Manual BodyPaint 3D Tools Menu
UV Tools
With Edit Points, the UV coordinates are displayed as points which you can select and modify using the tools described in the following pages. If you select points in the 3D view, the corresponding points in the Texture view become selected and vice versa.
This is one of two modes for editing the UV mesh. It enables you to select and modify UV polygons using the tools described in the following sections. The other mode, UV Points, is described above.
Selections
You can select UV points or UV polygons in the Texture view or in the 3D view. The selected elements will be displayed in both views.
The following applies to all selections tools: hold down Shift to add to an existing selection. Hold down Ctrl to subtract from an existing selection (only those selections pertinent to the settings will be described. All other options should be ignored).
Selected points or polygons are colored red.
Live Selection
To use this selection tool, hold down the mouse button and drag over the UV points/polygons you want to select.
In the Active Tool manager, the Live setting determines the diameter of the Live Selection brush. You can set values from 0% to 10%.
If Only Select Visible Elements is enabled, you can only select elements which are visible, i.e. not behind other elements. For example, you can select the polygons at the front a sphere but not the polygons at the back.
Rectangle Selection
To make a selection using this tool, hold down the mouse button and drag a rectangle over the UV points/polygons you want to select.
In the Active Tool manager, if Tolerant is enabled all UV points/polygons that are inside the marquee or intersected by the marquee are selected; If Tolerant is disabled, only the UV points/polygons that are fully enclosed by the marquee are selected.
If Only Select Visible Elements is enabled, you can only select elements which are visible, i.e. not behind other elements. For example, you can select the polygons at the front a sphere but not the polygons at the back.
Polygon Selection
The Polygon Selection tool enables you to draw a polygon around UV points/polygons in order to select them. Your first mouse click creates the starting point and subsequent clicks create new corner points. To complete the selection, either click on the starting point or click the right mouse button (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS)
In the Active Tool manager, if Tolerant is enabled all UV points/polygons that are inside the marquee or intersected by the marquee are selected; If Tolerant is disabled, only the UV points/polygons that are fully enclosed by the marquee are selected.
If Only Select Visible Elements is enabled, you can only select elements which are visible, i.e. not behind other elements. For example, you can select the polygons at the front a sphere but not the polygons at the back.
Free Selection
With this tool, you select UV points/polygons by dragging a lasso around the polygons. To complete the selection, release the mouse button. The two ends of the loop are joined automatically.
In the Active Tool manager, if Tolerant is enabled all UV points/polygons that are inside the marquee or intersected by the marquee are selected; If Tolerant is disabled, only the UV points/polygons that are fully enclosed by the marquee are selected.
If Only Select Visible Elements is enabled, you can only select elements which are visible, i.e. not behind other elements. For example, you can select the polygons at the front a sphere but not the polygons at the back.
Editing UV polygons
Each object polygon has a UV polygon on the texture to control which part of the texture is mapped onto the object polygon. Because each object polygon has a UV polygon, the number of UV polygons equals the number of object polygons. If you delete an object polygon, its UV polygon is also deleted.
The UV polygon is otherwise independent and can be moved, scaled and rotated. In other words, no matter how you move, scale and rotate the UV polygon, the position, size and direction of the object polygon remains unchanged. All that changes is which part of the texture gets mapped to the object polygon.
For example, suppose a UV polygon is over a black part of the texture. As a result, the object polygon is black. Next you move the UV polygon to a red area of the texture. The object polygon itself is not moved, but turns red.
To display textures in the view panel, ensure that Disable Textures is disabled on the Display menu and choose a shading mode (i.e. Gouraud Shading or Quick Shading).
You can, if you wish, place UV polygons on top of one another. All UV polygons can occupy the same part of a texture, in which case each object polygon would receive the same part of the texture. Take a look at the following examples.
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Move
You can use this tool to move the selected UV polygons: click anywhere in the Texture view and hold down the mouse button while you move the mouse.
Active Tool manager options
Options Tab
Keep Face Neighbors
If this option is enabled, the selected UV polygons will remain attached to their neighbors. You can still move the selection freely, but the neighboring UV polygons will distort to accommodate the move. This is, in principle, similar to moving object polygons in the 3D view.
Clip UV Coordinates (0..1)
When enabled, this option prevents you from placing UV polygons outside the texture. This is achieved internally by restricting the UV coordinates to values between 0 and 1. If you try to move the UV polygons outside the texture, they will be squashed up against the edge.
Magnet
If the Magnet Use option is enabled, UV polygons outside the selection (but within the Distance value of the selection) are pulled along when the selection is moved. The further away a UV polygon is from the selection, the weaker the pull. There is a Magnet tab to control this option (see Active Tool manager Magnet tab).
Snapping Tab
The Snapping options determine whether the UV polygons you move snap to other UV polygons. A cross will appear in a corner of one of the selected UV polygons according to where you click with the mouse. Keep the mouse button held down and drag to move the selection.
If the Point option is enabled, the cross will snap to UV points. If Edge is enabled, the cross will snap to UV edges. Radius determines how close the cross must be to a point or edge before it snaps to it. You can set Radius to a value between 0% and 10%. If you set it to the maximum of 10%, free movement will be limited severely and the cross will snap from one point or edge to the next.
The Quantize options provides further ways to restrict movement. If you enable the Move option (or Scale or Rotate for the other tools), you will only be able to move the selected UV polygons in steps of the value entered. For example, if the value is set to 10%, the distance between each step corresponds to 10% of the texture’s width or height. Taking this example further, if the texture is 300 pixels wide and 500 pixels high, the UV polygons can be moved 30 pixels horizontally and 50 pixels vertically.
Active Tool Manager Colors Tab
You can use this tab to assign any color to the following mesh elements:
- Ghosted Polygons
- Inactive Polygons
- Active Polygons
- Inactive Points
- Active Points
To change the color for an element, click on its color box and pick the color using the dialog that appears.
Scale
This tool scales the selected UV polygons uniformly about the UV coordinate closest to the pointer, which is represented by a cross.
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| Scaling a grid of 5x5 points, showing the small black cross which represents the common center. |
Active Tool manager options
The same options apply as for the move tool except that the point and edge snapping options have no effect. The Scale option under Quantize has the advantage that you can scale a UV polygon safe in the knowledge that you can return it to its exact original size later on.
Non-uniform scaling works as described above for the scale except that scaling is non-uniform and in the direction in which you drag.
Active Tool manager options
The same options apply as for the move tool except that the point and edge snapping options have no effect.
Rotate
This tool rotates the selected UV polygons about the UV coordinate closest to the pointer. Click anywhere in the Texture view and drag horizontally.
Active Tool manager options
The same options apply as for the move tool except that the point and edge snapping options have no effect.
These commands shear the selected UV polygons about the UV coordinate closest to the pointer. You can shear horizontally (Shear U) or vertically (Shear V).
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Active Tool manager options
The same options apply as for the move tool except that the point and edge snapping options have no effect.
This tool enables you to edit a UV mesh by pulling it around. Drag in the Texture view to pull the UV polygons. UV polygons closest to the Magnet will be pulled the most. If UV polygons are selected, the magnet will pull those UV polygons only.
Active Tool manager Magnet tab
Nearest Point Method
If this option is disabled (the default), the Magnet will only pull if you click directly on a UV polygon. If the option is enabled, the Magnet will deform no matter where you click. In this case, the nearest UV point is chosen as the center of deformation.
Radius
This is where you define the magnet’s sphere of influence.
Type
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Width
This parameter determines how hard or soft the magnet’s sphere of influence is.