Decals Bend Direction

[ibrahim_alameer]

Hi,

I like the new Decals feature , when you can bend the decal, but it wasent helpful in my attached example , since it only bends around two axises , so  I hope to see decals can bend around 3 axises in the feature ,that would be a big adavantag.

Best Regards

[romullus]

+1 Even better if decal could be deformed arbitrarily with path deform.

[ibrahim_alameer]

Yes Romullus , Exactlly !

[Aram Avetisyan]

Hi,

Decal is a two-dimensional plane which is projected. How would you define the 3rd (Z axis) rotation? It would simple mean rotating the decal.

Not sure if it can be implied form the screenshots you attached, but you are able to bend the decal in both directions at the same time, which covers the case of spherical surfaces.

Path deforming decal will not be good solution I think. It is better (if that is requested much), to have a new CoronaProjectMtl, which would be applied to any object (not enclosed) and this object's normals will be used to project it to other objects. This is to some degree possible with Max tools, but with many limitations.

[TomG]

"Tire wall" bending (as I call it - or clock face numbering bending) is something we have in mind to add to Decals at some point, you'll be glad to hear :)

[ibrahim_alameer]

Thanks Tom , looking forward to see it soon !

[TomG]

Now I didn't say it would be soon! ;) Definitely on our to do, but no set date / version as yet for when we can fit it in, just to avoid potential disappointment. But it is there as a will-get-done-sometime, and is something I believe a lot of folks would find useful.

[ibrahim_alameer]

No I get it , No pressure Tom :) , I didnt expect it that soon .
 Keep up the good work you and guys !

[TomG]

TY, and we will keep on working hard!

[pokoy]

A technical question for the devs - wouldn't it be (much) simpler if Decal could follow the mapping from an existing UV channel that you could specify?
Decal object would serve as a location/boundary/size gizmo but the mapping would be taken from that channel. That way, whatever bending/distortion is needed could be done via unwrapping and just passed along to the Decal.
Is this technically feasible or am I assuming things are simple than they really are?