Explain some things found on the Texture Tab

Going to be teaching a class and I wanted to know:

1. What is the Mapping feature and what's the difference between Default and Planar.
2. What does the Align button do and when does it become usable or or conversely grayed out?

Anyone know? Are these features for future releases?

Maybe you should experiment with what you intend to teach first before teaching it?

See this thread for a detailed explanation of planar mapping. The first post contains information on how to use planar mapping, and then post number 9 contains additional info about the differences between planar and standard mapping (which I forgot to cover when I wrote the original post).


Notice it says not just "Align" but "Align media texture". It's for streaming media. In SL, the way video is displayed on a prim is that it replaces a texture. With the align button turned on, the video will cover the selected surface(s) completely. With it turned off, you can use the repeat and offset values to resize the video just as you would any other texture.



Now that you have your answers, I'm curious about something. I don't mean to be rude like the last poster (it's unfortunate that that was the first reply you got), so I'm hoping you won't take this the wrong way. I'm assuming you wouldn't be teaching a class on something you don't know much about, so I'm guessing SL's texture controls are not the subject of your lesson. I'm curious what it actually is then, and how these texture questions fit into it. Care to share what it is?

I am teaching a beginners class on texturing furniture. However, since A. SL has no manual for these things (that I can find) and B. my teaching mentor didn't know or couldn't find the answers for me I came here. The forums are a great source of information.

So now I do know everything about the Texture tab and though I don't think this much information is necessary to accomplish the goals of the class I like to be prepared for questions about the Texture Tab since we will be using it.

As for this:


Rest assured, I am fully exploring all the possibilities before I teach the class. Since I am in the preparation stages, writing the class outline and running through the process of texturing, I am just making sure I am prepared. But experimenting with something and understanding what is actually happening are 2 different things. Plus the terminology is important to understand too. Unlike the LSL editor there are no code hints on the Texture Tab.

I hope neither of you assume that teachers know all the answers. We learn as we go just like everyone else. The difference I think is that we try to learn all we need to know before we teach and that's all I'm doing.


Thanks for your help!

While theoretical knowledge is important, experimentation and experiencing the action has more relevance to understanding than reading it out from an explanation. Its the difference between a real teacher and a regurgitator.

Whereas, if you were looking for the terminology, the basic principles apply to any 3d software and can be looked up anywhere on the net or in books. For example, I like this article here

http://www.onona3d.com/tutorials.htm

Its under 'texturing for dummies'. Sounds bad but is actually worth a read for general knowledge.

I personally never expect any teacher to know everything. You don't even need to know everything before you start teaching. However, I do expect teachers to be somewhat flexible and as practical as possible.

Thanks for the link. I invite you to come to my class when I am done preparing for it and start teaching. It will be my first class in SL and it might be helpful to get some feedback even if you already understand what I am teaching.

Hi Ander!

You might also want to visit my Texture Tutorial, in world. I have all kinds of information about texturing there, including stuff about the UV Maps used on the prims in SL, and how they work.

You can find it here if you are interested.

Just a suggestion, since you are gathering information.