Mirrored Objects and Texturing

[cerulean 15]

Anyone else notice that when you mirror an object it's texture map gets all screwed up? I have tried mirroring before mapping and mirroring before texturing, but it still does it...what good is the mirror command if this keeps happening? Anyone know why this is happeining / how to stop it?

[deadwoods 542]

If it's the same problem I've seen, it looks ok in gmax but NFG in the BAT render

 

I've had it happen a number of times. I seem to get the most success when I group the objects before mirroring. Also it seems to be ok with non-extruded object (i.e. glass windows). I've also had better success with arraying rather than mirroring (i.e. array and rotate 180). 

 

I've tried many times to find and fix the problem, playing with what's textured (object, face) and the type of UVW Mapping. I'd ensure that you have applied a UVW Map.

 

Other than that, when the problems occur, I just recreate the object that was screwed up (i.e. build it fresh for the new wall, rather than mirroring it again).

[SimGoober 2,351]

Had the same happen to me.  Annoying, isn't it...

 

Another glitch I get on occasion ; If I clone window panes and move them, they sometimes just dissappear.  I figured out that they basically have a front and back, and if you clone them to move them to the opposite side (like the opposite wall), you need to rotate them 180 degrees.   This hasn't seemed to matter every single time, but it was very annoying until I figured it out.

[Caliban 2]

[bEGINQUOTE]

4/23/2004 4:50:25 PM[/quoteDATE]

cerulean[/quoteAUTHOR]

Anyone else notice that when you mirror an object it's texture map gets all screwed up? I have tried mirroring before mapping and mirroring before texturing, but it still does it...what good is the mirror command if this keeps happening? Anyone know why this is happeining / how to stop it?

[/quoteMESSAGE][/bEGINQUOTE]

Never had it happen to me so I can't say. But if someone can give me a file where this has happened I'll try to figure out why it happens and hopefully a solution.

EDIT: Now I actually try it with something I made in gMax instead of importing I too get the problem.. looking into it now

[cerulean 15]

yeah now that I am aware of the problem I simply Clone the object(s) rotate it 180 and move it into position, its just strange that it happens...make no sense...makes the mirror command, a very useful tool, completely useless. I have tried everythign from aligning normals to face extrudes and they all seem to suffer the same fate. I haven't tried grouping before mirroring, but the above procedure works well...

 

as far as the windows go, I assume you are using rectangles with UVM maps as described in MaxisBrian's tutorial, and yeah, they are one sided essentially...so copying them from the front of the building to the back of the building will not work, you have to do what i said above, well thats one way anyway...

[Caliban 2]

The problem with rotation is that it only works if the object is symmetrical.

I'm sorry to say I haven't found a solution yet, only some awkward workrounds and they depend on complexity of geometry.

I'm certain the problem is due to the BAT renderer rather than gMax but thats of little help.

[cerulean 15]

well, if its not symetrical then i just break it up into the parts that are symetrical and that works...sorta...but yeah im pretty sure the problem is with the renderer too...its a strange problem. It could have to do with the initial mapping coordinates options of objects like when you extrude a spline and click generate mapping coordinates...which i usually leave checked even though 99 times out of 100 i go back and add a UVM Map, but maybe this initial step is causing the problems?

 

because in general if i make 5 objects, and check the generate mapping coordinates then mirror them, then add a UVM modifier to all 10 objects, it seems like the 5 original objects are mapped with the UVM map for all 10 objects while the 5 mirrored objects appear to be mapped as single objects...

 

as usual i cannot test this till i go home where i have no internet connection right now  but i will try not checking the generate mapping coordinates for created objects...

[Caliban 2]

If you uncheck generate mapping co-ordinates but don't apply a UVW Map modifier, as soon as you preview the texture in the viewport it will turn it back on.

Anyway a mapping higher in the stack will completely replace any below it. Worth trying though I suppose, but I think I've tried many variations now.

[Born78 4]

The Y, X and Z mirror screw up my textures too (I don't remember, but I think it screw up the whole object...not only the textures). But the XY, ZX and YZ mirror works correctly!

[dmscopio 225]

so, anyone have solve this problem?

[Jasoncw 11,840]

no

[ILL Tonkso 1,236]

ITs an annoying bug we cant help, i keep an easilly editable version of the spline around helpfulkl in case i need to clone at a differant angle or something.

[Mickebear 2]

and even then, the mirroring has 50% chance only to succeed, unfortunately

[alidonkey 0]

Sorry for reopenning this thread but I just wanted to report my findings about mirroring objects. I was having the same problem with textures getting all messed up after using the Mirror Selected Objects tool in the tool bar. Then after a little poking around I found that using Mirror under the Parametric Deformers in the Modifiers menu seems to work like a charm. I've mirrored a bunch of objects so far with no problems...*knocks on wood* Hopefully this is some usefull information.

Also make sure that the objects you are mirroring have their Vertex, Edge, Face, etc., Selection in the Edit Mesh Modifier turned off. Otherwise the results might not be what you want.

(I also appologize if this is talked about in another thread, but this was the only thread I found in the search about mirroring)

[david1314 44]

I think it happens relative to the displaced distance of the pivot from the center of the UVW (hence why semetrical objects work). I've noticed it's incredibly prevailent and consistant on props that were totally offset from their pivots by 16m in two directions...

I also think there may be problems when the UVW map isn't applied in the same way after being mirrored (i.e. on a non-semetrical object, the UVW would apply to the actual as though the mirror object were being applied to). That's just kinda my guess based on how the maps actually look when rendered.

Probably worth some testing if anyone really wanted to look into it.

[alidonkey 0]

I'm still playing around with it. The way that I described above has worked so far with me without any texture problems and I'm stubborn enough to actually believe that there must be a way to mirror objects successfully without having to reconstruct them. I'll continue hacking at it...

[Odd from Sweden 129]

To cut it short:

Do not use the mirror COMMAND. It is bugged as reported.

Do use the mirror MODIFIER. It works without problem, just as alidonkey reported.

This has been discussed before here in the forum and the above is what has been concluded after quite some testing and discussing.

Happy batting!