Applying a Texture

Textures can only be applied to groups, they cannot be applied to individual faces unless that face is in a group by itself. This example will explain how to load a texture that you have created and assign it to a group of your model. The groups in question are the six sides of a box, called; Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left and Right. The texture I used is the one shown here.

Note: Notice how this texture is rectangular, it could also, for the sake of argument, be a non-power of two texture; this may not work on some graphics cards, although most modern cards can handle these sorts of textures, you graphics card drivers may need apdated also.

1. First of all we have to create a new material. In MilkShape 3D a material is anything that applies a colour or texture map to a group of faces. A material can contain a texture and colour information at the same time. This will give a material with texture and a diffuse colour a texture with a colour tint. Anyway, left-click on the Materials tab on the Toolbox.

2. Click the New button and you should see a sphere in the material preview box, which defaults as grey.

3. Rename the texture by clicking in the white edit box next to the Rename button, type the word BoxMat an abbreviation of the words Box Material. After entering this press the Rename button to actually rename it.

4. Left-click the button below the slider underneath the 'Specular' button, it should currently have <none> on it. An open dialog should appear. Browse to find your texture then open it.

5. You now have a material to assign to the model. Click on the menu option Edit->Select All (Ctrl+A) to select the whole model (this selects all six groups). In the Materials panel make sure the BoxMap material is highlighted in the white list box to the top of the Material panel and click the Assign button. If the 3D perspective view is not already in Textured shading mode then right click in the 3D viewport and select 'Textured' from the popup menu.

6. The texture is now mapped to all sides of the box but the region UV coordinates are not set up properly. This means that the whole texture is shown on each face instead of one coloured side with the appropriate name showing on it. To fix this we will use the Texture Coordinate Editor.

7. Choose the Menu option Window->Texture Coordinate Editor. You should be able to see the texture as well as the Front faces on top of the texture. If you cannot see the faces then close the editor and press Ctrl+A again to select all the faces. If at any point when using the texture coordinate editor you cannot see faces, exit the editor and select either all the faces or only the faces you desire. This image shows roughly what you should see.

8. Everything is quite small so enlarge the window if you have to and enter a value of about 4 into the white edit box next to the 'Scale' button, then press the Scale button. This is similar to a zoom function, it allows you to see in more detail what you are doing. Also check the Redraw box, this will automatically update the 3D view to reflect the changes you make in the Texture Coordinate Editor.

9. The top drop down list in this image is the Group selection box, this means you don't have to exit the Texture Coordinate Editor everytime you want to select another group to operate on. The bottom one is the view perspective box (the direction from which you view the faces). With both the top and bottom drop down list at Front choose the Region tool.

Note: MilkShape 3D uses a texture mapping technique called planar-mapping. This is the method used for mapping textures onto faces. Planar mapping requires the selection of an axis or 'plane' along which to project the texture, this is why the view perspective box is provided. For example the Front plane maps textures on the XY plane, the Left on the ZY plane, etc...

10. Draw a box roughly around the Red square in the top left the one with Front in it. Then click the Remap button. As you can see setting a Region creates a new area in which the limits of the faces will lie within, this is a useful tool so use it often to speed things up, it avoids the use of the more cumbersome Scale and Move buttons.

11. In the top drop down list select the Back group. In the bottom drop down list select the back view. The view has to be selected as well, because this is the direction from which the texture is mapped. If for example you left the bottom drop down list at Front you would find that when you finish applying the map, the word 'Back' on the back face would appear back to front when viewed from the back.

12. Do another region around the green square with the 'Back' word on it. Then click remap to remap the backfaces to sit within the area you defined.

13. From here on in its just a case of repeating steps 11 and 12 for the remaining groups. Remember that when selecting any of the faces that the viewing perspective drop down list box reads the same as the group selection drop down box does. Keep creating regions for each group around the appropriate part of the texture and pressing remap to make them sit within the new region.

Here is the final result.

A box is a very simple shape and is naturally easy to map textures onto. As models increase in structural complexity the assigning of textures will also become increasingly complex and may require many groups. From here everything else is experience, so Good Luck!