Possible bug with viewing an Image Texture on a Sphere in 3d view?

Hey guys,
I am trying to make a transparent spinning globe and I need the camera to zoom up to a particular part of the globe.
The only problem is that I can’t seem to pinpoint the position I need to zoom up on because my 3d viewer shows a different area of the world then when it is rendered.
I’m using Blender 2.55 Beta so I guess it is possible that this is a bug.

If this isn’t a bug then I guess I would like to know how I can change this.

Did you position the Camera to 3dview .
Try Ctrl-Alt-Num0 to match Camera to 3dview.
To see the scene from Camera view hit Num0.

I’m using a laptop with no numpad or numlock and its a mac so I’m not sure if that shortcut is the same…
Is there a way to access it in the menus?

Oh I just figured out what you meant by camera to 3dview.
Thats helpful to know thanks but it isn’t what I meant sorry… I guess I should have worded it differently.
What I meen by the 3dview is the 3d screen in which you model and stuff…
I need to have the rendered image match what I see in the screen while I’m modelling and animating in order to position the camera correctly. But when ever I render the image the mapping on the sphere for my globe is not in the same place as the 3d screen.
I don’t know why this is but its a little annoying.
Sorry about the description. I’m still I little new at 3d design so I havn’t quite got the lingo all worked out.

Correct me if I’m wrong.
You have textured object ( globe ) and texture is located differently in 3d view than on rendered image. I guess the object is UV mapped in UV editor with image as texture/background. If so, check 3dView>PropertiesPanel(N-key)>Display tab>Shading method input field - if it’s set to Multitexture(default) switch to GLSL.
Also, check texture mapping if it’s set to UV.
Usually, laptops can emulate numpad keys via normal numerical keys in combination with some temporary/permanent switch key and Blender shortcuts are all the same on every platform.
If it doesn’t help just attach .blend file.

Yeah, to sum up what jawra is saying, when you are editing an image and you have it set to Textured Face or Multitexture that is only an editing preview and it only pertains to the current image selected in edit mode on he UV map. GSL shows you a preview of how you have mapped that image as well as any other images on that object. They are two separate things. You have to set up the mapping separately in the Texture panel.

Okay so I checked the Shading method field: it is on GLSL. If I change that you don’t see the mapping at all (just whatever diffuse colour I had the sphere on)
As for the texture mapping I have it set on ‘Generated’ I changed it to UV to see if that would work but I get some weird artefacts that look like black triangles.
So, I guess, here is my .blend file

spinningGlobeTVscreen.blend (236 KB)

My guessing was wrong:) The object wasn’t UV mapped and it was the problem.
Objects like sphere should be unwrapped first to have better control over texture image layout and proper displaying in 3D viewport if you need this.
Best solution to unwrap a sphere is to delete 2 ending vertices and extrude nearest circles to point where deleted veritices were without merging them. Then unwrap as cylinder, make active face with most rectangular shape ( I mean 90 deg angles ) or make it rectangular in UV editor then unwrap again by FollowActiveQuads method. Then scale/move to match picture in UV editor.
After this you may have to rearrange your animation a bit.
More interesting things you can find at blender wiki pages.

spinningGlobeTVscreen_UV.blend (264 KB)

Well I consider this either a lacking feature or a bug. You had the right setting. But apparently you have to UV map the image to actually see the correct representation of what will actually show in the camera view. Or there is a setting I am unaware of.

Spherical mapping is the correct choice here because UV mapping should be reserved for more complex tasks. But that seems to be the way it is in Blender unless I am unaware of another display option someplace.

Wow you guys are both so helpful :slight_smile:
jawra: thanks for showing me that method… but a little of what you said went over my head. I guess I’m still learning. What you did in the file you sent back seemed to have worked, so thats cool.
Richard Culver: I think I would agree with you. I thought this was a simple thing but Blender seems to make it a little tricky. The fact that I was fine without having to UV map but I just couldn’t actually SEE the final result unless I rendered kinda bugs me. I hope that they fix this in the future.

I also have an additional question that seems to be bugging me a little. I’m trying to add colour and lighting to the animation but whatever environment setting I apply or light settings I change I seem to be always getting a black background when I render :stuck_out_tongue: I’m not sure what I did but I’m guessing I missed something.

@Black background - you have Premul option enabled in Render preferences so just go to RenderPrefs>Shading tab>Alpha menu and choose Sky option.

@Richard Culver & Jonolucerne - I didn’t notice that before 'cause I’m always unwrapping sphere to match texture image, but yes Blender has trouble with proper texture mapping in 3dviewport&GLSL and flat/cube/tube/sphere modes. It looks like projection from one side ( along Z axis ?) so texture is mirrored around sphere and no way to change it. But I’m not sure if it’s a bug, missing feature or just way it works ( in B2.49 the same thing). It’s question to dev team.
Cheers.

Well thanks guys. You have been very helpful. :smiley: