Texturing with TSM

[krausyao]

I am trying to texture the roof of my building. I created the building as a block part. If I select a portion of the texture in the Texture Properties dialog it is stretched to fill the roof when the texture is set to the top of the part. If I select a portion of the texture and enter 2 for X Tiles and Y Tiles it uses more than the portion of texture selected. I can create a seperate texture with just the roof portion and then tile works in that multiple copies are used for the top texture instead of one used and strected. How can I tile using just a portion of texture instead of a seperate texture?

[Old_Codger]

In TSM you can't tile a texture if it's part of a multi-texture file, unless you create the needed texture to fit without tiling.
The only other option is to create a separate texture just for the part you need to tile.
When tiling in TSM, it will tile the full bmp/tga file.

[krausyao]

Is a multi-texture file a single texture file where different portions of the texture file are used to texture different parts and polygons?

Another option I tried was when adding a box using the sections option in the Box Parameters dialog. Then a portion of the texture file could be applied to each polygon of the added part. This resulted in the texture not being stretched over the entire top of the part but just the selected polygon.

[Old_Codger]

Is a multi-texture file a single texture file where different portions of the texture file are used to texture different parts and polygons?
Yes.

[mestevet]

In TSM you can't tile a texture if it's part of a multi-texture file, unless you create the needed texture to fit without tiling.
The only other option is to create a separate texture just for the part you need to tile.
When tiling in TSM, it will tile the full bmp/tga file.

There is an exception to this though. If the part of the texture that you wish to tile extends all the way across the texture (or if you make it that way), either in the x or y direction, you CAN tile with only that portion of the texture, so long as you only tile in the same direction that the sub-texture extends across the entire texture.

See my example, here's a simple texture I created (uses part of my Silverliner interior ceiling):
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/TileExam.jpg

I used this texture to tile this simple rectangular surface twice (count the lights vs. the texture)
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/TileExample.jpg

Note that the lower half of the original texture (where it says NO TEX) doesn't appear, even though it's tiled.
It'll work in the Y direction, if your texture has the strip across the texture oriented that way, but note that it won't work both ways with the same texture (because one strip would interfere with the other).

The point is, that if you want to combine a texture and tile it in TSM, you can, but you're limited by what I'm showing.

Steve

[rpicardi1]

That works the same way as my bridge textures. They are designed to be tiled in the X direction as many times as needed. They cannot be tiled in the Y direction.

For tiled roofing or siding, that texture has to be designed to tile in both directions. This is how all of my houses, barns, stone piers, brickwork, fences, and grain bins are done.

[refman]

The X direction is horizontal, and the Y direction is vertical.
To texture a surface in the Y plane with X textures simply split the part and turn it 90deg in the Z axis, apply texture, and the re position and re join.

[mestevet]

Gentlemen,

I think I should clarify my explanation. Here is an example of a simple texture set up to tile in Y (vertically) in TSM:

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/TileYEx.jpg

Using this texture, I tiled this simple rectangular surface only in Y (vertically):

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/TileYExample.jpg

If you use an X value for tiling greater than "1", the result would look something like this (with X=2):

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/TileXYExample.jpg

Note that the whole texture is now used since the X value was used.

There is another trick visible in my tiling, that I don't see used often. If you're sharp, you'll catch it. Hint, count the lights.

I used this technique on a highway overpass bridge I made for my own route. The texture has vertical strips that I tiled in Y to get the jointed concrete and repeated steel girder effect.
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/SVscshtRt202.jpg

Instead of trying to tile in x and y, you could just create a strip of roof shingles, stretch them across the texture and then only tile in one direction. There are advantages to doing it the way I suggest. A) You don't need to create a separate texture file to do a roof (if you go the x-y tile route). B) You don't need to create a texture of the whole roof (if you went the no-tile route) C) You dont' need to break the roof into strips or pieces for this purpose (saves polys).

It's not perfect, not the solution to every problem, but it IS another tool in your bag of tricks.

Steve

[mestevet]

OK, so here's what I was talking about in my last post. This example is HIGHLY simplified, but I think makes the point about making a roof this way.

Here's a very simple texture:
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/House.jpg

I used this one texture to texture this very simple (and colorful!) house:
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k329/mestevet/ExampleHouse.jpg

Note that the roof has been tiled twice and the walls tiled 3 times. Took me about 5 minutes. Obviously, much more care in the texture and the model will produce much better results.

Steve

[krausyao]

When a portion of the texture is selected a uv_point is created for each of the four corners of the selection rectangle

uv_point ( 0.875 0.419861 )

The first value is the horizontal (x) position expressed as a portion of the total width of the texture. The second value is the vertical (y) position. When the entire texture is used only one point appears to be created, uv_point ( 0 1 ). uv_point ( 0 0 ) is the upper left corner.

Can other modeling programs tile a portion of a texture?

Edit: TMS creates the uv_point ( 0 1 ) for the default texture when the model does not select a texture. When an entire texture is selected four uv_point entries are created.

Edit: When a texture is tiled there are still only four points. uv_point ( 4 -3.00024 ) is the upper right point when the texture is tiled 4 for x and 4 for y.

Edit: The points in uv_points are referenced from vertex_uvs ( 1 4 ) where the second number is an index to the point.

[RonMays]

And let us not forget the joys of trying to get standing seam roofing to look right on a hip roof. Always a challenge