scaling image maps

[arisdemos]

Two months into TG2 and having trouble with texturing of objects/TGO's scaled upwards. It seems that if I scale the plant larger the Xfrog textures from the older free plants do not apply completly or not at all. Texture of leaves on my Wild Cotoneaster will terminate into segments of black/cut off the leafing top of bush or tree with only partial coloration, and leaving the rest of the top black or missing. Is there a certain shader I have not used that controls the coverage or distribution of the texturing of the TGO as I scale it larger?  After reading throughout most of this forum I learned that several members have came to some  successful and repeatable  :)understanding of these xfrog objects. These members and their instructions have been of great help to me so far, but depite continuous mining of the TG2 info I can't find any further relative discussions/tutorial threads available. Perhaps once again those who have been so kind as to pull others along with their insight, intellect, and hard work will once again help another TG2 addict coming up behind them. Thanks to everyone of you who have made my Terragen 2 path and experiance easier up to this point.

[bigben]

Can you post a sample image of the problem?  How much are you scaling the trees by?

[arisdemos]

Hi Ben, and thank you for your quick reply.  I am putting together an image of two scaled renders of the cotoneaster bush, and the scales are set to 3-3-5 and 60-60-75 respectively. as you will (hopefully) soon be able to see the smaller one comes in nearly complete, and the larger is nearly all black. There is at time a cutting off of the image map half way into the tree, and at times in certain scale there is a wedge of image map that cuts into the leaf area. Being new here I have to ask, do I post the image of my problem to this section of the forum?  For what I have known of your talent and generosity I remain your attentive admirer.  Thanks and I will post as soon as possible, Arisdemos

[Harvey Birdman]

Being new here I have to ask, do I post the image of my problem to this section of the forum? 

Well, it would make it simpler for anyone trying to follow the thread. So yes, I'd think so.

[bigben]

...Being new here I have to ask, do I post the image of my problem to this section of the forum? 

It's easier seeing the image in the same thread as your problem. Sounds like it's related to the amount of scaling, although I haven't seen a problem as bad as you have described with trees that I have scaled up.

[arisdemos]

Hi Ben
here is an image showing the smaller scaled bush and the larger one in the inset. If I set the scale down to 1-1-1.5 or there about, then the texture completely covers the TGO.  Is my problem back in the Poseray creation steps of scaling the object?

[Oshyan]

It would probably help to see your internal network inside the object node where the textures are controlled. Did you set this up manually? Are you using Image Map nodes or Default Shaders? What projection is being used for the textures? My first guess here was that maybe Through Camera projection is selected, which would definitely cause consistency issues with different scales (and camera positions).

- Oshyan

[arisdemos]

Hi Oshyan
My network is simply two image map shaders 01 and 02 (modified xfrog bark and leaf texture maps) connected to the TGO Multi-shader. Yes I did set this up manually becase the Mat. file didnt come through with the TGO creation. I believe I am using both image maps applied (via the multi shader) with a surface shader. As you surmmized the projection is through camera, and I do seem to have a change in texture coverage when moving my single camera about. Have I missed the boat here by not understanding the needed choice of projection during the object setup steps earlier on?

[Oshyan]

Through Camera projects the texture as if your camera were a film projector. It will give you "frontal" coverage only. If you move the camera, the texture moves with you. It's really not what you want in most cases, although it's quite useful for certain masking situations.

Assuming your object has appropriate UV coordinates set up then you should use the UV Coordinate projection option. If UV coords aren't properly specified you may need to pass your object through something like Poseray to get it converted properly for TG2's use.

- Oshyan

[arisdemos]

Thanks Oshyan and Ben, your advice seems to have corrected the primary problem, because after I changed to the UV projection the larger scaled bush now comes through uniformly and completely. There is a little too much black edge to the leaves, but I believe that if I look back into Ben's earlier posted advice on improving the appearance of xfrog's older free texture maps I will get the better realism/color I am looking for. Great program, and with the help of this highly educational forum I hopefully am gaining ground on the requisite understanding needed to justify getting into a full blown edition in the near future.   

[arisdemos]

Whoop's so sorry:

Made slight mistake in my reference to "Ben's" posted advice on Xfrog texturing. TGO Sensai Harvey Birdman was the primary honorable contributor whom I meant.  I believed it worth mentioning that there continues to exist (at least on my part) an ongoing appreciation and use of these valuable posts.  Processing and giving the needed "face lift" to the older Xfrog free objects is most helpful to one of limited means, like myself.

Arisdemos