Displaying an image clip in the texture editor workspace does not apply the image to the selected object.
Opening the Texture Editor for the First Time
The first time you open the texture editor with a complex object selected, you may be overwhelmed. The texture editor displays a two-dimensional representation of the selected objects’ geometry superimposed on a texture that image. The more complex an object, the more complex its appearance in the texture editor.
1. Select the object(s) whose UV coordinates you wish to display in the texture editor.
2. Choose Texture Editor from any viewport’s Views menu, or choose View > Rendering/Texturing > Texture Editor from the main menu to open the texture editor.
- If you selected a single object with multiple texture projections, only its current UV coordinate set is displayed. You’ll have to toggle the display of other coordinate sets, as described in Choosing UV Coordinates to Display.
- If you selected multiple objects, each object’s default UV coordinate set is displayed. The coordinates belonging to the first selected object are editable, but you can make any of the displayed UV coordinate sets editable. See Working with Multiple UV Coordinate Sets for details.
3. If necessary, frame the entire texture in the texture editor by selecting View > Frame Image (or by pressing Shift + i).
4. If desired, change the texture image that’s displayed, as described in the following section.
Choosing a Texture Image to Display
The texture editor’s Clips menu allows you to choose the image clip that is displayed in the texture editor workspace. It contains an alphabetical list of all of the image clips used by the selected object(s). Choosing one of these clips displays it in the workspace, allowing you to see how the same set of UV coordinates maps different textures to an object.
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Displaying an image clip in the texture editor workspace does not apply the image to the selected object. |
In addition to the image clips used by the selected object(s), the Clips menu gives you the following options:
• The All Clips list of all the image clips in the scene alphabetically. Choosing one of these clips displays it in the texture editor workspace.
• None displays the selected object’s UV coordinates with no texture image at all.
• Import Clip opens a browser from which you can choose an image to import as a new clip/source pair. For more information about image clips and sources, see Clips & Sources.
If you’re having trouble seeing a projection’s UV coordinates in the texture editor workspace, you can dim the texture image to make the coordinate more visible.
To dim the texture image
• Click the Dim Image button to darken the texture image and make the lines connecting the UV coordinates more visible.
or
• Choose View > Dim Image from the texture editor menu.
Choosing UV Coordinates to Display
In the texture editor, each selected object’s texture projections are listed in the UVs menu. You can use the menu to choose which set(s) of UV coordinates is displayed at any given time.
To toggle the display of UV coordinate sets
• From the texture editor’s UVs menu, Shift+click each of the UV coordinate sets that you want to display or hide.
Shift+clicking a hidden UV coordinate set displays it, while Shift+ clicking a displayed UV coordinate set hides it.
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If you display more than one set of UV coordinates, you can only edit one set at a time. For more information, see the following sectionWorking with Multiple UV Coordinate Sets. |
Working with Multiple UV Coordinate Sets
You can display multiple UV coordinate sets simultaneously in the texture editor. These UV coordinate sets can belong to a single object, or, if more than one object is selected, to multiple objects.
This is useful for a number of tasks including:
• Positioning one object’s UV coordinates relative to those of another object on the same texture image.
• Positioning multiple UV coordinate sets belonging to a single object on the same texture image.
• Making sure that geometrically identical objects’ UV coordinates are unfolded the same way.
• Creating a single set of rendermap images for multiple objects, as described in Generating a Single Set of Rendermap Images for Multiple Objects.
When multiple UV coordinate sets are displayed, only one of them is editable at any given time. The editable mesh is displayed in a different color from the rest of the displayed meshes, and is the only mesh whose points are displayed. You can make any displayed mesh the editable mesh.
Because only one set of UV coordinates is editable at any given time, the majority of the texture editor tools cannot be used on multiple UV coordinate sets. For example, you cannot island-heal one set to another. However, you can use the snapping tools to snap editable UV coordinates to components (points, edges, and so on) of uneditable UV coordinate sets. For more information about snapping, see Snapping Tools.
To change the editable UV coordinate set
Do one of the following:
• In the texture editor workspace, click the UV set that you want to make editable.
or
• From the texture editor’s UVs menu, Ctrl+click the UV coordinate set that you want to make editable.
or
• In a 3D view, select the object whose UV coordinate set you wish to make editable.
For this to work, you must have multiple UV coordinate sets already displayed in the texture editor workspace, and the texture editor must be locked (see Updating the Selection in Lock Mode).
Texture Editor Toolbars and Preferences
Showing and Hiding Texture Editor Toolbars
The texture editor command bar is made up of several different toolbars, each of which contains a different set of commands. Depending on how frequently you use these commands, you may wish to hide some of the toolbars. The state of each toolbar is persisted between sessions, so any toolbars that you hide remain hidden until show them again, even if you restart XSI.
To show and hide texture editor toolbars
1. Right-click an empty area of the texture editor command bar.
2. From the right-click menu, choose a toolbar to show or hide.
Visible toolbars are marked with a check mark while hidden ones are not.
Setting Texture Editor Preferences
You can change the behavior and appearance of the texture editor by changing a number of preferences located in the Texture Editor preferences property editor. Refer to Texture Editor Preferences for information about individual preferences.
To open the texture editor preferences property editor
• Do one of the following:
- Choose File > Preferences from the texture editor menu.
or
- Open an explorer and choose Preferences from the scope menu. Then expand the Editors node and click the Texture Editor icon.
Useful Texture Editor Display Options
As you work with UV coordinates in the texture editor, you’ll find several of the display options indispensable for the information they provide about coordinate selections. Some of these options are described in this section.
When you open the texture editor, the object’s UV mesh may be difficult to see in some areas. To see more clearly where the object’s UV coordinates cover the texture image, you can highlight the covered areas of the texture image.
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• If the Highlight Coverage option is active at the same time as either of the overlap highlighting options, the coverage highlight color is blended with the overlap highlight color. • Your graphics card must support stencil buffers for the coverage highlighting to be visible. |
To highlight areas of the texture covered by UV coordinates
• Do one of the following:
- Click the Highlight Coverage
button
in the texture editor command bar.
or
- From the texture editor menu, choose View > Show Coverage.
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You can modify the appearance of coverage highlighting by changing the Coverage preferences on the Highlighting tab of the Texture Editor Preferences property editor. For more information about setting texture editor preferences, see Setting Texture Editor Preferences. |
Highlighting Overlapping UV Coordinates
To help you get a better idea of exactly how an object’s UV coordinates are laid out on a texture image, you can highlight the areas of the image where the coordinates overlap. Two overlap highlighting modes are available:
• Highlight Overlaps highlights areas of the image where the object’s UV coordinates overlap. Generally, these tend to be problem areas where the UV coordinates need adjustment. Highlighting overlaps helps you identify these areas quickly.
• Highlight Odd Overlaps highlights areas of the image that are covered an odd number of times by the object’s UV coordinates. This can help you identify areas where symmetric texture mapping isn’t quite perfect, because only the areas where the UV coordinates don’t overlap are highlighted.
The overlap highlighting modes cannot be used together, though either one can be used in conjunction with coverage highlighting.
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• If either highlight option is active at the same time as the Highlight Coverage option, the overlap highlight color is blended with the coverage highlight color. • Your graphics card must support stencil buffers for the overlap highlighting to be visible. |
To highlight areas of the texture covered by overlapping UV coordinates
• Do one of the following:
- Click the Highlight Overlaps
button
in the texture editor command bar.
or
- From the texture editor menu, choose View > Show Overlaps.
To highlight areas of the texture that are covered an odd number of times
• Do one of the following:
- Click the Highlight Odd Overlaps
button
in the texture editor command bar.
or
- From the texture editor menu, choose View > Show Odd Overlaps.
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You can modify the appearance of overlap highlighting by changing the Overlaps preferences on the Highlighting tab of the Texture Editor Preferences property editor. For more information about setting texture editor preferences, see Setting Texture Editor Preferences. |
Working a polygon object in the texture editor often means breaking up its UV mesh into different UV coordinate islands that you’ll reassemble later. Each island’s boundaries correspond to other islands’ boundaries wherever their component polygons share an edge on the object. You can turn connectivity tabs on in the texture editor to highlight these corresponding boundaries.
Connectivity tabs highlight corresponding pairs of UV island boundaries in different colors, allowing you to easily pair up the boundaries that you want to reassemble. This is especially helpful when you’re reassembling the islands using the Island Heal tool (see [here]).
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If you prefer that all connectivity tabs be the same color, change the Color preference in the Connectivity options on the Highlighting tab of the Texture Editor Preference property editor. For information about setting texture editor preferences, see Setting Texture Editor Preferences. |
By default, connectivity tabs are displayed only for selected sample points (and those on their corresponding boundaries). However, you can also display them on the entire UV set to see all of the corresponding boundaries at once.
To display connectivity tabs
• Do one of the following:
- Click the Show Connectivity
button
in the texture editor command bar.
or
- From the texture editor menu, choose View > Show Connectivity.
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You can modify the appearance and behavior of connectivity highlighting by changing the Connectivity Tabs preferences on the Highlighting tab of the Texture Editor Preferences property editor. For more information about setting texture editor preferences, see Setting Texture Editor Preferences. |
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.6.01