Texture Preview doesn't match texture

[Ziggy72]

Just trying to apply the standard 3DC black leather texture to a surface.  The preview looks like what I want, but when I apply it I just get a black, crappy, no depth version of it (on the left).  Probably doing something obvious and wrong, but I can't figure out what.  Does this with all textures.

[digman]

Please also give more details in your workflow as I do not know if the model in question is imported directly into the paint room or baked from the retopo room to the paint room. 

Beta version 4.7.26

Now to the other part. 

The scale of your object is very important. The smart material when created is based off a model's scale. That is the images were made to fit correctly on that scale model. 

In my picture you see I pointed to the magnifying glass. Click on it and scroll to horizontally to the left to increase the scale and horizontally to the right to decrease the scale of the smart material image. 

This works either sculpting--retopo room, then baking to the paint room or importing directly to the paint room. 

The model in the picture is set at real world scale, book size. It was imported directly into the paint room. Some  scaling on the image to get the correct leather size. 

Forgot to get a screenshot of the finish filling but what I see is what I got...

Hope this helps and to my knowledge is correct but I never mind being corrected. This is my method, if there are any others they may post here as well.

EDIT: Added another image. This time Sculpt room---Retopo Room, Uvs and then baking to the paint room. I set my scale in 3DC to match Blender's real world scale. 

Scaled the Smart Material image again to fit. Increased the depth just for show. Final result in the image.

You can see my uploaded images in a larger size by clicking on them and then in the left side of the page click on "full size"

Edited March 12, 2017 by digman

[Ziggy72]

Thanks for responding.  I sculpted it, retopod it, UV'd it, and then went to paint it.  Messing with the scale on the texture before I applied it helps a little (as you can see below), but it still NEVER looks like the preview when applied, no matter what I try, on any texture on any surface.  The scale of these objects (when I take them into blender) is pretty big - how do I set the scale before I export them?  More importantly, why should that matter?

 

Edited March 12, 2017 by Ziggy72

[digman]

Another question, what is your texture resolution? forgot to ask... 

The real time render of the preview panel will be always somewhat sharper than the applied image as Linear texture filtering is applied to the material, This setting is on by default under the view menu. Most of the time you want to leave this on.

Your images seem less sharp than mine. Mine are pretty close. check out one of the default coppers in the picture. 2k texture...

Left side of the pic is the applied texture, right side the preview window.

I have set my scene scale because I export to blender and want to keep the same scale in 3DC as in Blender.

You can off course set a export scale from the export dialog box under the file menu--- Export Objects and Textures.

Remember in all this I am doing the best to help, I know it can be frustrating working through problems.

 

 

Edited March 13, 2017 by digman

[Ziggy72]

I'm using default everything to avoid problems, so 1024k textures (as far as I know).  The scene scale is at 1.00, but since there are no imported objects (and blender isn't the issue) that's not a problem.  Linear texture filtering was already on, but makes no visible difference on or off.  It's as if the depth channel works in the preview, then is drastically reduced on the actual model once applied.  If I increase the depth to a ridiculous amount (so it looks wrong in the preview) then I get a final result that looks closer to what I was trying to get in the first place, which isn't ideal but at least it's a workaround for now.  Thank you for your patience, I know you get noobs asking stupid questions all the time   It just seems wrong to me that the preview should be so different, to the point where it is almost useless as a guide, and you have to use guesswork to get the right texture.  Still baffled as to why this is only happening to me...

 

Windows 7 64bit, GTX 970, 16gb RAM.  Can't think what else would be relevant, but feel free to ask

[digman]

Not a problem on Answering your questions, ATM I have the time.

1024 texture resolution will effect the quality of your material as well...

The other factor that is in the mix is the Smart Material, how is it set up and your settings for Depth, Roughness and Metallic.  I use the Metallic workflow a lot as that is Unreal 4 setup and works in Blender cycles with PBR shaders. Same principle applies for Glossness  and Metallic workflow though. 

In a Nutshell, when setting up your smart materials the percentages for depth, roughness and metallic are based on what is in the upper tool bar settings... 

100% depth in the upper tool bar and a 25% setting in the Smart Material editor equals a true depth of 75% depth.  The pecentage value in the upper tool bar is just the range from 0 to 100.  A full pie... apple hopefully. Now the the smart material takes a 25% piece of that pie leaving 75 percent...  Confusing is it not...  

Now when someone creates a smart material, we have no idea what his/her settings were in the top tool panel unless they inform us. 

OK, some of your problems might be related to the above... I too sometimes have to play with settings because I have no idea how the smart material was setup.  

When I create a smart material, In the picture you will see all my settings are at 100%. I now control the depth, roughness and metallic in the smart material setup.  

Look at the picture, setup your settings in the upper tool bar the same and then create a smart material and set that up has shown.

Now play around with different settings for depth, roughness and metallic. You can see the changes getting place on the sphere in real time. Depth though is best brushed on an object to see and understand the effect. I think you are using the Glossness / metallic workflow that works as well.  Create pure metal, some with different amount of roughess, create pure plastic and do the same, change depth just to get a feel  more it.  Once you see how things work it will be easier for you.

If I am using a smart material created my someone else the material might be too weak or extreme, I adjust in the top panel. Some materials have a complicated structure with a number of layers so it is easier to adjust the top tool bar. I could of course redo the Smart Material to my method but that requires work.

I do not know how much PBR you have read so just add for your FYI.

My method is one that is logical to me, others might have a different one.

Edited March 13, 2017 by digman

[Ziggy72]

Thanks for that - I had no idea the toolbar settings were actually overriding/interfering with the material settings.  No wonder I can't predict how the material will look!  Maybe they should have another bar below the main one to show what the Material is set to, as opposed to what the program is set to, so you can see when they conflict (I mean, you can have 0% depth on the material and 100% depth on the program as valid settings?  Yeah, not confusing at all ).  I do tend to use the gloss/metal workflow for most things, so nice to know I got one thing right at least   I do hope 3D Coat isn't going down the blender route of making a totally confusing maze of a UI that no one but the most determined can navigate.  Thanks again Digman, I shall experiment further until I get my book looking right.