Cineversity

Dear all

I have mapped text using arnold material on a sphere in c4d. Because i use spherical projection there is a deformation on the text close to the poles of the sphere.

Project files:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iJb-4EGL4sctxZqjR7zXVThpacdGSVbv?usp=sharing

Is there an easy (haha) workaround? Uv mapping an icosahedron seems impossible because there is so much text that needs to connect.

The easiest way i could figure (but it doesnt work with arnold i think) is stacking multiple materials, each containing a word, on top of each other and manually give them different positions using the uv coordinates. But i do not know how to stack multiple arnold shaders.

A penny for your thoughts.

Hi JanSidgwick,

I’m not using Arnold. So, I would go with a texture. This texture can be created either in BodyPaint 3D or with MoGraph.

The problem with this is that in any way, you need a final image resolution that is sufficient for the area with the largest stretch. In spherical projection, that is the “equator” area. If a deformer works on that sphere, it needs to be observed locally more in detail.

The next problem is that you certainly like to have the words not overlapping, while perhaps a semi-automated set up is targeted. I hope I found a good mix in MoGraph. I project single words (numbers in this case) onto the surface via Multi Shader. Randomized the rotation (if needed) and used a Target to keep them centered if you like an easy adjustment. It can work without, just use the Cloner> Transform instead, Target: off!
With a Push apart, I avoided the overlap.
Since this is a light set up, I was able to Bake the lights into a texture that was already using the UV or Projection method. Doesn’t matter so much.
I use this Equirenctangular texture projection a lot in my artwork, so please set the Sampling to something else, other than MIP, to get clean pole-caps.

The MoGraph example is here: Screenshot and files
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/m16wMnqgxs75Gx4jJqvU3CvDOiemhFfRBuliaxwIJDc

With the texture backed from file …01.c4d, you can see in file …11.c4d how seamless this works. Bake out 1.5 larger than you need, based on how close you get with your camera, etc.

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The BodyPaint 3D option is discussed here (post #4)
https://www.cineversity.com/forums/viewthread/4447/#17958

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My best wishes

P.S.: I tested some deformed spheres and found some cases where a seam could show up.

Here is a version with a sphere that can be deformed and has a 100% perfect UV.

The baked version is included.

Example
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/HJ4LE5SUR3ZLX8y8mOZv7CJWoHTLidsC7Mx5NxQWRm6

hey Dr. Sassi!

thanks for your reply i figured out a similar way but with arnold and camera projections.
Not as automated as your example but it did the trick.

But after finishing, i must say that i liked the first way of wrapping the text better than the solution i’ve spent half a day on :D

You’re very welcome, JanSidgwick.

Thanks for the update. It is great that you found a solution as well.

Yes, it is undoubtedly a more complex challenge than it looks.

My best wishes for your project.