Cineversity

Dear all,

I realized that “Microsoft Paint 3D” has the functionality to paste .JPGs directly onto the surface of an imported 3D mesh. This is wonderfully simple, no need to hassle with UV unwrapping etc. But of course, Paint 3D has other limitations, so I’d love to do the same thing in Cinema/Bodypaint.
But I’ve been googling for days now and just can’t figure out how to simply project/stamp an image onto a mesh.

Is it possible in C4D - without creating UV-maps etc.?

Thanks in advance, folks!
Felix

Hi Felix,

As in the image you have provided, the way you can approach the texturing would be with a projection method called Flat. Others might work as well. It depends on the object.
Here is a little screen capture:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/5bCEKnqvy9kbzCRlyzMRcGPl5fuBQe4DOF3Ux9Vpy0P

Scene file:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/SggUqXQ6Y48JnqnCLhzXZgUWInaVnhry0pu0qb5ajhT

Please have a look here as well
https://help.maxon.net/r23/en-us/Default.htm#html/TTEXTURE-ID_TAGPROPERTIES.html#TEXTURETAG_PROJECTION

BTW, any of these projections can be turned for the polygon-based object into UV(W) data. If there is at any time interest in it, let me know.

All the best

Dear Dr. Sassi,

thank you SO much for your quick and in-depth reply/help. WOW!

This is a nice step in the right direction, though it’s still lacking the possibility (as you get in MS Paint 3D) to stamp the JPG multiple times to cover the complete surface.

I suppose this could only be done in Bodypaint, but then the UV map is giving me troubles (seams etc.).

Again, I’m searching for a way to do this without touching the UV map.

Looking forward to your reply,
Felix

You’re very welcome, Felix.

You can control drag the Material tag in the object manager and adjust this projection again. As often as you like.

This ensures a certain resolution based quality. If it is pasted on a basic texture on the object, a change of quality will happen (or the underlying texture is massive.)
I own a book about unwrapping the earth. (Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections Two Thousand Years of Map Projections Snyder, John P.), which I have used extensively to create a long time series in my photographic art. Going through 2000 years of trying to unwrap the Earth to a map has shown clearly that there is no one size fits all options.

I mention this here, as the method of projecting and pasting anything to a texture based on a more or less complex object is not trivial.

The most popular option is Mercato or Equirectangular. Even those distort the shapes. Will say, any paste of a single object onto a final “map” (the resulting texture) will paste the single images on areas with higher or much lower resolutions. As a side effect, the quality can only be kept alive if the underlying texture is at its lowest resolution, at least 1.5 times higher than the pasted texture (relative to the surface area of the object).

Having a good UV skill helps to avoid those super high resolutions while keeping the quality (more or less) constant. The target of UV is to distribute the texture pixels equally to the surface while allowing a texture with the least distortion amount. This is, of course, the ideal case. The more complex a geometry is, the less likely this can happen. Here, the standard example is how to wrap an orange (or Earth) with a single sheet of paper.

Any texture has some kind of way to be positioned on a surface. This is called projection. This projection can be turned with a single mouse-click into UV information. Given that, the projection with copy and paste is possible in BodyPaint 3D, but since you need to avoid this, I have and will not suggest this.
Here is an illustration of the process (Projection painting and the Layer Manager.)
https://help.maxon.net/r23/en-us/Default.htm#html/11680.html?TocPath=BodyPaint 3D|Tools Menu|Projection Painting|_____0
Please note, that BodyPaint 3D can work with standard projections to a certain degree.
https://help.maxon.net/r23/en-us/Default.htm#html/11568.html?TocPath=BodyPaint 3D|First Steps|_____2

If I know why UV can’t be used, I might understand the problem better.
As I have seen how quickly I can introduce this skill in a hands-on class, the response in the class was mostly:
To have been avoiding this for so long has cost me more time (finding workarounds) than to learn it.
I assume it is based on something else that I’m not aware of; Perhaps pipeline based?

For your exploration, my best wishes.

P.S.: As I mentioned above, BodyPaint 3D does not urgently require UV.

This technique works in BodyPaint3D with standard projections or UV. Either way, I have mentioned all needed concerns in post #3, so I feel free to share this. Even your object will be set up without UV.

Screen capture
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/YjZUr1ZGZU7UzCGVcsko2OTq1q6k7SPjUkwI1EjP4Vm

Here is the link again, but from a different release. I think this one reads better.
https://help.maxon.net/r21/us/index.html#11568

All the best

Oh my God, Dr. Sassi, this is incredible!!

This looks exactly like what I was looking for. I just can’t believe that this technique is not better known. I really googled and searched the forums a lot! Couldn’t find a single tutorial showing it like you did!
Thank you so much for recording that - and your other tips as well. Almost can’t believe you took the time to show me

I hope other users will find it useful as well. But with the rise of photogrammetry models, I guess a lot of people will be looking for something similar.

Again, thanks! I’ll try it out myself now.
Felix

Thanks a lot, Felix, for taking the time to reply.

I’m glad we found what you were looking for.

You mentioned Photogrammetry models. Perhaps it makes sense to point you as well into the direction of Camera Projection/Mapping?
(See link below in my signature)

Enjoy.