Random noob questions part deux

vizier

I have a map of a city I am trying to model. Whats a good way to stretch the 2d map on the ground so I have something to trace? When I try using the map as a material I get 10million little ones where I just want 1 huge one.
Ive heard talk of "layers" which I presume to be a 3d equivalent of Photoshop layers. How do I add things to layers and toggle layer visibility?
How do I save my plugin tool bar layout? Its annoying to reposition them everytime I load.

Rodentpete

I have a map of a city I am trying to model. Whats a good way to stretch the 2d map on the ground so I have something to trace? When I try using the map as a material I get 10million little ones where I just want 1 huge one.

Right click on the textured ground, select texture>position on the menu and scale/move/rotate it however you want.
(or on the edit button of the materials menu you can also resize textures)

remus

@vizier said:

Ive heard talk of "layers" which I presume to be a 3d equivalent of Photoshop layers. How do I add things to layers and toggle layer visibility?

How do I save my plugin tool bar layout? Its annoying to reposition them everytime I load.

Slow down! SU layers are quite different to PS layers in that they only control visibility. Layers in SU do nothing to separate geometry. You can start messing around with layers by going window->layers. The golden rule: "Always model on layer0." Move geometry to other layers after youve grouped/componented it.
You cant, its a common complaint.

vizier

THANKS!! These tips end up saving me so much time i really appreciate you guys taking the time out.

@unknownuser said:

Slow down! SU layers are quite different to PS layers in that they only control visibility. Layers in SU do nothing to separate geometry. You can start messing around with layers by going window->layers. The golden rule: "Always model on layer0." Move geometry to other layers after youve grouped/componented it.

I guess I have been doing something very similar to that using groups and hide. The way you describe it layers are nothing except groups with a visibility toggle switch? Im not saying thats a bad thing at all just trying to be clear.

vizier

Gah when I go to reposition / scale the texture its very hard to control. How do I scale it only. Then rotate it only etc? The pins are all multifunctional and its wobbling all over the place.

Rodentpete

In that case use the resizing option on the materials window (as in pic) Just type the size you want the texture in the boxes.

vizier

I dunno which is more uber SU or this forum. Thanks.

Gaieus

Vizier,

You shouldn't have ended up with those zillions of small maps to start with unless you applied the texture on a hilly-billy, triangulated mesh. If you want to start tracing things, apply the texture on a single face and even the positioning tools will be easier to handle if needed at all.

vizier

Yep once I was shown how to manipulate the texture everything fell into place.

Now yet another question:

How do I scale a bunch of planes PERFECTLY. What I want to do is this:

-Trace a bunch of buildings on a map then Protrude them.
-Then I want to select the tops of all the buildings and duplicate those horizontal planes.
-Now I want to scale them down porportionally just a tad and paste them back on top of all the buildings.

This would let me push pull the tops of the buildings to give them some detail. I tried the above steps but when I scaled down the roofs it didnts scale them down right so they didnt fit perfectly back in place...

Rodentpete

Use the offset tool on the top of the buildings? If you want to offset all the tops by the same amount, do one (type in the distance if you want) and then double clicking the others will ofset them the same amount.

I don't think there's an easy way to do all the roofs in one go though (unless you make the first building a component and then copy it to make the rest)

vizier

I might be able to do something with offset. If not I can get creative with multiple protrudes.

Now about these pesky layers. I can see a list of layers in the window but how do I add a group to a certain layer?

Gaieus

Remus has just posted a "multiple offset" plugin in the ruby forum. Give it a go; offset will be your friend here and that plugin can speed things up.

If you right click any entity (say a group or component) and go to Entity info, you can change the layer there.