To correct the texture on selected faces, you add additional mapping information for those faces. There are a number of ways to do this, but the Unwrap UVW modifier is the most versatile and interactive way: This lesson shows how to use Unwrap UVW.

Adding texture detail is a matter of how much time you want to spend, and how you plan to use the model. If the model will appear only in a long shot, you might be able to dispense with texture correction. If the model will appear in a medium shot or a close-up, you might have to go through these steps.

For the purposes of this lesson, we use the final rendering as a guide:

This is a medium shot. Facade1, on the left, is in shadow: But at another time of day, you would be able to see the right sides of the doorways. So we will show how to correct the sides of the doorway, and the doorstep.

The windows are too far away to see detail; the roof is seen only from below; and the sides of the house are obscured by other houses. So we won’t go through the steps for correcting these details, but at the end of this lesson, we show how the details might be corrected. (The completed model, facade_modeling_completed.max, has many texture corrections that these lessons don’t describe.)

Set up the lesson:

1. Continue working on your scene from the previous lesson, or open \modeling\facades\facade_modeling_03.max.
2. If you open the file, select the façade, go to the Modify panel, and make sure that (Show End Result) is on for all three levels of the stack.

Add an Unwrap UVW modifier:

1. Select Facade1.
2. Go to the Modify panel. In the modifier stack, click the UVW Mapping entry to make this modifier active.
3. From the Modifier List, choose Unwrap UVW.

   

4. In the modifier stack, click (the plus-sign icon) by the Unwrap UVW entry to expand the Unwrap UVW sub-levels, then click the Face sub-object level to make it active.

   

Correct the texture on the left-hand doorjamb:

1. Orbit (or use the ViewCube), zoom, and pan the viewport so you have a good view of the right side of the doorways.

   

   The sides appear streaked, because they are at right angles to the texture projection of the UVW Map modifier.

2. Click and Ctrl+click to select both doorjamb faces.

   

   NoteYou can adjust some settings for both doorjambs at once, because they are parallel to each other.
3. On the Modify panel Map Parameters rollout, click to turn on Planar, then click Align X.

   

   Now the doorjambs are correctly aligned with the fac1.jpg texture. However, they show the entire façade, which is not quite what we want.

   

4. Click Planar again to turn it off.
   ImportantIf you forget to turn off Planar, later you won’t be able to use controls in the Edit UVWs dialog.
5. Click to select only the left-hand doorjamb.

   

6. On the Modify panel Parameters rollout, click Edit.

   

   3ds Max opens the Edit UVWs dialog.

   

7. On the Edit UVWs dialog toolbar, choose “Map #11 (fac1.jpg)” from the background pattern drop-down list.

   

   Now the main window of the dialog displays fac1.jpg.

8. On the lower toolbar, click to turn on (Filter Selected Faces).

   Now the geometry shown in the Edit UVWs dialog (the red mesh) represents only the left-hand doorjamb face.

9. On the Edit UVWs dialog toolbar, click to turn on (Freeform Mode).

   The face mesh now shows handles at its edges and corners. With Freeform Mode, you can scale the face by dragging a corner handle, rotate the face by dragging a side handle, and move the face by dragging from the interior of the face.

10. Drag a corner to scale the face so it is roughly the size of a doorjamb in the bitmap.

    

    TipMove the Edit UVWs dialog so you can also see the left doorjamb in the viewport. That way, you can see your texture-mapping changes interactively, as you make changes in the dialog.
11. In the Edit UVWs dialog, drag the face to the right, so it covers the right side of the central pillar.

    

12. On the Edit UVWs dialog toolbar, click (Mirror Horizontal).

    In the viewport, you can see how the correction looks.

    

This is the pattern for using Unwrap UVW to correct textures on faces with poor texture projection: Essentially, you “fake” the texture by choosing some part of the original texture that looks well when applied to the surface that needs correcting.

Correct the texture for the right-hand doorjamb:

1. With the Edit UVWs dialog still open, click to select the right-hand doorjamb.

   

2. On the Edit UVWs dialog lower toolbar, click to turn Filter Selected Faces off and then on.
   ImportantToggling Filter Selected Faces ensures that the Edit UVWs dialog display is updated correctly.
3. On the Edit UVWs dialog toolbar, turn on (Freeform Mode), then drag the upper-right corner of the doorjamb face to scale it so it is roughly the size of a doorjamb in the bitmap.

   

4. Drag the face a bit to the right, so you can see the edge of the shrub.

   

5. On the Edit UVWs dialog toolbar, click (Mirror Horizontal).

   Once again, you can see the correction in the viewport.

   

6. Close the Edit UVWs dialog.
7. Deselecting the faces makes it easier to see the corrections you made.

   

Correct the texture on the doorsteps:

The doorsteps are a little tricky, because the photo has no information about that portion of the building. To compensate, we use the lintel texture: Although the lintel is wood, when scaled up in size it can pass for stone.

1. Click and Ctrl+click to select the doorstep faces (there are four faces on the left, and three on the right).

   

2. On the Modify panel Map Parameters rollout, click to turn on Planar, then click Align Z.

   

   Now the doorsteps are correctly aligned with the fac1.jpg texture.

3. Click Planar again to turn it off.
4. On the Modify panel Parameters rollout, click Edit to open the Edit UVWs dialog.

   

5. In the Edit UVWs dialog, scale and move the doorstep faces so they are on top of the lintel beam in the bitmap.
6. Close the Edit UVWs dialog.

A close-up rendering of the doorways shows your texture corrections better than the viewport can.

Save your work:

• Save the scene as facade1_textured.max.