Applying textures

Now that you’ve output all the UV meshes, you can import them into an external image editor to create a texture.

Once you’ve created associated texture files, you can apply them to your model. For the purposes of this tutorial, textures have been provided for you in the sourceimages folder.

To apply the texture for the torso

In the perspective view, -click the torso and select Assign New Material from the pop-up menu.
The Assign New Material window appears.
Select Lambert.
The soldier’s torso turns matte grey.
Open the Attribute Editor and select the lambert tab.
Change the name of the lambert material to Mat_Torso.
Click the box next to Color.
The Create Render Node window appears.
Click File.
In the Attribute Editor, click the file icon next to the Image Name field.
A file browser appears.
Navigate to the GettingStartedMaya2012LessonData\UVMapping\sourceimages folder, select soldier_torso.tif, then click Open.
The body armor texture is applied to the soldier’s body. If the texture does not appear in the scene, press 6.
Select all the UVs and click the Smooth UV Tool icon (). Slowly unfold the UVs until they roughly match the details of the texture as shown below.

If the texture is not aligned or sized correctly you can adjust the UVs in the UV Texture Editor using the Toolbox.
In the Attribute Editor, in the Mat_torso tab, click the box next to Bump Mapping.
The Create Render Node window appears.
Click File.
A file tab appears in the Attribute Editor.
In the file tab, click the browse icon next to Image Name.
A file browser appears.
Navigate to the GettingStartedMaya2012LessonData\UVMapping\sourceimages folder, select soldier_torso_normals.tif, and click Open.
Normal maps appear on the soldier’s chest. Normal maps give the flat portions of the texture the illusion of 3D bumps.

NoteYou may need to perform a render of the scene view or switch to Renderer > High Quality Rendering or Renderer > Viewport 2.0 to visualize the normal maps.

Now you can repeat the process for the other body parts by applying the following textures:

Appendage	Material node name	Texture filename	Normals filename
Left Arm	Mat_Arm	soldier_arm.tif	soldier_arm_normals.tif
Right Arm	Mat_Arm (reuse from above by using Assign Existing Material).	soldier_arm.tif	soldier_arm_normals.tif
Legs	Mat_Legs	soldier_legs.tif	soldier_legs_normals.tif
Left Foot	Mat_Feet	soldier_boot.tif	soldier_boot_normals.tif
Right Foot	Mat_Feet (reuse from above by using Assign Existing Material).	soldier_boot.tif	soldier_boot_normals.tif
Head	Mat_Head	soldier_head.tif	soldier_head_normals.tif
Eye	Mat_Eye	soldier_eye.tif	none

Note

When reusing a texture for a mirrored appendage (Right Arm or Right Foot), you must flip the UVs in the UV Texture Editor to fit the texture. You can do this by selecting all the UVs and clicking the Flip UVs in the U Direction button () in the UV Texture Editor.