Mapping and Mapping Coordinates

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Materials and Mapping Tutorials > Introduction to Materials and Mapping >

Adding images and textures to a material is one of the most important techniques for creating realistic effects. In this lesson, you learn how to add texture maps and bump maps to a material. You also learn how to position a map on the surface of an object by adjusting the mapping coordinates of the material.

The files for this lesson can be found in the tutorials/intro_to_materials folder.

Make a texture map:

Suppose you want to make a realistic orange in your scene. The most direct way is to use a realistic image as the texture map in the diffuse component of a material. In other words, you replace the overall color with an overall texture. Here are the basic steps:

Buy an orange and photograph it.
Crop a portion of the photograph.
Digitize the cropped portion with a scanner or digital camera.
Load this image into your computer.
Apply the image as a diffuse map.

A cropped photograph of a real orange peel

Add a texture map to a material:

The digitized bitmap you are going to use is already being used by the orange material in the first sample slot. You can therefore browse for the bitmap from the Material Editor.

Open intro_materials3.max.
NoteIf you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose the option Rescale The File Objects To The System Unit Scale.
Press M to open the Material Editor. Set the display to 5 x 3 Sample Windows, if it isn't already.
Click an empty material, such as the one in the center of the third row of sample spheres. Rename it myorangematerial.
On the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, click the map selector button to the right of the Diffuse color swatch to display the Material/Map Browser.
In the Browse From group, choose Material (Mtl) Editor.
Click View Small Icons.
All the images that are currently loaded appear as small thumbnails.
Click View Large Icons.
The thumbnails appear larger.
Click the image labeled Diffuse Color: Orange (orangetex.jpg) and click OK. On the Instance Or Copy dialog, choose Copy and click OK again.
The Material/Map Browser closes and the orange texture map appears in the material sample, but not in the viewport.
To display the texture map in the viewport, click the Show Map In Viewport on the Material Editor toolbar.
The orange texture map appears in the viewport.

Note on Mapping Coordinates and Viewport Visibility

The orange map shows in the viewport because the orange object has mapping coordinates applied to it. Like other parametric objects in 3ds Max, the sphere of the orange generated its own mapping coordinates when created. This is not necessarily the case with editable meshes and many other types of geometry.

If the object in the scene didn't have mapping coordinates, the map wouldn't appear in the viewport, even if Show Map In Viewport is on. In that case, you can add a UVW Map modifier to the object to make the texture display.

If the texture map still doesn't display, you can move the gizmo of the UVW Map modifier, and experiment with the Offset, Tiling, and Angle parameters in the Coordinates rollout. This will be covered later in the tutorial.

Add a bump map:

The texture on the orange looks all right, but a real orange peel has a pitted surface. You can simulate this and add realism by using bump mapping. This won't show up in the viewport, but is visible when you render.

Select the orange in the viewport.
Click the myorangematerial sample sphere you worked with in the previous section.
Click Go To Parent to access the material level.
Scroll down and open the Maps rollout.
Drag the orangetex.jpg map from Diffuse Color to Bump. Choose Copy and click OK.
Set the Bump Amount to −100.
There is no change in the viewport.

To really see the effect, you'll need to render the scene. It would also be a good idea to zoom in and see what's happening to the orange.
Activate the Front viewport. Select the orange, if it isn't already selected.
In the viewport navigation controls, use Arc Rotate Selected to rotate around the orange and get a good view (the viewport will switch to User type). Zoom so the orange fills up most of the viewport.
Render the Front viewport.
Drag the orange material in the first sample slot from the Material Editor to the Orange object in the viewport.
Nothing will change in the viewport, but this will let you use the experimental material for other purposes later in this exercise.
Press F so the viewport returns to Front view.

Use mapping coordinates and tiling:

In this procedure, you use the concrete wall behind the objects to learn about mapping and tiling.

From the Material Editor, drag the concrete material (second row, fourth sphere) onto the wall object (named L-Ext01).

The concrete shows up in the camera viewport because the parametric object has generated its own mapping coordinates. But the concrete doesn't look quite right on the wall.
Select the wall object (L-Ext01), then from the Modifiers menu > UV Coordinates submenu choose UVW Map.
The concrete changes appearance in the viewport.
Right-click in the Camera01 viewport to activate it.
In the Modify panel, scroll down to the Alignment group.
Change the Alignment from Z to Y to X.
Choose the one that looks correct; probably Y.
In the Modifier Stack, expand the UVW Mapping entry to see the Gizmo. Click the Gizmo entry to highlight it.
On the Main toolbar, turn on Select And Move. In the viewport, and drag the gizmo for the mapping modifier to move the map.
The concrete bitmap shifts behind the objects.

To control placement of texture maps:

Move the UVW Mapping gizmo.
Change the map's Offset values.

To control tiling of texture maps:

Change the map's Tiling values.
Change the UVW Mapping modifier's Tile values.

Create wallpaper with a tile pattern:

On the Modify panel, click Gizmo again to turn off sub-object selection.
In the Material Editor, choose the concrete material.
Change the name of the material to background.
On the Maps rollout, click the concgren.jpg map.
The rollouts change to the level of this map.
On the Bitmap Parameters rollout, select the Bitmap button, which contains the path to the concgren.jpg map. You'll replace this map with a tile pattern to create some wallpaper.
On the Select Bitmap Image File dialog, change the Files of Type to Targa Image File and choose pat0039.tga.
Turn on Show Map in Viewport.
A diamond pattern appears on the wall.
On the Coordinates rollout, set U Tiling and V Tiling to 4.
Change the U tiling by clicking the spinner until the tiling value is approximately 5.7.
This makes the pattern proportions more even.

On some systems, the diamond pattern might be skewed in the Camera viewport. To correct this, right-click the Camera01 viewport label and choose Texture Correction.
See what happens when you add blurring and then render. Also try working with Blur Offset. Try setting the Coordinate rollout Blur parameter to 1.5 and Blur Offset to 0.1. When you're finished experimenting with Blur, return the Blur setting to 1.0.

Use opacity mapping to make a leaf:

You can use the leaf objects in the scene to experience a unique type of mapping. The leaf is created with a simple box mapped with a texture map and an opacity map.

The texture is a photo of a leaf.

The opacity map is a mask of white and black. The black becomes transparent when rendered.

On the toolbar, open the Named Selection Sets list and choose the set named leavesandbase.
Right-click in the active viewport and choose Hide Unselected.
The leaves and the base are now the only objects visible.
Hold down Ctrl and select the base.
This deselects the plank base.

The objects are really just thin boxes that have Bend and Twist modifiers applied to them. They don't look anything like leaves right now.
Drag the leaf material from the Material Editor onto the leaves in the scene.
When the Assign Material dialog appears, choose Assign to Selection and click OK.
The leaf material is applied to all four leaves.

View the rendered leaves:

In this procedure, you zoom in without affecting your existing camera view.

Render the Camera01 viewport.
The boxes seem to have been replaced by realistic leaves, and the opacity map and the shadow-casting spotlights combine to cast reasonable-looking shadows.

Use mapping coordinates:

Besides letting you see maps in the viewport, mapping coordinates give you control of how a texture is applied to the object. In this procedure, you'll add a UVW Map modifier to the bottle label. In the next procedure, you crop the texture.

Simple mapping is often solved by adding planar mapping coordinates and then working with the gizmo for adjustment. Let's see how this works on the label of the bottle.

Right-click in the active viewport, and choose Unhide All. All the objects in the scene reappear.
Select the orange, right-click, and choose Hide Selection in the Display quadrant.
Press H and select label01.
Right-click in the Front viewport to activate it, without affecting the selection of the label. Then press G to turn off the grid.
Open the Modify panel and add a UVW Map modifier to the label.
Region Zoom into the Front viewport so you have a better view of label01.
Change the Front viewport display to Smooth + Highlights.
In the Parameters rollout > Alignment group, turn on Region Fit and draw a box slightly smaller than the label.

Region Fit lets you draw the gizmo to the size you want.
In the Material Editor, click the label material.
Use Assign Material To Selection to apply the material onto the label.
Save the scene as mymaterials3.max.

Crop the texture:

The Gluggo texture map doesn't really fit the label properly, so you'll fix it by using the cropping features of the Material Editor.

In the Material Editor > Maps rollout, click the Diffuse map button labeled gluggo.jpg.
In the Bitmap Parameters > Cropping/Placement group, be sure Crop is chosen. Click View Image.
A Specify Cropping/Placement window is displayed showing the label bitmap.
Crop the Gluggo label by dragging the handles on the corners and sides of the selection region. Crop so the dark edge at the top is outside the selection region. Close the window.
Turn on Apply, if it isn't on already.
The dark edge no longer appears on the label in the viewport. Adjust the length and width of the modifier so that the map fits the label better.

Add a sticker on the label:

Assume a scenario in which the Gluggo brand has been purchased by Gulpco. It's your job to redo the image with the new Gluggo-Gulpco label. In the following procedures, you'll put a Gulpco sticker onto the label to add the new company name. As you do this, you'll learn about multiple channels and UVW coordinates.

Set up the mapping modifier:

Press H and select label01, if it's not already selected.
Right-click in the active viewport and choose Hide Unselected.
Everything disappears except for the label.
In the Front viewport, zoom in on the label.
Go to the Modify Panel and check the modifier stack.
The label already has a UVW Mapping modifier applied to it.
Right-click the UVW Mapping modifier and choose Rename.
Rename the UVW Mapping modifier to Gluggo label.
Scroll down to the Channel group and change the map channel to 3.
The label changes orientation in the viewport.

Set up the label material:

In the Material Editor, click the label material if it's not already active.
Click the map button next to the Diffuse color swatch to open the Bitmap map rollouts, if necessary.
In the Coordinates rollout, change the Map Channel for the label map to 3.
Now the label map will use the mapping from the Gluggo label modifier, because they both use the same map channel.

Select faces:

Here, you'll select the faces where the Gulpco sticker will go.

In the Front viewport, change the display to Edged Faces (press F4).
In the modifier stack, click Editable Mesh.
Turn on Polygon selection.
Select the three rows of faces in the middle of the label.

The label middle faces selected
Scroll down to the Surface Properties rollout > Material group and change Set ID to 2 for these faces.
Exit the Polygon sub-object level.
This is an important step. If you don't turn off Polygon selection, what follows will not work as expected.
With the Editable Mesh still selected, add a second UVW Map modifier.
The new UVW Mapping modifier is inserted in the stack between the Gluggo label modifier and the Editable Mesh. It will supply the mapping coordinates for the Gulpco sticker.
Right-click the new UVW Mapping modifier and rename it Sticker.
Scroll down to the Channel group and set Map Channel to 2.

Convert to a multi/sub-object material:

You'll use the original label as a base for the new label.

On the Material Editor toolbar, click Go To Parent.
Choose the material label and click the Standard button.
In the Material/Map browser, make sure the Browse From group is set to New.
Double-click the Multi/Sub-Object entry. In the Replace Material dialog, make sure Keep Old Material As Sub-material is chosen, then click OK.
In the Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click Set Number. Change Number Of Materials to 2 and click OK.
In the Name field next to the label material, type Gluggo.
In the Name field next to the second material, type Gulpco.

Add a map to the second sub-material:

Click the second material.
Click the map button to the right of the Diffuse color swatch.
On the Material/Map Browser dialog, make sure Browse From is set to New, then double-click the Bitmap list entry. The Select Bitmap Image File dialog opens.
Navigate to the tutorials\intro_to_materials directory and choose gulpco.jpg.
On the Coordinates rollout, set the Map Channel to 2.
Click Show Map In Viewport. The second map appears in the viewport, layered on top of the first.
Adjust the Offset and Tiling settings for the Gulpco map until it's centered on the bottle.
Repeat the process for the Gluggo material so that the map is centered behind the Gulpco label.
Save your work again as mymaterials3.max .

Creating Multi/Sub-Object Materials