Modeler

Chapter 8: Map Tab 277PlanarPlanar is very similar to the Planar Mapping method you mayalready be familiar with. It projects the UVs onto the UV Mapusing a flat plane. When you choose it, you’ll see that planerepresented as a cyan rectangle in the viewports. You canchoose the axis using the X, Y, Z buttons below the Mappingfield. As you do, you will be able to see the results of the variousorientations in the UV Texture viewport.You can scale the map interactively by dragging the corners ofthe cyan mapping rectangle, or by using the spinners or typingnumbers into the fields in the Scale Tab. As you do, you willnotice that, the larger the mapping rectangle, the smaller themap, and vice versa. This is because the object is occupying asmaller (or larger) percentage of the mapping rectangle. If youhold down the Ctrl key before you begin to drag, the scaling willbe constrained to the last drag direction.You can change the position of the plane by dragging the centercross, or by using the spinners or typing numbers into the fields inthe Position Tab. Holding the Ctrl key will constrain the draggingto vertical only. Notice as you drag that when you drag right, themapped object moves left in the UV Texture viewport, and viceversa. This is because it’s occupying the left (or right) side of themapping rectangle.You can rotate the mapping rectangle in the directionperpendicular to the rectangle by clicking and dragging on thedotted cyan handles that extend from the center square. However,you can only interactively rotate on the axis perpendicular to therectangle. If you want to rotate it in all three directions, you willhave to use the numbers or spinners on the Rotate Tab. Thetab uses Heading, Pitch, and Bank; controls that you should befamiliar with from Layout.CylinderCylinder is the same as the Cylindrical Mapping mode youhave seen in other places. It projects the vertices onto a cylinder,and then unwraps that flat onto the UV Map. The cylinder isvisible as a simple cyan wireframe cylinder in your viewports.Choose the axis you would like to use as the length of the cylinderby clicking on the appropriate button (X, Y, or Z.) You can alsochoose the Width Wrap, which determines how far the polys willspread in the U direction on the map. You can adjust it to keep thepolys proportional as you change the scale of the cylinder.You can change the height of the cylinder by dragging on the topor bottom line. To change the other two directions, you must usethe spinners or type the numbers into the fields in Scale Tab ofthe Numeric Panel. Once again, the larger the cylinder, the lessspace the polys take, and the smaller they appear on the map.You can change the position of the cylinder by dragging thecentral cyan cross. If you want to be more exact, you can use thefields in the Position Tab of the Numeric Panel.Finally, you can rotate the cylinder; but only by using the fields inthe Rotate Tab.It’s interesting to note that each mapping method inherits theScale, Position, and Rotation that are already present. So, if youwish to interactively rotate the cylinder, simply start with PlanarMapping, rotate the rectangle, and then switch. If you chosethe correct directions, your rotation will be in place.Heading, of course, controls movement around the Y axis, Pitcharound the X axis, and Bank around the Z axis. So, if you havechosen the Z axis for mapping, you can drag to change the Bank,but Heading and Pitch can only be changed in the NumericPanel.Notice, once again, that the object appears to move in theopposite direction to your movement when you drag, because youare changing the corner of the mapping rectangle that it occupies.