Editing textures and shaders
All textures, whether created by you, selected from a library, or imported from the resources included with the Vectorworks program, can be edited by changing the parameters of the shaders that make up the texture. Edit the texture from the Object Info palette to see the changes reflected immediately in the selected object. Alternatively, edit the texture from the Resource Manager.
Material resources (Design Suite product required) get their textures by reference; any edit to a texture resource automatically changes the texture of every material resource that uses that texture; see Defining a simple material.
See Importing Arroway textures, Importing Mosa patterns, and Importing mtextur for details about using resources from these third-party texture libraries.
Editing textures and shaders of selected objects
The textures and shaders of a selected object can be edited directly using the Texture menu on the Render tab of the Object Info palette. Changes display immediately in the drawing. The texture mapping can also be edited from the Object Info palette; see Managing object textures from the Object Info palette.
Editing the texture resource
To edit the texture resource of a selection:
Select one or more textured objects.
On the Render tab of the Object Info palette, click the arrow next to the texture name to open the Texture menu.
Do one of the following:
Select Edit (Texture Name) Resource to edit the current texture.
Select Duplicate (Texture Name) Resource and Edit to make a copy of the resource for editing. This can be useful to prevent unwanted changes to several objects that use the same texture. Changes made to a copy of the texture only apply to the current selection.
The Edit (Texture Name) dialog box opens, and a preview window is created around the selected object.
Some parameters are not available when you edit a resource from the Object Info palette; to edit those parameters you must access the texture directly from the Resource Manager.
The parameters are the same as those used to create the texture; any changes are reflected directly in the drawing.
Click to show/hide the parameters.Click to show/hide the parameters.
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
Shaders |
Select a different or additional shader, or edit the shader parameters, as described in Creating a new texture |
|
Size |
Sets the real-world size for each repetition of the texture |
|
Set By Image |
For image-based shaders, click to set the real-world size in relation to a segment of the image (if several image-based shaders are used, select the shader in the Choose Image dialog box first). In the Set Image Size dialog box, specify the texture length to use for sizing by dragging the ends of the line segment. Then, specify the real-world size for the line segment in Feature Size. The size should reflect the file setup. For example, if the layer scale is 1/4” and feet and inches are being used, the size should be in feet, not inches. |
|
Shadows |
|
|
Cast |
Allows objects with this texture to cast shadows (for rendering modes that display shadows) |
|
Receive |
Allows objects with this texture to receive shadows (for rendering modes that display shadows) |
|
Indirect Lighting Options |
Opens the Indirect Lighting Texture Options dialog box, to set any overrides for the texture when rendering with indirect lighting (see Creating a new texture) |
|
Preview Options |
|
|
Render Mode |
Select a rendering mode for the preview window; this does not change the drawing rendering mode |
|
Update When Values Change |
Renders the preview with the selected Render Mode as parameters change; if deselected, the drawing is not updated until the dialog box is closed |
|
Render Selected Object Only |
Renders only the selected object as parameters change; deselect to render objects within the preview window as parameters change |
|
(Texture Name) is Used by |
Indicates the number of objects in the file with the current texture applied |
Editing the shader
If only the shader parameters require editing, access them quickly from the Texture menu rather than editing the texture first.
To edit one of the shaders that makes up the texture of a selection:
Select the textured object(s).
On the Render tab of the Object Info palette, click the arrow next to the texture name to open the Texture menu.
Select Edit (Shader Name) Shader to directly edit one of the shaders that makes up the applied texture.
The Edit (Shader Name) Shader dialog box opens, and a preview window is created around the selected object.
The parameters are the same as those used to create the shader; any changes are reflected directly in the drawing.
Editing the surface hatch
If only the associated surface hatch requires editing, access it quickly from the Texture menu rather than editing the texture first.
To edit the surface hatch associated with the texture of a selection:
Select the textured object(s).
On the Render tab of the Object Info palette, click the arrow next to the texture name to open the Texture menu.
Select Edit Surface Hatch to open the Edit Surface Hatch dialog box.
Edit the surface hatch as described in Editing surface hatches.
Editing textures and shaders from the Resource Manager
A texture and its shader properties can be edited from the Resource Manager. The texture does not have to be applied to any objects to be edited in this way; changes are displayed in a preview window rather than directly in the drawing.
Imported textures, such as those imported from Cinema 4D, display Imported as their color, reflectivity, transparency, and bump shader types, and Edit is disabled. However, you can select a different shader type and edit that, if desired. Other texture parameters are editable. Due to licensing restrictions, the texture reflectance of some Cinema 4D imported textures may not be an exact match to the original.
To edit a texture resource, including its shaders, from the Resource Manager:
From the Resource Manager, right-click on the resource, and select Edit from the context menu.
The Edit Texture dialog box opens.
Click Edit to edit one of the shaders that make up the texture. The dialog box that opens depends on the shader. Descriptions of all the possible parameters are presented in alphabetical order in Renderworks shader parameters.
Click OK to exit the shader properties.
Edit the texture properties as described in Creating a new texture. The texture can also be renamed.
The changes are displayed in the preview window.
Click OK to exit the Edit Texture dialog box. Textures applied to any objects are updated to reflect the changes.
A Renderworks texture can be deleted from a drawing and/or replaced with another existing Renderworks texture; see Deleting or replacing resources.
