Datasheet

Project: Applying Textures  27
6. When you’ve finished painting the various layers, choose Layer

Flatten Image. Choose
File

Save and select a Maya-compatible file format. Targa or TIFF are both high-quality
formats. When choosing a filename, strive for clarity. For example, name the file Junc-
tion_Color. Return to Maya. Open the Hypershade, select
the material assigned to the Junction_R surface, and
open its Attribute Editor tab. Click the Color checkered
Map button. In the Create Render Node window, click the
File texture icon. File and 2d Placement nodes are added to
the shading network. Open the new File node’s Attribute
Editor tab. Click the Image Name attribute’s Browse button
and retrieve the texture you wrote out from Photoshop. If
the Junction_L surface is assigned to a separate material,
repeat this process with that material. Render a test. The
screw heads and logo should appear in the correct loca-
tions (see Figure 1.31).
It’s important to remember that Maya does not store bitmap
textures in its scene file. That is, when you save an .mb or .ma
Maya scene file, the bitmap textures are left in their original
location and in their original state; the file simply records the
location of the texture as a line of text. Therefore, it’s best to
save the textures in a logical and accessible location. For exam-
ple, if the scene files are saved to C:/ProjectFiles/Project1, save
the bitmap textures to C:/ProjectFiles/Project1/Textures. If
you open a scene file and discover that a File texture is missing
or otherwise renders black, you will need to reload it. To do so,
open the File texture node’s Attribute Editor tab and click the
Reload button below the Image Name attribute. If Reload fails,
use the Image Name Browse button to relocate the texture file.
When opening Chapter 1 sample scene files, you can avoid
missing bitmap textures by first choosing File

Project

Set
Figure 1.30
(Left) White text over
black (Middle) Bitmap
photo of gold glitter.
(Right) Photo cut out
in the shape of the
letters with the appli-
cation of the Magic
Wand, selection, and
cut tools. A finished
texture is included as
Junction_Color.tga
in the ProjectFiles/
Project1/Textures
folder on the DVD.
Figure 1.31
Custom bitmap texture applied to Junction material (as
seen on frame 36). For a color version of the figure, see
the color insert.
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