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Decal/Material Size and Orientation Function

Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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Maybe I'm missing it, but I can't find a tutorial on how to do this and the feature has been requested as far back as 2017 so I can't fathom why it wouldn't be blatantly obvious where to find it or how to do it by now so I'm hoping someone here can help me.

 

Let's my project settings are set to 300dpi and I have a flat object 8 inches wide and 10 inches long. I have a graphic perfectly sized at 300dpi that is also 8 inches wide and 10 inches long.

 

How do I cover the object with the image so that it is perfectly aligned and sized?

 

Where is the functionality to specify the size, position and rotation of an image/decal/material/whatever-fake-name-Aobe-arbitrarily-calls-this according to the object?

 

Thanks!

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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While the material is selected you can choose in the properties whether it is a decal or a fill. If it is a decal you can scale or rotate it, either directly with the controls on the object, or by using the values in the properties panel. If it is a fill you can set the number of times it repeats on X and Y. If those are both 1, it should exactly fill the area.

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Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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You'd think that would be the case, but it either patently isn't or, again, there is something I am missing completely. Or maybe it's a bug?

 

Here are my project settings, you can see they are set to 300dpi

Project Settings.PNG

 

And here, you can see my decal image settings are also set to 300dpi with the dimensions as 8inches by 10inches

Decal Settings.PNG

 

Here, you can see I created an object that is also 8inches by 10inches

Object settings.PNG

 

However, if I apply the image as a decal, this is its scale and position.

As Decal.PNG

 

At this point, I can see no option to tell Dimension to make the decale 8inches by 10inches or even specify in pixels. Also, the size is grossly incorrect. Even if I were to stretch it with proportions locked, the vertical edges will meet before the horizontal edges, indicating Dimension has squeezed the image for some inexplicable reason.

 

And if I set it as a fill with a repeat set to 1, this is the result.

As Fill.PNG

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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Did you then try the offset values?

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Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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Offset the values how? By the percentage sliders? Or is there another more precise way, considering the percentages are clearly not correct or based on anything in reality?

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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I just did a test. I made a plane that was 10x8 inches, and in properties I selected the object's material options. I dragged a 10x8 inches PNG straight from my desktop to the Base Color swatch, and the image plopped into place correctly.

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Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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Without images or a video of what you are talking about, I honestly don't know how to respond to what you just described. 

 

I provided what I believed to be fairly thorough screenshots of my process. Do you need me to do a screencapture video?

 

Or are you suggesting my software is buggy? What version of Dimension are you using? On what OS?

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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calm down, Colin is using V3 the same as you and is not staff but just trying to help

 

1. no you are not crazy and the results you get from Decals is random in V3 because the Ai takes a look at your model and makes a 'best guess' what to display. This has been reported, Adobe is well aware and appears to be hopping the AI will just fix itself once it learns more... in the mean time I keep using V2 on my work laptop for times like this

 

2. what result you get from a Graphic decal [fill] depends mostly on the model used i.e, the flat plane in V3 is different to the one in V1&2... if you share the model [decal] I can make it but the Dn file you get back will be V2 {models auto resize when V3 files are saved so you need to take some care}

 

 

Without images or a video of what you are talking about

 

 

different modeldifferent model

 

save image in V2save image in V2large file takes time to rendorlarge file takes time to rendor

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Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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This element is just one part of the mockup I am working on so I'll need to sort it out on my end. Are you suggesting I'll have better luck with V2?

 

I went ahead and did a screenshare but I've got a bunch of stuff running so my vid card started to take a poop. However, you can see the issues I am having but it sounds like you understand pretty well. Thanks for the advice!

 

https://youtu.be/Ny2qgWUVpFE

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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I'm saying the AI in V1&2 is less bloody minded when it comes to decals but the models | materials and rendor engine are also different so sometimes one V is just better at giving you the result you need than the other... I have V3 on my Ryzen [which eats complex rendors] and its a case of using the right tool which just comes from lots of testing mate

 

p.s, Adobe servers are having another bad day today so you may get an issue watching the example Vid I posted... if so, open the frame in its own Window to bypass this forum auto-buggering it up

work aroundwork around

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Explorer ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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I think I understand.

 

So I guess my question is why are they insisting on doing it this way and leaving precise texturing to an AI when they could simply allow users to adjust dimensions down to the pixel like they do in every other Adobe program? It seems entirely alien to the Adobe brand. And they are well aware of this?

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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I didn't know anything about the AI stuff. I tried to reproduce my steps with your image, and then did get cropping. I tried quite a lot of things, then went back to my image, and I couldn't get it to be right either.

After all of the tests I did, I think I have concluded that there is an assumption that your image is square. You can get what you want by making a 10x10 plane, drag your 10x8 image on to the base color swatch, then tell the plane to have a Z size of 8 inches.

 

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2020 Sep 02, 2020

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I think I just realized what I had done earlier, that made it work for me at first. If you make a plane, then set its X size to 10 inches, and the Z size to 8 inches, the image applies correctly right away.

 

 

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LEGEND ,
Sep 03, 2020 Sep 03, 2020

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  • yes in his example vid its a cube which means it has 6 sides and Dimension doesn't understand he only wants to use one of those because its an ai so doesn't accually think

in that case he could do a few work arounds like exporting the model as Obj to see the Uv map or just selecting one face with the magic wagic wand tool [give it a new material] and then add his decal... results are still random but at least the Ai will get he only wants one face, you can upscale the cube to help with selections and then drop the scale back after decals are placed

 

if you watch the Vimeo I posted, that is in fact a V3 plane and the Ai still buggers up the decal, its looking at the image and decided the inner square is the most important part so placed that to catch the eye... to be fair that is exactly what the Dev team trained it to do and sometimes works well

 

the screenshot is a V3 rounded plane which Dimenions Ai totally buggers and the V2 screenshots worked first time \ rendored well [took a while] are the old standard plane from V1 days which is image based i.e, nvidia standard and was removed [replaced] from V3 

 

in V3 the plane and cube are both fake models until you convert them and that step is where you get some doggy sizes creaping into your save files... Dimension V3 will resize these to be a little bigger at save time in order to allow for the edges [again because the dev team trained it to], when you open an old V3 file with unconverted models you should double check the sizes first

 

just to be clear, sometimes the Ai will get it right and then people will be all... what was the fuss about 😉

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Explorer ,
Sep 03, 2020 Sep 03, 2020

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Thank you guys so much!

 

I am working on artwork for the box for a board game I am developing and I wanted to use cubes to give the board tiles some thickness and dimension. But I went ahead and used the plane tactic and it turned out just fine.

 

Here is a preview of the finished artwork. Thank you guys!

 

YesIAmDwight_0-1599177841382.png

 

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LEGEND ,
Sep 04, 2020 Sep 04, 2020

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the cowboys should be in colour imo but looks good mate

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Explorer ,
Aug 21, 2023 Aug 21, 2023

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I'm voting for this.

getting control of size  of a decal is mandatory in many case.

using texture in a shader is fine in some case when applying an image of a square face, but when the texture must be applied on a group of adjacent faces it don't works any more unles you manage the unwrapping of your UV's what is impossible in Dimension, when Dimension generate UVs by itself

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