Texture Orientation on Polyline Solids

[LevisL]

Is there a way to control the orientation/direction of a texture on polyline solids? In this case, I made knee braces out of polyline solids but my wood grain is incorrect of the front and back faces of these.

 

I know I could convert it to a solid and then explode into individual faces, which I could then assign different materials (or really duplicates of the same material, just at different angles), but I was wondering if there is a way to do it so that I could just have 1 material, similar to how framing members always have the correct orientation regardless of angle.

[Alaskan_Son]

You could probably do it with a rafter but that would be a huge pain.  I think the method you mentioned works best.  You really only have to do it one time though. Send the P-solid to a new plan, create symbol, and then just use the symbol for future instances. 

[rlackore]

The suggestion forum would be a good place to request that CA give us control of how individual surfaces of complex objects are texture mapped.

[KirkClemons]

You can create a copy of the material, one that is rotated to the angle you need.

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01006/customizing-a-library-material.html

[rlackore]

You can create a copy of the material, one that is rotated to the angle you need.

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01006/customizing-a-library-material.html

 

This doesn't help with orienting the texture on individual faces of non-exploded geometry. I think it would be helpful if we could control the orientation of a texture without having to explode a shape. We don't need complex UV-mapping tools, just the ability to select a surface and rotate/flip/scale the assigned texture.

[LevisL]

You can create a copy of the material, one that is rotated to the angle you need.

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01006/customizing-a-library-material.html

 

I know I could do that, but it's a pain in the butt!! In the case of this simple knee brace, I need to make 2 copies of the material. More complex shapes could require several more. Like these timber trusses for example:

 

 

Now let's say the client decides they don't like that color/wood grain or whatever material you've chosen (because clients are like that!). Now you have to change the main material and make all the copies over again.

 

This doesn't help with orienting the texture on individual faces of non-exploded geometry. I think it would be helpful if we could control the orientation of a texture without having to explode a shape. We don't need complex UV-mapping tools, just the ability to select a surface and rotate/flip/scale the assigned texture.

 

Exactly! I don't want to explode the solids every time... especially in the early stages of a project where clients might not just want a simple color change... they might say "I like that timber truss, but let's make it 2ft wider". With an exploded shape, that's a real PITA!!

[Alaskan_Son]

If you made a symbol as I suggested above, those changes would be much much easier than the way you are doing it now.

[LevisL]

If you made a symbol as I suggested above, those changes would be much much easier than the way you are doing it now.

 

How so? I tried. You need the same number of materials whether it's a symbol or not. 

 

 

And making a symbol of a complex timber truss and stretching it 2ft... depending on the specific configuration, you might be lucky and be able to use stretch planes, but that doesn't always work. Something's gonna look distorted.