Treat multiple surfaces as one
jmucchiello
Posts: 612
Is there a way to combine surfaces so that a texture can be made to flow over them seamlessly? (Preferring answers that don't include external programs but expecting to need them. :) )
I'm trying to turn a figure into a statue, but where the surfaces meet (arms to body, body to legs, etc), the textures, which are simple stone or metal textures, show the seam because the surfaces are distinct.
The hard way would be to map the texture onto the existing surfaces and make sure the edges line up correctly, but that's a lot of work in a photo editor. If I could just combine the surface geometry so there was just a single smooth surface, the texture would automatically flow without a seam.
Bonus points if this technique can also apply the surfaces of multiple objects (head to eyes, head to mouth, head to hair, etc).
Hopefully the image isn't considered NSFW. It shows the leg to body connection with a marble texture that doesn't line up. I tried messing with geometry (tiling and offsets) but it's never really satisfying.
Thanks.
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Comments
No matter you make that stone textures by using shader presets or UV based materials, as long as the settings on Surface are identical (in Surfaces pane), there shouldn't be any "seams" ~
If you use a tiling shader on 2 surfaces there's no guarantee at all that the tiles will match at the surface boundary, so yes there can be a seam.
Which figure are you using as the base for your statue? There's a pack for G8 which provides alternate UVs optimized for using tiling shaders: https://www.daz3d.com/sculptural-genesis-8-ultra-fun-kit
mapping of texture depends on UVs. Texturing a multi-udim model like a Gensis figure where each UDIM has different texel density isnt as simple as slapping on a repeating texture. you need to actuall texture it properly in a texture painting software.
Or you can use a shader that doesnt employ UV space and instead uses World Space or Tanget Space etc. Someone posted a shader that used tangent space on these forums a few years ago.
Ah, right ! I overlooked the case of using tileable textures ~
If so, one can easily make a new UV layout with Blender (projection from current view) for being used in such case. Load the UV Set and apply the shader presets.
triplanar shader
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8606366/#Comment_8606366
thanks to stem_athome
I'd use an Iray Decal.
thats exactly what i was referring to, no idea why i called it tangent space in my post above.
Triplanar is brilliant for things it's impossible to UV map like fractals, extremely high detalied scans etc
or applying seamless textures to anything
I use the Carrara and Octane ones a lot, Twinmotion also has it
so was thrilled when it was made possible in DAZ
Various answers:
@leana: It's G9. I know about the G8 asset spoken you mention. I have too many other renders in G9 to switch to G8 though.
Shader is from https://www.daz3d.com/marble-shaders-for-iray
@crosswind: One can easily make a UV in a program I've never launched before in my life? Sure. Blender is well known to be easy-peasy.
@Wendy: I have no idea what that comment means. What do I do with the DUF? How do I use it in my scene? There's an error: The following documents cannot be found: /C:/Users/Stem/Documents/UVgrid.jpg
@jmucchiello That's a once and for all solution. The question is if you'd like to give it a try ~
A step-by-step for you and the ones who want to make a Tiling UV :
1) Load G9 in DS, set its Resolution Level to Base. Export G9 to OBJ file via File > Export... with the settings in (ss1), i.e. uncheck Write UV Coordinates.
2) In Blender, import OBJ file via File > Import > Wavefront (.obj). Switch to UV Editting layout and Edit Mode. Hit Numpad 1 to have a Front View and center the figure. Hit A to select G9. Click menu item: UV > Project from View (ss2). Then Export to OBJ file via File > Export > Wavefront (.obj). (ss3)
3) Go to Surfaces pane in DS, from context menu > Edit > Load UV Set, select OBJ file. (ss4). Name it as "Tiling UV", then go to menu: File > Save As > Support Asset > UV Asset(s)... (ss5)
4) Select all Surfaces, choose Tiling UV in the slot UV Set, then apply the Shader Preset you want (ss6)
Edit: The UV Set is attached. If you don't want to make it yourself. You can extract the data folder within the attached ZIP file to the root directory of your Daz Library. Reload G9 figure. Do the above step 4).
@crosswind, if you change the character pose or the camera angle, do you have to do the whole process in Blender over again, of does the one tiling UV work in all cases?
No, we don't need to do the process again. The UV Set works in all cases.
Wow, that sounds great.
Aren't view/camera-projected UVs intrinsically tied to the angle of view at which they were projected? I see what looks like stretching in one of your example images, which was rendered at a different angle than the UV was projected from.
@crosswind. Okay. I'll give it a shot. First, I have to download blender. And I'll be doing this before making a donut. :)
@barbult. I tried the decal. This didn't get rid of the seams. But it did move them to less obvious places. I might fool with this solution some more. I tried Cylinder and Cube for the projection on the decal. Rotating the decal also affects placement of the seams so this might be good for a quick fix.
it's a shader, you apply it as a shader by selecting your surfaces and clicking it where you saved it in your library and add your own images be it jpg or png
it has tiling etc options
it ignores and UV mapping and creates it's own
Crosswind attached the UV set. I dont think you need to do anything in Blender...
Right ~ I learnt a way from one of OSO's products, but with this UV set, no seams but stretching is still not avoidable as far as I experiment. I'll futher study on it.
I just used the default planar projection. Here are some thoughts on the use of decals:
Decals only show up on the item they are parented to. The decal needs to be translated and scaled to encompass the entire area that you want the decal to display on. Apply the decal texture map to both front and back surfaces of the decal. To avoid drastic stretching, the decal node needs to be oriented to closely match the camera orientation. If you want the decal to appear to seamlessly cover two items (like G9 and G9 Eyes), you need two decals which have the same transformations, one parented to each node. You can set decal priority in the parameters pane. If you change the character pose, the decals will still work OK, as long as the character does not move outside of the decal box. If you move rotate camera significantly you will begin to see stretching of the decal pattern. Rotate the decal(s) to match the new camera angle. If you see visible seams, something is wrong; perhaps your decal texture was not a seamless texture.