Texture 3D Scans using UV Project

This is a short tutorial on using UV Project from 3D3 Solutions. This plugin allows you to do automatic texture mapping and merging in 3DS Max 8.0 - This tool is useful because while the UV tools in the Flexscan3D Previewer is easier to use, it does not allow you to merge textures from multiple scans. Using 3DS Max, you can merge multiple scan textures together.

This tutorial requires a working knowledge of 3DS Max 8.0 - Basic usage steps are will not be covered here.

The first step is to install the plugin. Download the plugin and copy UVProject.dlm in to your 3DS Max plugins directory. For example, if you've installed 3DS Max in the default location it would be "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3dsMax8\plugins". Restart 3DS Max

Import in your 3D scan an obj file. Chances are it won't have a UV channel associated with it. The first step is to add an UVW mapping to UV channel 1. After you've added it, collaspe the modifier.

This is a good time to add your texture from the 3D Scan as a diffuse material. Remember to enable preview so that it shows up.

Go in to sub-object mode, select all your faces and set the material to material 1

Drag your material on to your scan, and it should show up although incorrectly. The default planar map will not give corrects but at least the texture has been applied.

Now add UV Project to the modifier stack. Set the UV channel to 1. Select your camera file from the Camera file of the scan project you are using. Make sure to select the right camera file or it will not work. For example "Projects\Boot\Group01\Camera\camera.fxc". Once the camera file has been selected our plugin will automaticly texture the targeted object.

The preview is low resolution, do a quick render to see your object in high resolution.

You can use this plugin to merge multiple textures in 3DS Max by using multiple UV channels and material groups. Once you're satisfied with your results, you can export out your mesh as an OBJ file or save it as a 3DSMax file directly.