Advanced Tutorial: Applying a single decal texture across multiple surfaces

[Moonbo]

This tutorial is for an "advanced technique" but is easy (and useful) enough for any mapper to try. One of the frustrations that mappers run into with decals is that you can only create one decal per surface. This means that if you have a wall with a door in it, you can't make a single decal for the whole wall, but rather need to settle for three separate, smaller decals (one per surface).

 

In working on my most recent map, I figured out a method to get around this so that you can get a single decal texture across multiple surfaces. This means you can, for instance, create a wall with a hole in it and apply a single decal texture to it seamlessly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's how to set it up. First, create your wall and punch a hole in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, select all three/four surfaces surrounding the hole and make decal patches for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next comes the important part. Create a brush the exact same size as the surface you want to apply the decal texture to (i.e. the size of the wall before you popped a hole into it) and place it exactly in front of the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next select the surface of the brush and apply the decal texture to it (yes, you can apply decal textures to brushes). Then fit the decal 1x1 onto the brush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you'll end up with is a big transparent brush with your decal painted across it. Then, just copy/paste from this large brush onto each one of the decal patches you made earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What will happen is that a piece of the texture from the brush will be applied to each decal patch such that the pieces mirror the whole texture seamlessly and you end up with a single texture fitting snugly around your door. Just delete the brush when you finish copy/pasting and you're all done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it. You can also use this strategy of copying a texture from a single brush onto multiple patches for other creative purposes too, such as smoothly wrapping a single decal across two brushes and a bevel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this is helpful for you mapping endeavors!

Edited November 30, 2014 by Moonbo

[buck28]

Thanks Moonbo.

[HMart]

Nice trick indeed, i could also see this trick be made into a DR script. Make a face or faces selection run the script (the code takes the selection bbox and constructs a brush using its size), select a decal texture, apply.

[Bikerdude]

I've been using that technique for over a year now, didnt occure to me create a tut. for it

 

Nice one MB!