Texture Mapping Process Overview

UV Mapping Creation

UV mapping consists in assigning a mapping type to the geometries you want to apply a texture to.

The "feature" level allows you to select the geometries on which to apply the mapping. One UV mapping feature can only contain one unique set of geometries. A geometry cannot be selected into two different UV Mapping features.

The UV map level allows you to define the mapping type/technique used to apply the texture (planar, spherical, etc.). You can create as many UV maps as you need under a UV Mapping feature. Each UV map has an index that depends on its position under the feature. For example if you need to superimpose an image texture and a normal map on a same surface but you want to apply them differently, you can create two UV maps under the same UV Mapping feature.

Texture Creation - Materials

Material Creation

Materials allow to define texture.

The material level allows you to select the geometries on which to apply the texture.

Then in each material created, you can activate the Use texture option.

Material level - geometry selection	Texture activation

Texture creation

Activating the texture creates another Surface layer on which you can define an image texture, normal map and/or apply specific optical properties.

In the surface layer, you need to define the texture properties and a UV map index. This index allows you to indicate which UV map layer should be used to apply the texture.

	Figure 1. Texture Image definition
	Figure 2. Normal map definition
	Figure 3. Optical Property Definition

Algorithm Check

Once the UV mapping and materials are created, the algorithm confronts the geometries contained in the material and the ones selected in the UV mapping features.

When a geometry is detected in both elements, the UV map index defined in the surface layer is used to select the correct UV map to apply the texture.