Can texture wrap around more than one object?

[tmorv]

I want to use a texture tile that repeats perfectly on two objects so it does not appear to be "cut" when it meets the other object. The only solution I have today is to boolean union the two objects but this limits me in many ways (I can't undo boolean actions it seems like you could in Infini-D).

To try to explain it so you'll understand:

Make two cubes positioned one on top of the other. Then pick a shader / texture that you want wrapped around both of them at the same time (I tried to put a shader on a group but it didn't seem to work).

Thank you for any help on this!!

TMorV

[WillBellJr]

Thats an interesting request - I'd think that Eovia would have to allow textures on groups because seperate objects are just that - seperate.

If you're looking to do this to for a way to animate the seperation of the two, perhaps make a copy of the two, boolean them together and texture that and then somehow fade out the boolean which covers the two seperates; you'd probably have to rotate them during the animation in a way that doesn't show the seam just before the fadeout and then move forward with animating the seperation...

Or maybe there's a way to UV map the two objects in a way that the mapping come off as looking like the two objects were a single object - that some serious UV editing I'd imagine?

Interesting...

-Will

[AWBenson]

Well, Carrara 5 will let you apply a shader to all the children of a group and this is available under one of the top-row text menus. However and for example, if you use a wood texture, the lines may or may not line up across different objects.

UV Mapping can solve this but alot of thinking is needed before it'll work. You can combine the objects into one and then use a morph target to move the polymeshes away, which would look like two objects moving away.

If you aren't using a patterned texture, then you can use the Anything Goos plugin to add wear and tear to the edges of the objects and again use a morph target to separate them. But this would cause the advanced edge detection to no longer apply it's affect when they were over-lapping. Using the baker plugin with the initial anything goos effect would solve this.

[arcady]

This also comes up in landscapes.

Consider a mountain or a molehill rising up out of a flat plain.

You want the texture to just seamlessly continue, but you'll end up with a 'line' that shows where one object ends and the other begins.

That said, I though you could do it by applying your shader to the group rather than the individual objects. That seemed to work the last time I tried, but I didn't zoom in to check.

If not, it would be a good feature request.

[tmorv]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will try to play around some more on this topic.

I also must admit that based on your feedback it seems that it would be a very useful feature request. It's always things you haven't thought of that becomes clear when you meet the obstacle which I did on this one.

My experience with the "group shader" is the same -that it is a quick way to "shade all objects in the group" but not based on a seemless wrapping (wrap around all in group). It should definetly be an "option" to hook "on / off".

[WillBellJr]

Even if we could texture a group, how should the hidden parts look when exposed?

Take 2 spheres grouped so they're merged at the middle (like an 8) - you could UV the sphere textures so at the seam it looks continuous and then for the hidden polys, the UV maps would have the desired look when the 2 spheres are pulled apart...

BUT if you texture the group, what will the hidden polys look like on the bottom of the 1st sphere and the top of the 2nd when they're seperated??

UV mapping the spheres (objects) seems like it's the correct answer for this problem?...

-Will

[arcady]

Well, in the only app I know of that does do this (Vue), shaders over a group just makes everything on a given surface act as if one map.

If I move it to change what is exposed on a given surface, it would then assume the now exposed portions were just part of a larger shape.

So if I put a cube on top of a plain, it will just keep moving up the sides of the cube as if they were just part of that side of the plain. Flip it over and look at it from the other side and if that side can take a texture (if the plain wasn't single sided I suppose) you will see the same thing there. Move the cube in or out by degrees and you just get more or less of it 'absorbing' the texture of the plain.

[WillBellJr]

Hmm, here's a case where a pic would have come in handy understand what you meant...

I have Vue so I'll have to try it to see what you mean - are you talking about world space mapping where the object would "swim" though the texture as you move it? (Compared to local space where the texture is locked onto the object as it's moved...)

-Will

[HowieFarkes]

I may be wrong and someone from Digital Carvers Guild will be able to shed some extra light - but I think the "Real UV" feature of the "Shader OPs" plugin allows you use a global UV space for the objects in a scene - useful for having the same size bricks on different buildings for example.