4.8. Tutorial: Editing the textures

Starting Point

Create a textured 3D model from a set of photographs or by importing a model.

Step 1

In order to affix our company logo we need to choose the desired orientation of the model that we will then start editing from. In this example rotate the model by selecting the Rotate model button from View Model toolbar and left drag the model until the top is visible.

TIP:	To ensure accurate editing, make sure the model is taking up most of 3D view by zooming in using the Zoom model button.

Step 2

Hit the Copy View button from View Model toolbar to copy the image of the textured model onto the clipboard.

Step 3

Paste the clipboard image as a new image into your preferred 2D image editor application. The image should not be resized.

Pasting an image into PhotoShop In PhotoShop care is required to ensure the image dimensions are preserved when pasting from the clipboard. You must first copy the image onto the clipboard as described. Only then can you create a new image using the File > New menu item. The width and height fields will be automatically filled-in using the clipboard image dimensions. These should not be changed. Hit OK then select the Edit > Paste menu item.

Step 4

Load an image of the logo into your image editor. Select the logo region and copy and paste into the image of the textured model. You can translate, rotate and zoom the logo as you wish.

Step 5

Once you are happy with your edits the modifications can be incorporated into the texture map in 3DSOM Pro. To do this the edited image needs to be copied onto the clipboard as a single layer and pasted into 3DSOM Pro.

First make sure the edited image is a single layered image. In PhotoShop select the Layer > Flatten Image menu item. In PaintShop Pro use the Layers > Merge > Merge All menu item.

Now copy the image onto the clipboard and paste into 3DSOM Pro using the Paste View button. PhotoShop users should avoid using the clipboard and should use drag and drop instead (see below).

Pasting an edited image from PhotoShop PhotoShop will not place large images onto the clipboard. Instead you can use "drag and drop". Select the "Move" tool from the toolbar. Then simply drag the edited image from PhotoShop into the View Model Window in 3DSOM Pro. There is no need to hit the paste button. Note when using "drag and drop" you can drag over the 3DSOM Pro icon in the taskbar to bring up the 3DSOM Pro application and then drop the image onto the View Model Window.

Step 6

Once the edited image is pasted (or dropped) into 3DSOM Pro the textures will be updated in a second or two. There is no requirement to rebuild the textures and in fact doing so would lose all your texture edits.

Using oblique views The texture paste function has a protection mechanism that prevents you accidentally editing the surface textures from very oblique viewpoints (where the resolution would be poor due to foreshortening). If you are trying to edit the surface texture using a very oblique view (e.g. if the desired surface region is hidden when viewed front-on) then you will need to turn off this protection mechanism before pasting back your edits. From the right mouse menu in the 3D view select Texture Editing > Protect oblique triangles menu item to toggle the protection state.

You can rotate the model to see how your edits look from new viewpoints. If you are unhappy with the changes simply use the Undo model or mask change button from the Main Window toolbar.

In this example we chose to edit the top of the model. However the same process can be used to edit the textures from an arbitrary viewpoint.