Using 3ds max tileable box mapping for production ?

focus_method

Hello,
My question is related to UV mapping.

if i model some Rifle for a video game..instead of uv mapping (i mean on seams and uv coordinates) if i just apply tillable textures with box mapping on that model can it be usable in production rendering engines or just in 3dsmax ??



thanx in advance

Eric Chadwick

Yes, if you don't care about quality.

Box mapping makes very uneven UV seams on curved meshes. With most tiled textures these seams become pretty obvious.

It's also really inefficient, increasing the vertex count of an in-game model. It also doesn't work well with LODs.

focus_method

Ok, got it.
so, it's not recommended.

What about presenting it for portfolio purposes?

focus_method

note: yea, i just tryed it, I see some problems when rendered. Not reliable.

poopipe

It's 100% reliable, Whether it's appropriate or not depends on context. 

Fwiw I've used it widely in production - on things that are shaped like boxes

sprunghunt

This is basically what the "triplanar mapping" in Substance Painter is. And you definitely can use it - but I wouldn't use it as a replacement for UVs. I will often use it for applying extra dirt and grunge to models. But the base textures use UVs.

monster

You should clarify your question, because multiple features are called Box Mapping.

Box Mapping UVs that are tiled, like Eric said, you should not use without cleaning up.

Blended Box Mapping, like sprunghunt said, can be used, in one of two ways.

1. You’ll need to create a shader in the game engine with triplanar mapping. Limit your projection in Max to three sides.
OR
2. You’ll need to unwrap your model to a UV channel, and render your result to a texture.

thomasp

Maybe not suitable for guns but seems to work just fine for characters.