CGTalk - Texturing a hose

Papigiulio

04-16-2009, 02:06 AM

Not sure if this is the right thread, either this one or the 3D Max main thread.

Texturing a hose, it's harder than I thought it would be. I just have a simple spline, sweep modifier and then collapsed the stack to an editable poly. See image.

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/hose_01.jpg

Now i thought I was smart and just add a unwrap modifier and stitch the seams. But that alone takes a friggin long time. First detach all faces then reattach in the right order. But it worked a little, seemed like it would texture very smoothly... see image 2

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/hose_02.jpg

But alas, I was wrong. Since the hose is not a straight shape, the corner spots in the uvw unwrap modifier shouldnt be straight, but a bit slant....thussss the texture looks distorted right now...

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/hose_03.jpg

. So after i first stitch everything I have to resize every corner.... Surely there must be a more easy way to texture a hose? Any ideas?

Thanks.

Marcel

04-16-2009, 12:41 PM

Mapping a hose like this in the UVW Unwrap editor is horrible.

Always try to model with the UVs in the back of your mind. When you convert from the spline to the poly object there is an options to create UV's somwewhere (been a while since I used Max). Otherwise you can use a 'Loft' instead.

soulburn3d

04-16-2009, 03:32 PM

Yes, in your original spline, before collapsing, make sure you have "Generate Mapping Coords" checked in the rendering rollout, then there's no need for unwrapping.

- Neil

Papigiulio

04-17-2009, 01:22 AM

Thanks Marcel and Soulburn for the suggestions. I have tried what you guys told me, but unfortunately it didn't work out as hoped.

I started with a "straight" spline, checked generate mapping cords. After that used a sweepmodifier, textured and applied the uvw unwrap modifier.

The thing I notice is that when used a bend modifier the texture remains very nice, but when I use a pathdeform tool (Since the shape of the hose is not a simple bend curve), the texture messes up again.

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/hose_04.jpg

Thanks again though

soulburn3d

04-17-2009, 01:52 AM

That could just be an artifact of using too few sides in your sweep. Try adding more steps in your interpolation value in the sweep modifier. Also try more steps in your spline. Also, is there any reason to use the sweep modifier? Will just setting the spline to renderable do what you want? (since your cross section looks pretty round).

- Neil

Papigiulio

04-17-2009, 03:01 AM

Thanks soulburn for the feedback, really appreciate it. I decided to put your comment to the test and created 9 different hoses!

Blue: starting with the standard line (removed the sweep modifier) 8 sides and from interpolation 0, 1 and 2. As you said, the bigger the interpolation the smoother the texture becomes (sounds like a comon duh :P) but it aint. Corners still mess around.

Green: These hoses are same as the first 3 (blue) but now WITH the sweep modifier. As you can see it doesn't change anything unfortunately.

And last but not least

Yellow: Here I copied the 3 blue ones and just increased the sides from 8 to 12.

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/test_01.jpg

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/test_02.jpg

http://www.papigiulio.com/images/forum/test_03.jpg

Conclusion....Well you were right heh. Mind you, it helps only a little, plus I have to mind the polygons (lowpoly modeller)!

Again thnx!

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04-17-2009, 03:01 AM

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