3ds Max® 2009 Bible

Chapter 30. Unwrapping UVs and Using Pelt Mapping

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Working with mapping modifiers

• Applying decals with the UVW Map modifier

• Using the Unwrap UVW modifier and the Edit UVW window

• Creating seams

• Using pelt mapping

• Rendering a UV template

Throughout the modeling chapter, as you created objects, the Generate Mapping Coordinates option appeared for almost all objects. Now you find out what mapping coordinates are and how to use them.

Mapping coordinates define how a texture map is aligned to an object. These coordinates are expressed using U, V, and W dimensions. U is a horizontal direction, V is a vertical direction, and W is depth.

When you enable the Generate Mapping Coordinates option for new objects, Max takes its best guess at where these coordinates should be located. For example, a Box primitive applies a texture map to each face. This works well in some cases, but you won't have to wait long until you'll want to change the coordinates.

Control over the mapping coordinates is accomplished using many different modifiers, including the granddaddy of them all—UVW Unwrap.

Pelts remind me of early turn-of-the-century explorers and trappers who captured and skinned critters such as foxes and wolves and preserved their fur pelts on a circular rack. These furs were valuable commodities that could be traded for whatever the trapper needed. The market for such furs has diminished significantly, but the concept works well for the virtual world as a mapping method for applying textures ...