Expert: Bob - 12/2/2009

Question
Hello expert. I would like to ask, in 3D how would I be able to attach a raster image to one face of a box flat? Secondly how would I attach a raster image to the face of a solid object which is not flat (i.e. half of the sphere). Thanks expert!

Answer
Hi -- sorry, I was in Las Vegas for Autodesk University.

Your 2 questions should start with "can I...." -- the answer to both is no, but there are other ways to acheive the result.

Because you fail to give me your background and the purpose of the questions -- context, etc -- the best I can do is a generic reply.

1-- you dont make it clear if the box is rotated, so that the face is oblique

2-- as for the sphere, attaching an image (if you could do it) would typically spoil the roundness of the sphere -- unless you could magically make the image spherical.

The  correct way around both is to make a material out of the image, apply it, and render. To do this, you will need to read a couple of chapters of an AutoCAD book, covering rendering and materials. These are complex to learn, much more than I can show you here.

BUT -- For the box, you could import the image, and use ROTATE3D, SCALE, and MOVE to create the appearance that the image was on one face of the box.  For the sphere, you could crop the image with a circle and place it in front of the sphere (of course, there would be no appearance of wrapping).

If you had asked the questions very specifically, after giving your background and purpose, I could have perhaps suggested other ways -- you asked in general terms, and I replied as best I could. Write back if you wish, but tell me EVERYTHING.

BOB