Issue with Composite Maps and Real-World Scale

[Alex_VM]

Hello

I'm using a simple plane with a UVW Map modifier on it (Planar Mapping / Real-World Map Size) and want to assign a material with textures set to real-world scale. I know the actual size of my textures is 3m x 3m in real life. My units are set to cm. My plane dimensions are 300cm x 300cm. I have set my textures to use Real-World Scale and set the size to 300cm x 300cm. Finally as mentioned above I've ticked Real-World Map Size on my UVW Map mod. (Fig.01)

Everything looks right when I use a single bitmap on the Diffuse map slot of my material (Fig.02) but not when using a composite map of two bitmaps on that same slot (Fig.03).

The composite map seems to bypass the Real-World scale on my textures for some reason. I've tried resetting XForm, using a UVW Mapping Clear modifier, creating a new material from scratch and reassigning a UVW Map mod. Nothing seems to work. Any ideas on why this is happening?

[darawork]

Hi,

It certainly sounds like Composite is disregarding your Real-World UVW scaling.
Does it also happen with Mix Maps? Probably not.

Regards,

[CAMedeck · Accepted solution]

Maps like Composite and Mix don't translate well to a shaded view when the Material is set to be Show Shaded in Viewport.  If you set it to be Show Realistic in Viewport it will usually be a much better representation, but not always perfect.  I just tested with Mix, and it only showed one Bitmap regardless of how the Mix Amount was set.

When I'm working with maps like this and want to be sure the child textures are mapping correctly, I'll set the individual Bitmaps to be visible in the viewport one at a time and adjust accordingly.

[darawork]

Hi,

Sounds a bit of a deeper problem than not just displaying correctly in the viewport. 
I've not tested it out myself yet, but it sounds like when rendering, the composite map essentially gets rid of 'Real-World' map scaling from the prior node. I could imagine this happening as something gets 'lost in translation' from one node to the other.

'Use Real-World Scale' Checkbox.

Regards,

[Alex_VM]

Hi!

I was wondering about the Mix map as well. Tried it and the function pretty much behaved the same way on my test.

[darawork]

Hrm, that's strange alright. 

Just thinking, maybe try it with vRay bitmaps instead?

https://docs.chaos.com/m/mobile.action#page/60098017

I can't see how it would be different though. If this is a bug, that texture maps chained into another node loose their real world mapping scale then I'm sure there would be more posts like this.

It's weird. 

Regards, 

[Alex_VM]

Hello

You might be on to something here. If I select the Composite and click on "Show Shaded Material in Viewport" it scales correctly in the viewport but only shows the "AO" bitmap (Fig.01). Maybe it only shows the bitmap on Layer 2 or the last one to have been added to the Composite? If I keep the Composite linked to the Diffuse slot, the "Color" bitmap will only appear correctly if I do the same for that specific bitmap (select > turn on its visibility in the viewport). If I click on the end material (Parent) and click on "Show Shaded Material in Viewport", we're back to the problematic representation in the viewport.

Using "Realistic Materials with Maps" made no difference on mine in terms of scale/tiling.

@darawork The issue seems to be restricted to the viewport and won't affect rendering. I started an interactive render and the textures appear to scale in the frame buffer regardless of what is displayed in the viewport (Fig.02). Should have tried this before anything. That doesn't completely solve the problem but you can be sure it will render correctly and it helps with mapping and texturing.

@CAMedeck Your workflow of checking the bitmaps individually with their respective viewport visibility turned on seems to be a more resource friendly solution. But do all your adjustments carry over to the Parent in complex layouts (through compositor and/or color correction maps) ?

Workarounds then 🙂

Thank you @darawork  and thank you @CAMedeck  for taking the time.

[darawork · Accepted solution]

Ahh, so it's just the viewport. Then I wouldn't mind it. Some of the the procedural 3DSMax texture maps display incorrectly in the viewport, tiles I think, and others. It's just something that happens, be it the viewport limitations or something to do with the map itself. They are long due an upgrade. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-ideas/please-fix-procedural-maps-display-in-viewport/idi-p/67...

It's an inconvenience alright, but if the end result renders out correctly then it's not so bad. I thought the rendered version was turning out the same. Doh.

I was just rereading that link and found this, it may be a workaround maybe? I didn't try it myself yet. Sounds a bit like interactive rendering though, and we already have that now. This script is from 2008.

https://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/texmappreview

Regards, 

[Alex_VM]

That was a good suggestion but still no luck. I just gave it a go. To be honest, it seems strange to me that I haven't come across this before or that I just noticed. I've observed similar viewport display behavior before with unwrapped meshes with fabric textures (tiny pattern?) but not with a Composite Map where the constituent Bitmaps are otherwise displayed correctly. Thanks again!

Kind regards

[darawork]

Hi, 

Well I'd call that a bug. 

You can file a bug report I suppose. Strangely enough I couldn't find an Autodesk link. But I did find this:

https://support.chaos.com/hc/en-us/articles/4649117083409-How-to-report-issues-3ds-Max-

Regards,