United3dArtists Archive

I should have run into this sooner or later (looks like now).
I'm having trouble with textures not sticking to the surface of an animated
boned object. As the bones rotate around, the textures on the
mesh stay like they are in the same spot, as the boned object mesh
changes shape. It's like the boned moving parts of the mesh
are passing through a stationary texture. The only way (so far) I've been able to lock'em down is with just ONE of the settings in ShaderLabs Map settings.
UV and Force Mapping ! ! ! This works, (for the texture mesh surface
problem) but the texture Mapping its self looks BAD. Longer polys stretch out
the texture, shorter ones squish'em. I saved out an image of the
textures and mapped them as image files as opposed to procedural
textures. But I still get the textures sliding aroung the mesh surface
when animating with bones. I'ts funny in the LayOut display (direct 3d)
the textures bend perfectly with the boned object. Its just when rendering
to LightWorks. I've tried tS UV mapping options too and again textures don't
go with bone deformation. If the object is moved, rotated ect... No
problem it works fine. This is a Bone/Mesh/Texture situation. Is there
a somewhat easy way around this that I'm not doing ? ? ?

Sounds like a render issue with Lightworks itself if the layout is okay. You could try saving the model as a COB model, then afterwords load it into TS again. Have you tried render it to file as an AVI with out compression in the settings panel? Let me know if that works.

No, it makes no difference and probably shouldn't either. AVI un-compressed
does the same thing. I think this has got to do with the way trueSpace
and LightWorks are connected. I do have an IDEA though... will be trying
it very soon too ! ! ! What I've been doing SO FAR, is right before rendering
sub-d ing the model a couple times to smooth it out a bit. (Ok, a lot).
After doing this, I have not been been "Freezing" out the mesh in its
new higher polygon state. I"ve been leaving it so I can un-sub divide it
when done rendering, the anim. MayBe, SAVING the mesh in it's new
higher (sub-d) polygon state BEFORE rendering might work. This might
have something to do with OPEN trueSpace sub-divided surfaces and LightWorks. I did llike doing it this way because trueSpace is very good
at auto weight painting an active sub-d object to it's bones. Once, I
"Freeze Out" the mesh (get rid of it" sub-d history) the skin does not
go with the bones as well. Where the mesh goes from the
influence of one bone to another it's influence is sudden and sharp.
Sub-ding it auto smooths this out and makes weight painting mostly
a thing of the past.....

Jimmer... any way you could post the scene and we can look at it in more detail?

Ok, I'll get something ready to try.... Give me a day or so.....

Ok, try this.... it's a simplified test scene with 2 animated boned TUBES.
One tube has a shaderlab texture on it the other a default Caligari
"PokaDots" texture. They both do the same thing, when animating with
BONES, the textures do not stay with the surface of the object.
I've included the TUBE on the right with the Caligari DOT texture on it
in case you DO NOT have ShaderLab. (Or the ShaderLab texture
I used). As the scene loads it will promt. you for the ShaderLab shader
(if you dont have it). Just click past and watch the tube on the right.
1). To be clear ALL Caligari "Wrapped" textures work correctly ! ! !
The PokaDots "WRAPPED" texture works fine, I used the regular one
to show what ShaderLab textures do when I use anything other
than UV "FORCED" for mapping.
2). If the texture in the LayOut (Direct 3D Display) matches the
LightWorks render (as it comes down), the textures WILL stay with the
surface of the animated boned object. ( You'll know it WILL work
before animating a frame).
This for me is mostly a ShaderLab question.... Why ShaderLab
"Object" mapping with FORCE mapping selected does not lock the
texture down.
Select either object and try different textures. Theres an animation
there, so just slide through the frames to where the tubes are bent
and render. You'll see what I mean without having to render out an
entire anim. This has to to with the WAY the surfaces are mapped..
Have fun.....

Ok, I could NOT upload the attachment (scene file)... didn't like the
.scn extension. Then I changed it to a .jpeg just to upload
but that didn't work either.... Me no understand how to upload
scene file ???

I think you can compress it to a zip file then upload it.

Yep, best way to share a scene here on the forum:

Open *scene_I_want_to_share* in tS:
TS6 Files/Archive.
With file manager go to the tS/Archive/* folder and then zip the entire *scene_I_want_to_share* folder.
Attach that zip file to your post.

The advantage to sharing the archive is that it includes all the textures which in your case will be especially handy.

Ok, try this first... This still don't seem right ? ? ? (attachment=0) ???

OK, it worked. (Attachment Sent). I didn't archive this .scn file
from tS (yet). I'm sure you will still need ShaderLab installed for
the ShaderLab texture. In anycase it's not a paticular texture that
does this, it's a type of Mapping. If YOU have Shader Lab just
select a COLOR shader in it and try it...
Try the different Mapping options "3D Solid" (which you would think
would work correctly), "World" and try FORCE MAPPING with these too.
Again... UV and FORCE MAPPING works. It just don't look that
good mapped on more complex surafces.