Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Wrapping an image around a cylinder

Posted by Aidan Chopra, Product Evangelist

Earlier this week, I found myself answering an email question about how to apply an image to a cylinder. After I was done, it occurred to me that there were probably a lot of people who could use the tip.

To wrap an image (like a JPEG) around a cylindrical form, follow these steps:
  1. Create a cylinder by extruding a circle with the Push/Pull tool. This technique only works for cylinders created in this way.
  2. Select the side face of your cylinder.
  3. Choose File > Import to open the Import dialog box.
  4. Select the image you'd like to map to the cylinder.
  5. Make sure "Use as Texture" is selected in the Import dialog box.
  6. Click Import.
  7. Click once on the bottom edge of your cylinder to position the lower-left corner edge of your image.
  8. Click again on the top edge of your cylinder to position the top edge of your image.
  9. The image will appear as a sliver of photo on the side of your cylinder – that's OK.
  10. Open the Materials dialog box (from the Window menu), and click the In Model button to see the materials in your model. The In Model button looks like a little house.
  11. A thumbnail of the image you imported in Step 5 should be visible; click on it to load it into your Paint Bucket as a texture.
  12. Click on your cylinder. Your image should wrap around it completely.
Watch this video to see the steps in action:

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8 comments:

  1. Peter le RouxJuly 11, 2007 at 5:01 AM

    This is a clear,concise explanation of something that we all need to do at some point. Thanks.

    For the times when this doesn't work (curved surfaces with multiple radii, untidy geometry etc.) the more convoluted but foolproof method is outlined in this tutorial at PushPullBar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. acafourekJuly 24, 2007 at 11:45 AM

    Awesome tutorial! Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 26, 2007 at 2:01 AM

    works perfect - but not in scale - the picture gets repeated several times - how to avoid that?

    thank you very much
    philipp

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 26, 2007 at 4:32 AM

    Good Stuff. You learn something every day.

    Cheers.

    Eugen

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 26, 2007 at 4:36 AM

    Phillip,

    Try turning on the visibility for the hiden objects (in the View roll down menu).
    Then u can easily fix the mapping on each individual sub element / face.

    Hope this helps,

    Eugen

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 28, 2007 at 8:20 AM

    I use a windows. What program should I use to create my image???

    ReplyDelete
  7. EricHOctober 18, 2008 at 6:43 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. EricHOctober 18, 2008 at 7:01 AM

    Hi,

    Here is another easy method, for a curved surface, using the checkbox "Projected" of the texture, and the projected plane surface:
    video

    ReplyDelete

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