Texture Objects
Texture Objects are special ANIMOIDS objects that can completely describe the color and texture of a Segment.

A Texture Object includes:

• A background color.
• An optional image file.

This section describes how to load pre-existing texture files and apply them to segments of your Animoid. This is the easy way to set texture - but it does limit you to using existing texture files.

A later tutorial Advanced Color Texture will show you more options for changing colors and textures. But we'll try to keep it simple for now!

Open your Animoid then select the Texture Action Button:

A Dialog will open:

You many need to scroll down to see everything. Also, if the folder is not open, double click on the folder name to open it.

To select a texture to apply to your Animoid, just single click on the image or filename associated with the texture you want to load. (E.g. Clouds.)

The Action on next Pick field will change to something like:

This tells you that the next time you click on your Animoid you will set the texture of the Segment you pick.

All you need to do to apply the selected Texture to a segment of your Animoid is to Pick the segment. (That is, click on an arm or a leg with your mouse or select a Segment from the Selected target pulldown list.)

Background Color
If there is no texture image applied to a Segment, then the color you see is the Background Color.

Setting the Background Color is similar to setting a Texture Object. Click the Color Action Button to get started:

A Dialog will open:

Click on the color you want then press OK.

Again, the Action on next Pick field will say "set color". This tells you that the next time you click on your Animoid you will set the texture of the Segment you pick.

All you need to do to apply the selected color to a segment of your Animoid is to Pick the segment. (That is, click on an arm or a leg with your mouse or select a Segment from the Selected target pulldown list.)

Color Control
You might have noticed that when you selected a texture or color, the COLOR Control Panel was displayed:

If you want, you can ignore that Control Panel for now. The details of the COLOR Control Panel will be left for a later section - Advanced Color Texture.

One feature you might want to use now is the Replace All button on this control. That button will apply the currently selected colors and texture file to all segments of your Animoid.

Texture Mode Control
ANIMOIDS supports three texture modes. Select the (Intermediate Skill Level) action Texture Mode (in the Point Controls section) to bring up the TEXTURE MODE Control Panel:

The panel first shows the mode of the currently selected Segment. (Click on any Segment to see its mode.)

• Symmetrical Cylinder is the default mode for a new ANIMOIDS Segment. In this mode the texture coordinates are setup to map one image onto two halves of the Segment. This ensures that there are no discontinuities at the edge of the image. (If you want a face to appear on a Segment, you create an image with half a face and it appears twice - appearing as a full face.)

• Linear Cylinder mode maps a texture image once over the surface of the Segment.

• Spherical mode is normally used for spherical Segments. The texture is mapped so that, for example, an image of the Earth will fit well on the surface of a sphere.

• Unknown mode means that the texture coordinates don't match any of the above options. This can happen when texture coordinates are manually edited or if a model is imported from another application.

When the Recompute texture from (x,y,z) position checkbox is selected, you can then click on a new mode to change the texture coordinates to that mode.

(Note: if you don't have a texture visible on your Segment then changing texture mode will not have any visible effect.)

More
Go to the start of the Tutorial.

Try the Cut and Paste tutorial.