Using Textures

[Bill Tillman]

I was pleasantly surprised today to find that I could use textures on one surface of a solid. But I guess what I also discovered is that I can't apply a material to this same plate and then apply the texture to only one surface. Meaning that it requires me to apply a texture to all surfaces, which in the case of a plate is 6.

 

What I'm trying to do is to use a plate which represent aluminum diamond plate. On the top surface there is the diamond embossing. On the bottom surface there is only a flat plat surface with some slight bleed through of the embossed diamonds on the other side.

 

So am I assuming that correctly? If I want more than one texture mapped to a solid I will have to map each surface with the required texture. The method I would of course prefer to do is to apply the material to the entire solid, then apply a texture to just one of the surfaces, allowing all 5 of the other surfaces to remain with the original material.

[ReMark]

Make the cover out of two surfaces. The bottom of the cover will be a pan. The cover would appear to be solid but in reality it would be hollow. Or......

 

Could you not overlay the top with a 3DFace and apply the texture to it?

 

I am not on my CAD computer or I would test both concepts for you. Sorry.

[Cad64]

I think you will just have to use 2 different materials. One for the top diamond plate and one for the other 5 faces. Autocad is not as flexible as other programs when it comes to working with textures and materials.

[ReMark]

Good Morning Mr. Bill!

 

You can forget about my suggestion regarding the use of a 3D Face as you won't get consistently good results. However, there is something I'd like to show you here:

 

 

This is for demonstration purposes only so I used two different colored tile materials (ochre and cyan).

 

In this example the height of the base is 1" while the height of the top is 0.01" or just enough to apply a material to but not so much that it would negatively affect the overall height. Visual style: Realistic.

 

Would this be acceptable to do in your situation?

 

Do you assign materials by object or by layer?

[f700es]

Textures in AutoCAD 2014:

 

 

• Layer: Globally assign materials to all objects on a particular drawing layer by assigning a material to the layer. To assign materials by layer, open the Materials slideout on the Render tab and choose Attach by Layer.
  
• Object: Assign materials to an object by selecting the object and then right-clicking the material you want to assign in the Materials Browser palette. From the menu that appears, choose Assign to Selection. You can also drag and drop a material from the Materials Browser palette onto an object in a drawing or change an object’s Material property by using the Properties palette.
  
• Face: Assign materials to individual faces of a 3D solid. Select a face using Subobject filtering by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting the face you want to apply a material to. Right-click the material you want to assign in the Materials Browser palette, and then choose Assign to Selection from the menu that appears.
  

[ReMark]

Face:

 

That's a good one to know. Thanks. I'm still experimenting with this whole materials/textures/mapping/lighting thing. Got a long way to go since I have no call to use these features in my normal line of work.

 

Sure that Bill will appreciate it too.

[ReMark]

That didn't go so well.

 

I tried to assign a material to a face of a cube. I filtered for "face" and pressed the Ctrl key prior to selecting. However AutoCAD didn't like something I did because I got this as a reply on my command line.

 

Cannot assign a material to a part of a historical solid. Only the solved solid or a face on the historical solid can have a material applied. For more information visit the Help.

 

I'm off to visit Help to see if he can "help" me.

 

OK...I'm back. I figured out what I was doing wrong which had to do with the way I was making my pick.

[f700es]

Acad 2013, 2 materials and just hit the render button.

I used a poly solid. Did a fillet on some corners and applied a different material to them.

 

You can also hold down ctrl and then select the face on the solid and then double click on the material and it will assign to selected material.

 

[ReMark]

With enough practice I could be half as good as you in no time. 50% good and 50% bad. Perfection is a long ways off.

[Bill Tillman]

Yes, this rendering thing is a real art...what works for one may not work for another. Lots of touch up then wait for another render to finish. I'm making progress at least. Thanks to all.

[ReMark]

I'm still in the early experimental/learning stages so if I have three models in my practice drawing that's a lot. I'm nowhere close to what you are doing Bill.