Index

Add textures dialog

This dialog is used to specify the texture that should be added to the model. This dialog pops up when we are trying to create the model from the mold. The default selection is to go with no textures. In such a case, the entire created model shows up in one color. Only the mesh data of the model along with the single color information is then stored within the .mdl file created for the model.

If you wish to see the model with textures, you choose the "Use a front and a back image as texture" option. Thereafter, you will need to specify the location of the images (.bmp or .jpg) that you would want to be used as the front and the back side of the model.

More on textures
In 3d graphics world, a model without a texture is something that gives an idea of the shape of the object, but the details of the colors of different sections of it is absent. This model can be made to look more lively, when we add textures to it. Adding a texture essentially means wrapping an image on top of the created model, which gives all the intended colors to the different sections of the model. In this case, the supplied texture image can be assumed to be a cloth that has to be wrapped around the model with care so that different colors painted on this assumed cloth end up at the right spot on the model.

There is a lot of flexibility if you want to display the model as figures made of different materials. For example, if you want the model to look like an wooden statue, just have the image of the surface of a wood added as front and back textures of the model.

But when you are trying to make the model look more like the real world object that you copied it from, you will want to add the real photographs of the model as the texture. IBModeler only allows you to add two texture images to the model (front and back), so while taking the photographs of the model make sure that you take one good photograph from the front of the model, and another one taken after going around by 180 degrees to face the backside of the model. When IBModeler applies these textures to the model mesh data, you will get a model that looks similar to the original as now you also see the colors of the different parts of the model.

Note that since you will only be supplying the front and back photographs for the textures, the same image will be stretched to cover up the sides, tops and bottom of the model. So although the entire model will have the textures, the parts on the sides, top or bottom which were not visible from the front or back might not show up in their original colors. So to get the model as real as possible, try to put the model at an angle where the front and back photographs would reveal the most details about it.

Also note that, when you choose to add the textures to the model, you will also see the define camera parameters dialog opened after clicking next. Make sure that your camera parameters are the same as the ones that you used to apply the same images on the mold file.

See creating the model from the mold for more details on creating the model from the processed mold (.mld) file.