Diffuse Menu Settings

The Diffuse menu is divided into two tabbed sections: Controls and Texture.

Controls Tab

Effect field

Displays the amount of diffuse colour. Editable.

Softness X field

Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.

Softness Y field

Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.

Regen button

Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the settings.

Texture Tab

Repeat Mode box

Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.

Fit Method box

Select a fit method option to be applied to the diffuse map.

Keep Aspect button

Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit method).

Use Cropped Size button

Enable to replace the diffuse map with the cropped size of the diffuse media. Disable to use the cropped diffuse media as is.

Mapping box

Select the type of texture mapping.

Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the diffuse map according to the object’s diffuse coordinates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own diffuse coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu. See UV Map Settings.

Plane Planar mapping applies the diffuse map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the diffuse values. Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping, any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along the “sides” of the object.

Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the diffuse map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Perspective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.

Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera POV.

Camera box

Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.

Camera field

Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.

Stereo Camera Projection box

Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera rig when projection mapping.

Filter box

Select the type of filtering to apply to the diffuse map.

Select:	To apply:
Nearest	No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Linear	Basic bilinear filtering.
Anisotropic	Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with a lesser quality).
Aniso+Linear	A combination of Anisotropic and Linear filtering.
EWA	A high-quality elliptical weighted average filter to produce enhanced rendering results (slower to process than other filters).
EWA+Linear	A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter processing).

Tip: You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.

Camera Type box

Select the camera type visibility for the map. For example, you can use this setting to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry in a stereo scene.

Texture Name field

Displays the name of an externally loaded diffuse map texture. Non-editable.

Load Texture button

Click to open the Import Media browser to select an external single-frame image file to be used as the diffuse map texture. This file is not added to the Media list.

Note: When a diffuse map is connected to a flat surface, you can enable Auto Expand in the Surface menu to automatically resize the surface when the diffuse map’s Axis settings are changed.