Uvw modifier like 3ds max

  1. Learn how to use UV
  2. Useful UV Addon

The above two methods may be easier.
Just a few boxes is not a problem, but if the amount is increased or needs to be combined, the simple trick is not a solution.

It’s not that hard to learn the above two methods. :slightly_smiling_face:

Addon (free or default Addon)
TexTool, Magic UV, Mio3, UV-Packer, Texel Density Checker

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I will take into consideration what you said.
Thank you all :100:

The comparison of the first images of blender and 3dsmax is a bit unlucky… because in the first wee se a “bad” smaller side and in the other a “good” longer side…

So using the objects coordinate and the box mapping this might not be perfect for the smaller side… but… acceptable… this also depends on the horizontal (works for me because my example is longer in Y) or vertical orientation (not so good for my example) of the wood grain and so a “simple” rotation along Z might not be a good idea. So i had to rotate the image by 90 degree with an image app (i was using Oak Veneer 01 from PolyHaven).

So i do not remember how Max did this with it’s UVW-modifier, but a more comparable model (Y > X, X> Y) and texture (horizontal, verticle) or maybe both in a “equal scene” in every app might help to understand this to the fullest ?

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In 3Dsmax, you use UVW modifiers to map to basic shapes (boxes, cylinders, spheres, etc.) and use gizmos to change the direction.
I think there were also X, Y, Z switches for changing the direction. :thinking:

It’s similar to changing the direction using the origin in blender.

Here is a file with a node group that gives you box mapping that you can rotate.

3DM_textures.blend (133.1 KB)

Credit to Nathan_Boder who posted it in this thread:

Only thing is that if you rotate the object do not apply the rotation (it is based on object cords and normal.)

Edit
As Brick pointed out this mapping is no good for normal maps and will flip normal around. You can use it to map a bump map texture though.

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I wouldn’t recommend rotating UVs or using box mapping inside shader nodes, because it will mess up normal map shading.
Best way to replicate Uvw mapping modifier from 3dsMax is to use Geometry Nodes. I’ve made a simple box mapping for myself. Put this file in your asset library and it should appear as a custom modifier.
BoxMapping.blend (1.4 MB)

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I have all my wood textures in vertical and horizontal format. If building furniture from “wood planks” in a way that allow built in box mapping (so no bent wood), the best approach is just to separate the pieces/rectangles (if using solidify and bevel) and use the “rotate affect origins only” method as described above. Benefit is that it is seamless over beveled areas (using the smooth option), drawback is that both sides of individual boards look the same.

It IS possible to smoothly box map a single mesh and reduce obvious repeats using material nodes, but it gets ridiculously complex and can end up breaking Cycles; add one mode node - boom - everything goes black. The easy solution was for the devs to redo how the simple box mapping in the image texture node works, so that it doesn’t fail when rotating the coordinates. But I guess it “works as intended”… :face_with_spiral_eyes:

Here I’m using a single 4k texture to drive and derive everything from:


The 6 boxes on the floor are using the default image texture based box mapping, showing the 6 possible orientation. Rest of the wood, which are silly levels of complex, does have repeats, but they’re not in your face and hard to spot.

Derive; means I’m using a single albedo texture lookup (but many times) and derive roughness, bump, whatever, manually. I more ways to achieve the look I want from combining channels in different ways, than relying on pregenerated maps that tend to be done the same way anyway but offer little flexibility.

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I don’t remember - was it what they ever said? I also think this should be done. The way I understand it though, it’s not a simple problem to solve.

This workflow though… Are you actually using it? What about scene management with that many possibly unneeded objects in the scene? Isn’t that a pain? Are there practical ways to deal with it?

If I can solve it with nodes… I don’t have the requirement, but I’ve seen others also solve it to work properly with normal maps.

The “wood controller” method leaves one object, but with a big opportunity for Cycles to break down.
For separate objects, as long as no mirror or orientation based modifier is used, it’s just a maximum of 6 pieces. The part in question typically have other parts with it too, so having it available as a “source collection” makes sense. Several instances of the same source can also be made to randomize the lookup, so they don’t look CGI identical. You can’t do that with “painted” textures if you also don’t want visible seams. Obviously the mentioned methods don’t work with animated deformations. But I don’t usually bend my furniture, so… :laughing:

Good point, this mapping does flip normal maps around, I will add that to the post.