Texturing
Some tips
Adding, removing and copying layers
With the buttons on the top left you can add, remove and copy / paste layers. When adding layers you have to choose what kind of layer you want, which you can later change at the top right at Layer Type, when the layer is selected.
The copy paste option is very powerfull because it allows you to copy layers (all the layer settings) between different channels (for instance: from color to reflection) and even different materials
Layer Order
The order in which the layer are stacked determines is important. Like in Photoshop, the layer are stacked bottom to top and how a layer is put on top of the previous layer is determined by the Blending Mode and its Opacity. You can set those values under Layer Type on the top right,
Blending Mode, Alpha
Blending modes basically work the same as in Photoshop, specially the PS-Shop Filters. The one mode that works completely different is the Alpha mode. The image information in the layer whose mode is set to Alpha is used to cut out the layer directly beneath it. ONLY the layer directly below an alpha layer is affected. The brightness of the alpha layer sets the opacity of the preceding layer, white being fully opaque and black beingh fully transparent. If the image information in the alpaha layer is an image that has an alpha channel, this alpha channel is disregarded.
Reloading Image Textures
While texturing an object it is not uncommon to change the image file (in Photoshop for instance) while having the textured object loaded in Layout. Unfortunately Lightwave does not refresh the texture image if the file on disk changes, it keeps a cached version of the image. You can reload the new, updated image file from the Surface Editor:
- From the texture layer, choose Edit Image (underneath the image thumbnail).
This opens the Image Editor. - Click on replace and choose the image file from the browser that comes up.
This will reload the file and renders in Lightwave will not use the updated image information