I finally got to spend some quality time with iClone again, and I'm struggling a bit.

I added a simple cube (Props --> 3D Blocks --> Box_002).

Originally I added my simple image and mapped it with UV Settings of "Box", Tiling=1.00, and simply had to Align the correct axis.

The image size is 280x1033, and is only 26KB.

The result was beautiful, except I have buttons on all six sides.

See Figure 1 (the bottom remote).  You can see the squashed/stretched buttons on the side and bottom end of the remote in Figure 1.

For my second attempt, I tried to be more sophisticated.

I added Box_002, selected the Diffuse map, and did a "Launch" to open it in Gimp.  Then I figured out which end was which.  With that "mapping" in hand, I added my picture of my remote control to the Diffuse map and "stretched" it to fit the correct face.

See Figure 2.

I was very unhappy with the first attempt because the entire image was only 512x512 pixels.  So I increased my canvas to 3600x3600 pixels.  That was I do not have to shrink my scanned image at all, but I do have to stretch it sideways.

Now my image is 846KB (vs. 26) and I still have much poorer image quality.  See the fuzziness and lack of detail in Figure 1.

QUESTIONS:

Is my process all wrong?  How can I get the nice quality results of my original method, but treat each side individually?

If I have to attach a Plane to each of the six sides, and turn the original cube into an invisible dummy prop, will it scale, rotate, and in general be a nicely behaved prop, just like the cube?  I don't want to have to be burdened with six planes forever.

Also, I sort of understand what the "UV Ref." is showing me, but I don't see the value of it.  Maybe that's because I'm using a simple cube, and it would be more valuable on a sculpted surface (like an avatar's face).  But you can't edit directly on the UV Ref, can you?

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FIGURE 1:

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FIGURE 2:

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P.S.

What's the difference between the 3D props Box_001, Box_002, and Box_003?  Since I can scale them anyway, what's the difference?

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

You should set your "real time textures" to a higher value. The setting is in the preferences, that little gear up in the right corner of the iClone window

Cool.  That made a huge difference.  Thanks!

I was at the default of 1024x1024, so I guess that means my 3600x3600 image was being scaled by iClone.  I could see a bit of blur at 2048x2048, but a setting of 4096x4096 is working great.

I have a feeling this method (using the "map layout") is the "correct" way to do it, but:

• It seems like the bitmap sizes will get unnecessarily large - To get the same pixel density, my "mapped" file is 30 times larger than my original image!
• It seems a lot easier to edit a simple rectangular image and not have to worry about it being backwards

I don't know, if I was going to decorate a lot of "box" things (let's say I making cereal boxes) I think I'd build my own "cube" by carefully matching up 6 planes, attaching them all to a cube of similar size, and making the cube invisible.  Then I could EASILY paste on an image to each side individually, with a much smaller total file size (at least in terms of .jpg files).  I could even un-check "2-sided" so there's only one side (the "exterior" side) of the planes for iClone to deal with.

Or am I missing something that will make life more difficult for me later?

Thanks again for the tip.  It did work.  :)

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

I wish I could sit next to you for about 10 minutes... that would be SO much more efficient that trading posts on a forum.

I do want to figure this out, because I don't want to send the next 5 years doing it the hard way, or fighting poor quality results, or (least concern) being really inefficient in terms of resources.  As I kept cranking up my image pixel count, I kept thinking about how much "wasted space" there is on the image.  There's a lot of white space (which I know compresses very well).

Was my basic process of fitting my scanned image over the desired area of the Box's original Diffuse image correct?

I'll attach my original scanned file (parts of it a slightly blurry), if you want to play with it and use it as an example for your new student.

Please remember, I'm working with blocks...

Observation = iClone breaks this rule.  The Diffuse maps and UV Refs are both 512x512, at least for the 3D Boxes.

Do you recommend integer (whole number) multipliers (Image 2x, 3x, 4x larger than UV) or simply "larger"?  Does it have to be the same in both directions?  If UV is 512x512, is an image of 1337x809 okay?

I was so lost on that section, but maybe I figured it out.

Does this have to do with the "Pivot" (at the top of the prop's Modify panel)?  If not, I'm lost and I don't understand.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

You're funny.

When I reiterated that I'm working with blocks, it was another way of saying, "Please be gentle, I'm new at this."  ;)

My problem, simply put, is this:

• I believe I understand the basic concept of what the UV Map is for.  I know what it does.
• But I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with the UV Map itself.
• Do I ever do anything in Gimp (or Photoshop) with the UV Map?
• Shouldn't I simply "paint" my Diffuse image in a way the corresponds to how the 3D object was unwrapped?

So if we go back to "Box_002" and I want to turn it into a good-looking remote control, what would be my steps?  Something like this?

1. Collect images for the front and back (I'll let the sides be plain black for now).
2. Make a better UV Map
   a) Click on "UV Ref" and change the resolution from 512x512 to 2048x2048
   b) Save my Hi-res UV map
   c) Open/use my new UV Ref
3. Edit my Diffuse map and add the front and back images of my remote control
   a) Stretch them as needed to fill the "front panel" and "back panel"
   b) Save it, and drag it onto my Box_002 prop
4. Use the Scale handles (Shortcut = "R") to make my Box_002 be the right proportions for a remote control
5. Save my prop, and enjoy over and over again!

I sure I've made several mistakes and oversights.

<<< INSERTED >>>
Hmm... my UV Ref seems stuck at 512x512.  How do you upgrade the UV Ref resolution?
<<< end of insert >>>

Please teach.  :)

See pictures, below.  (I re-used my older images, so if you look closely you'll see resolutions don't match my instructions above.)

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Dennis

FWIW & as I recall, there's a Reallusion Tut somewhere for applying a Remote Control Image to a 3D Block. I expect I have it in my Library of Tuts on my HDD.

There's also a Stuckon3D Freebie Tut re; Texturing as part of his General Freebie Tut re; building a Castle Scene from 3D Blocks. I'll see if I can Link you to it.

ADDED - Link (Part 2). https://forum.reallusion.com/Topic31003-33-1.aspx

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      REALLUSION FORUM ANNUAL PINHEAD COMMUNITY PROJECTS.

       New Pinhead Website & Project to be announced in September 2015

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I'm using GIMP as my external editor.  It's supposed to very Photoshop-ish, and the price of "free" is wonderful.

About aspect ratios, when I place my "tall" remote control image onto the Box_002 map, I have to stretch and squash it to fit one of the box's faces.  Then I after applying the image to my box, I scale X-Y-Z in iClone until my remote control appears to be the correct size.  I am not stretching the actual map image (though I did try scaling it uniformly - changing the "canvas size" with X-Y linked so they scaled together.

I'm still stuck on how to make the UV Map a higher resolution than the Diffuse image.  I can't find a way to replace the UV Map for Box_002.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

I'll check it out.  Thanks.  :)

ADDED LATER >>>>

Colour - The tutorial was good, but I was familiar with what he covered.

My "problem" (challenge) is that his interior wall surfaces are the same as the exterior wall surfaces, just like when I have buttons on every side of my remote control.  What if he wanted to leave the outside exactly like what he made, but wanted a different texture on the inside of the caste, such a stucco, white-washed surface?

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Sw00000plish to English
you need a 3D modeling app that does uv projection and creates new shading domains.
Most modelers do.
IClone only projects a few preset uv's ie spherical, box, cylindrical and planar
modeling programs have more options where you can select induvidual polygons and create new shading domains.
I myself use Carrara, Sw00000p uses 3dsMAX but certainly Blender and Wings3D are two free programs that would also.
You create a seperate shading domain for that one face, perhaps even subdivide the mesh, though for iClone which does not use displacement not vital, then you can use a large texture map on just that one face and just a black shader on the rest.

@Wendy,

Thanks for the clarification.

Most of my Blender knowledge is a result of my son playing with it.  Sometimes I watch him, and sometimes I watch some tutorials just because it's such an amazing tool.  (I could have a lot of fun with it, but then I'd never have time to play with iClone, or sleep, or go to work.)

More and more I'm thinking that "real prop building" (even "advanced" texture mapping like I'm trying to do) should be done in Blender (or similar) and then use 3DXchange to turn it into an iProp.

Since I can legally run iClone on two PCs, I've been telling my son I should put my second copy on his machine.  He likes to model stuff, and I'd love to have him build props for me.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD