Using the Texture Manipulator

The texture manipulator modifies the 3D projection of a texture in an appearance before converting the texture to UV coordinates on the surface of the part.

Using the Texture Manipulator is different than using texture parameters such as Tile, Shift, and Rotation to adjust texture mapping, because the latter parameters act in UV space after you apply the projection to the part's surface.

The texture manipulator functions much like the transform manipulator except that you use the texture manipulator on textures in appearances and you use the transform manipulator on models. Another difference is that the texture manipulator combines the move and scale transform manipulators into a single control. Translation and rotation operate the same for both controls, but scale operates differently with the texture manipulator.

These steps apply only to parts that have mapped appearances using textures.

To use the texture manipulator:

  1. On the toolbar, click Selection Tool > Appearance .
  2. Select a part in a model.
    The part's parameters appear in the Palette on the Appearances tab.
  3. In the Palette, on the Appearances tab, on the Texture Mapping subtab, click Manipulate Texture.
    Manipulate Texture will not appear if Texture Mapping Mode is set to UV.
  4. Use the table below to use the texture manipulator.
    Action Texture Manipulator Description
    Scale the part Drag any of the boxes at the corners of the texture manipulator.
    Translate or rotate the part Translation and rotation affects the texture projection.