The Texture Coordinate EditorThe texture coordinate editor is an essential tool in the texturing of your models. With the texture coordinate editor you can assign areas of your model (groups) to have a certain texture map. This image shows the front torso section of Pedro the Ringmaster and the texture bitmap used for texturing Pedro. Notice that the different parts of the texture are are split up, it is suggested, in order to cut down on clutter, that you use one texture file and not several (i.e. not one for each group of your model). Window Navigation
When the window is first opened the texture is at the original scale and the texture appears in the top left of the window. It is useful to have the texture in the middle of the window so that its easier to work with. This can be achieved in the same way as in the standard MilkShape 3D viewports, Ctrl+Left-Click then dragging the view with the mouse. The view cannot be zoomed in and out as it can with the normal MilkShape 3D viewports (Shift+Left-Click then using the mouse movement to zoom). Instead, a number representation has to be entered into the Scale box to zoom in and out, see the Scale Box & Button. Select
The select tool is used to select vertices only. Single vertices can be selected by Left-Clicking on them, multiple vertices can be selected by Left-Click-Dragging a selection box around them and vertices can be deselected by Right-Clicking on them. Move
Once vertices are selected they can be moved by pressing the Move button then Left-Click-Dragging the vertices into position. This allows the texture to appear in the area that the vertices define. Note that this does not change anything in the model it is merely used to position the texture on the vertices, this is called UV Mapping, the U standing for the X coordinate and V representing the Y coordinate. Rotate
This operation can only be performed on more than one vertex, performing this action on one vertex can give weird results. Generally, though, this is used to rotate a group into position, it can be used to rotate a face (by selecting its three corresponding vertices) on a part of the texture. Rotating the vertices is commonly unused because it results in a knock-on warped effect with the surrounding area which may be undesirable. Scale
Scaling is carried out in the same way as for the modeling tools, however the origin from which scaling is performed is always defined by the user's first click when scaling, in exactly the same way as the Scale tool's User Point option operates. Region
This function allows you to define an area on the texture map (or even outside it) where the selected group (shown in the Group Selector) will map to when the Remap button is pressed. For example in the image above the wireframe is the torso section, I clicked the Region button then dragged a box around the top left quarter of the texture map then with the Torso group and the Front view (because the torso is mapped from the front as it is facing the front) selected I clicked Remap, the torso automatically mapped itself to the top left of the texture map. If you have the Redraw checkbox checked you will see the effects of such an operation immediately, without closing the Texture Coordinate Editor. Group Selector
This combo box allows the user to select which group they want to edit texture coordinates for. Only the groups defined in the model will appear in this box. When a group is selected its current position on the texture is shown, if none has been defined then the user must select the group then click the remap button, this will scale and position the group to be centered on the texture it can then be manipulated as usual. View Selector
This allows the vertices to be positioned on the texture from different perspectives. It is compulsory to stick to the one view when positioning the vertices on the texture as setting the vertex positions in another view will overwrite the vertex positions of the other view. For example in the screen shot the front of Pedro's torso is being texture mapped, as this group faces to the front of Pedro, I have used the Front view. For his back I used the Back view. Remap Button
This button is used to reset the coordinates of a group. The group will be scaled and moved to be centered on the texture. Clamp Checkbox
This option keeps all vertices within the boundaries of the texture map. When the vertices are moved they will not go over the boundary of the texture map. Redraw Checkbox
This option allows the 3D perspective window to be updated to immediately reflect the changes made in the Texture Coordinate Editor window. This is a useful option as it means that the Editor does not have to be closed before changes are seen on the model. Scale Box & Button
This is used to zoom the view in and out to allow a better view when positioning vertices on the texture map. The default value is 1.0, this is the original scale value, the value at which the texture appears actual size. To scale the texture up (zoom in) type a higher value into the scale box and click the scale button. To zoom out enter a smaller number, but remember not to use zero as anything multiplied by zero is zero, meaning you will see nothing (except a dot).
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