine.

And on a side note, saving a scene that has grouped objects in is is also a not so good idea. And if you do plan to group objects together for whatever reason, make sure the lightrig and the camera are not part of the grouping, that could cause problems also.

But, I hope you have figured your problem out and everything works for you!

[ILL Tonkso 1,236]

Here, i made a UVW Mapping Tutorial available...

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=68240 Here

[tchntm43 0]

Date: 9/8/2005 3:14:35 PM
Author: debussyman
tchntm43:
The 'loosing textures' problem is very common in gmax, I get it all the time in grouped objects aswell that in ungrouped ones, the solution that usually works for me is saving, exiting the program and reloading, sometimes it doesn't work is very random, you can also try merging your objects into a clean scene; avoid merging cameras and default lights which might be currupted. Hope this help solving your problem.

quote>
Well, you were correct. Eventually, I began to get the same problem again even with ungrouped objects. Even when I chose to hide all objects except one, it would render without the texture.

I had tried the method of creating a new file and merging the old information into it, but that did not work either. What I am doing now is, whenever I run into this problem, I select all objects (first deleting the camera handle and LODs from previous render), and save selected as. Then I work using the new file. This seems to be good for a number of renders before the problem sets in on the new file. Then I repeat the process and save it back over the original file. This way, I need 2 save files for a building that has these problems. So far, it has worked out fine.

[fantnet 0]

Help! I am having a hellish time trying to apply multiple textures to a single object. The Tutorial really doesnt help please help.

Thanks!

[scba 179]

This question is relating back to the ones on page one; issues with getting the texturing thing to work. I don't have the APPLY button, either. I see what you're saying, click on the Show Map in Viewport button, but it won't let me whenever I have a custom or given texture, only on their spheres. How do I get it to light up, I have the object selected otherwise.

[Former User 225 1]

I am currently having trouble when I import a model from another 3D program and attempt to texture it, when I apply texture to the model surface some of the model surface dissapears from view, and does not show up when rendered, here is what I am talking about

[ElBarto92 7]

Hi. Sorry if this question's already been answered, but...

I'm having trouble applying textures. The little apply button doesn't light up (and yes, I have the thing I want to apply the texture to selected). If it makes any difference: In the material editor window, the texture shows up as a flat picture, not a sphere. If someone could please help...