Autodesk LIGHTSCAPE, Manual

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13
Mesh to Texture
How to create texture maps
from your solution.
By converting your radiosity meshes to texture maps, the Mesh to Texture tool
reduces the memory requirements of your model. This feature is useful for
creating interactive 3D applications requiring the realism of Lightscape’s
rendering.
Summary
In this chapter, you learn about:
• Using Mesh to Texture
• Mesh to Texture examples.
About Mesh to Texture
The Mesh to Texture tool reduces the geometry of a
model by converting radiosity meshes into textures.
Some display systems, such as game engines, may
have trouble interactively displaying models
containing a large number of polygons. Yet, these
same systems are capable of interactively displaying
a smaller model created using the Mesh to Texture
conversion tool.
You can use Mesh to Texture to select surfaces with a
complex mesh and create a texture that represents
the lighting on that surface. Then you can eliminate
the mesh and apply the texture to the original
surface. This process significantly reduces the
number of polygons in a scene, reducing the amount
of memory required for the model. In addition, the
new texture maps can be of a higher quality than the
original mesh because additional rendering features,
such as ray traced shadows from the sun, can be
performed during the conversion.
Lightscape provides several different methods for
creating textures, automating the process without
sacrificing flexibility.
Converting the radiosity mesh to texture maps can
provide several benefits:
• Reduced complexity —By transforming polygon
meshes into textures, you can reduce the polygon
count in your model. This capability is important for
improving display speed both in Lightscape and in
real-time 3D applications, including interactive
games, VRML, and virtual sets.