Texture size and multiple uv coordinates

[Tinuviel]

I have two questions I hope someone can help me with.

1. I think I have read somewhere that there is a max size for texture, but I can't find it again. (texture and size is ignored in the surch engine:-)) Could someone tell me about the limitations of texture size?

2. Is there a way to have multiple texture coordinates on a single object? I want to have one image to tile, so I have sized up the mesh a lot. But I also want use an image that is to be maped exactly to the mesh, but whenever I change one uv mapping it also affect the others.

[Grogyan]

I assume its the same process as for stencils, or to use stencils
http://guildofwriters.com/wiki/Using_stencils

[Jojon]

Sounds like you have more than one UV-map already. (..which I assume you have made by clicking the new button in the UV-map list section of the Buttons->Edit buttons panel) and picked which one to edit by ticking its (mutually exclusive) current active button (the crosshairs button, next to the map's name)

Each of the UV-maps associated with your object has a (changeable) name - by default "Name", "Name.001", "Name.002" and so on. If you want one texture layer to use another than the first one, you will need to specify its name in the "UV:" text input box in the top right corner of the material's texture "MapInput" tab, right there in the button cluster -- it will only refer to a UV-map if the "UV" button is selected.

[Tinuviel]

Thank you for replying to me.

I had forgotten about entering the name of the texture in the Map Input. But I think I still do something wrong because it still do not get it right. I will try to explain what I do in my non-english manner and hope some understands where I go wrong. If I know my self right, I probably just forgot to do something very elemental. Feel free to laugh of me:-)

This is only a testing so I can learn the stencils suggested by Grogyran, and therfor I am working on a very large flat mesh. The mesh is a simple plane subdivided.
First I have a grass texture. This I want to tile. In the texture button (F6) I have pressed the MipMap Interpool and repeat buttons. (I have also tried to enter numbers of repeat, but that gives no effect) In the materials panel Map Input I have entered the name I made for the texture: grass. Pressed the UV button and map as flat. In Map to I have pressed the Col. The only way I have found that will make the texture repeat it self after it's exported, is to scale up the mesh when I UV-map it so the mesh is several times larger than the image it self.

My next texture is the Stencil. I have made a simple black and white image that fits the mesh. The image is supposed to be a path that goes all over the mesh from one corner to the other. So when I UV-map this one I scale down the mesh so it will fit my image and where I want my mesh to go. In the F6 I press MipMap, Interpol, calcAlpha and clip. In the Matterials button Map Input I have pressed UV and entered the name of my texture: alpha. In Map to I have pressed Stencil and No RGB.

The thired texture is an image of stones that is also meant to repeat it self so I did that one the same way I did the grass. Including scaling up the mesh again.

When I export my flat age, the gras texture is "perfect", but I have to go looking for my other textures. I find my path in the midle of the mesh, way to small. Not covering the whole mesh as it is suposed to do, but more like covering one repetition of the grass-texture.

[Jojon]

Aha, I see.

What you are doing here, is to use a single UV-map for all three textures, which sounds right for the job at hand. You are really doing everything correctly, apart from the the misunderstanding I just implanted in your mind and which I'll soon explain. :P

First, when you first said the texture doesn't repeat, what you meant was that it filled the entire mesh and thus had no place repeating upon, not that it appeared once and then clipped the rest of the mesh, right? :)
To have the texture appear several times over an area that it has been mapped to completely cover, you will want to look in the bottom right corner of the "MapInput" tab. The three "Size" boxes allows you to scale the layer's texture: "SizeX" and "SizeY" at 2, will make the texture appear twice over the axi of the same area that was previously covered only once and so on. Note that this will not reflect in the real-time view - You'll only see it in renders or URU, once exported.

You do not enter the texture name in the "Map Input" text entry box -- you use it to tell which UV-map the texture layer should use - a different thing. The texture is the picture, any picture. The UV-map is a two-dimensional projection of the mesh, which says: "When drawing this corner of that triangle; fetch a pixel from these coordinates of the texture", where the texture can be: any picture. The UV-map is and entity of its own, it is in no way tied to any texture in particular and can be reused with several ones, which is why you do not need to do an "unwrap" for each of your texture layers - you use one UV-map with three different textures. Now, you CAN create separate UV-maps for use with the different layers and THAT's when you need to enter the UV-map name in the "MapInput" "UV:" string input box - sorry for muddying the waters.

I assume you are clear on that the stack of texture layers shown under the "Shading buttons" "Texture" tab are the same ones you see in the "Texture buttons" "Texture" tab and that when you select any one of these layers, by pressing its (mutually exclusive) button, all values under the two other tabs ("Map Input" and "Map To") will pertain specifically to that layer.

[Tinuviel]

/me goes DOH and bangs my head with the wall!!!! I told you I would make you laugh

I have not tested it yet, but I am pretty sure this will do the trick. I was so focused on the texture in F6 and how to make it repeat there, that I forgot the obvious….

Thank you so much for your help!!

[Grogyan]

you can also scale up, constrained to x or y axes or both the same way that you would scale up your mesh.

Just press the "A" key in your UV editor widow until all the vertices are selected then press the "S" key to scale them up or down.
you can also rotate the texture by pressing the "R" key in the UV editor
or move the texture by pressing the "G" key, constrain the movement to either the X or Y axis by pressing the "X" or "Y" key immediately after pressing the "G" key