UV Mapping Feature

Each mesh in your scene has material applied to it to make it look like corrugated steel, frosted glass, or other materials. UV Mappinglets you control how a 2D material is wrapped around or “mapped” onto the surface of a 3D mesh.

For example, you may want to apply a material that looks like threaded steel to part of a cylinder, to make it look like a bolt.

A UV map feature allows you to alter the threaded steel material independently from the mesh it’s projected onto. So the same cylinder mesh can look like a screw with a different thread pitch (how many threads along the side), or even a different hand (do the threads wind left-handed or right-handed), all from the same one material.

The 2D image is projected onto shapes in different ways as discussed in the properties table. Each projection type has its strengths and weaknesses, so choose the one that’s best suited to your needs.

UV Mapping Feature Properties

Visualizing this Feature

Property	Options
Name	Name the feature. Unique names for each feature is not required, but suggested.
Projection	Planar -Applies the image to two faces and stacks the edge portion of the image for use on all the faces in between. Best used for flat objects, or when only two sides of the mesh need that texture. appropriate for flatter surfaces like a rug or wall. Box - Repeats the image on each face of the mesh. Best used on cubes and rectangles where the image should be replicated on each face. Best used for square objects like cabinets, appliances, buildings Cylindrical - Wraps the image around a cylindrical face. Best used for rounded objects, like pipes, logs, cables, barrels, cans. The cylindrical uv map is like a rolled tube of wrapping paper - there's no mapping on the ends of the cylinder. To map your texture onto the ends of your mesh, define a submesh on each end or use a box projection instead. Spherical - Wraps the image in a sphere around a spherical face. Best used for round objects, like globes, balls, bowls. Use Existing - does not change the existing projection. The projection used would be the previous applicable projection in the feature stack, or the default projection collapsed into the mesh itself. Note that some of the following parameters are disabled when “Use Existing” is selected.
Offset	A vector that moves the projection of the UV map onto the surface of the mesh. Use the offset to align the material with a certain edge or shape of the mesh. For example, adjust the offset of a material of bolted steel so the bolts align nicely with the front edge of the object.
Rotation	An axis/angle that rotates the projection of the UV map around the center of the mesh. For example, rotate a material of wooden floorboards to 45 degrees diagonal across the surface of the floor.
U-Scale V-Scale	A number that scales the material image relative to the face of the mesh. U represents the scale along one dimension of the surface, and V represents the scale at a perpendicular dimension. The number represents the number of times the entire image can be shown on the face in a given direction. For example, the material image would appear once across the top of a mesh with a UV scale of 1:1. The same material image would appear much smaller, six times over, if the UV scale were set to 3:2. (Three tiles of the image in one direction, and two tiles in the other direction, for a total of 6 tiles of the image on that surface).
UV-scale visualization	A button that shows or hides a special test pattern of numbers and colors. This test pattern can help you understand how the above settings project, move, rotate, and scale your material. This pattern is not shown when the scene is run.
Scale	A number that scales the material image relative to the world. The larger the number, the larger the image will appear on any face of the mesh.
Scale to Mesh	A button that scales to match the UV map to the size of the mesh; useful if the size of the mesh keeps getting adjusted in the design phase.
Collapse	As with other features, the collapse button permanently applies the feature. For this UV Map feature, the collapse button “bakes” the UV map into the mesh. This prevents the UV Map from being changed via Snap rules, but also ensures it is always in alignment with certain changes made to the parent mesh. For example, let’s say “Scale to Mesh” were clicked, so the material aligns perfectly with the top edges of a mesh and appears as one tile with no repeat. What would happen to that alignment if the mesh were resized? Collapse the UV feature, and the material would stay in alignment appearing as only 1 tile, not repeating but distorting as the mesh gets larger. Leave the UV feature, and the material would be aligned only to the original dimensions. it would not distort, but repeat as the mesh gets larger.

When this feature is selected in the feature stack, a visualization appears in the scene to help you manage it.

• A yellow visualization appears around the selected mesh to show the type of projection used. For example, here we see three spheres, each the same size and material. The only difference between them is the UV map projection (planar, box, and cylindrical). Since the middle mesh is currently selected, the box projection is visualized.

• A button to turn on or off “UV Scale Visualization” in the feature parameters can temporarily replace the current material with a special UV test pattern of colored and numbered squares, to help you adjust the position, rotation, and scale of the material projection. This test pattern is part of the scene designer. It is not a material.

Tips for this UV Mapping Feature

Leverage your assets with the Use Existing projection.

Your 3D mesh may have some complex projections already applied to it by other tools before it was imported into the scene, such as an unwrapped projection. While these projections cannot be created in the 3D scene, they are honored and retained through the Use Existing projection.

Create specific effects with the Planar projection on a curved mesh.

Planar projection can be used on curved surfaces, but may not give the effect you’re hoping for. The example below shows a planar projection of the test pattern onto a sphere: note that the greater the curvature away from the plane, the more distorted the material’s image.

• If the sphere were made of anodized aluminum, this is bad. This projection would distort the anodization texture of the material, and be unrealistic.

• If the sphere were carved from hardwood, however, this is good. This projection would give a realistic representation of the woodgrain through the sphere.