Apply modifier to group or maintain materials while importing children

Apply modifier to group or maintain materials while importing children

I have several different polygons that together make up a single object (branches on a pine tree).

I want to apply a modifier transformation to the group of objects but can't seem to make it work - is this possible?

I can combine all elements into a single polygon via import children, but this seems to remove the materials from the child elements. It would be difficult to select them all and re-apply their materials.

So - is any of the following possible:

Apply transformation modifier to a group of polygons (maybe there is a technique I'm not following correctly).

Import polygons into a parent while maintaining the original materials of the child objects?

Thanks!
 
Hi,
I'm sorry but both isn't possible yet. The only solution for this would be to write a Javascript.

Bye,
Martin
 
I have several different polygons that together make up a single object (branches on a pine tree).

I want to apply a modifier transformation to the group of objects but can't seem to make it work - is this possible?

I can combine all elements into a single polygon via import children, but this seems to remove the materials from the child elements. It would be difficult to select them all and re-apply their materials.

So - is any of the following possible:

Apply transformation modifier to a group of polygons (maybe there is a technique I'm not following correctly).

Import polygons into a parent while maintaining the original materials of the child objects?

Thanks!

Well, I have an efficient way of importing children but it only works for one child at a time and only if you have one material per child (so one texture that goes for all the branches). You would have to repeat the process until there are no more children. Unless of course all your children have the same material, then its possible to get back their material quickly without having to select every polygon manually.

Here goes:

Select the child and select all the polygons in the child in polygon mode then select the parent and make sure that no polygons are selected in the parent. Once you "import children" the selected polygons in the child will remain highlighted/selected. After that, just drop the material on the polygons that are selected in the 3d view and repeat the process with any other child. You can also do the opposite by selecting all the polygons of the parent and hitting "import children" after that you would invert your selection and drop the material on your new polygon selection.

Hope this is helps.

Django

edit: typo.
 
Last edited:
Maintain Materials inside Merged Child Object

Hah - This method is killer.

Although I found the explanation a little hard to follow so here it is for other Dyslexics like me in step form.

The image below shows three bottles. I had a complex outer glass shell + Image Label + Fluid Inside. Each as a separate material of course. I wanted to make it bulge so I could have it spit out the fluid.

From Left to right.
Left: Original Bottle - Inc objects as children.
Middle: Child Objects Merged and Materials mapped in a single object.
Right: Final bottle warped with modifier.

DynabottleMerged.png


Problems:
A. I did not want to use UV Editor to map the image as the quality would degenerate slightly and warp the pixels.
B. I wanted to animate the fluid material seperately and the fluid actually is hollow to make the material work the way I wanted so once I used Import child I would not be able to select the surfaces on the inside and out.

How to Do It.
1. The Bottle Glass is the parent.
2. Select all surfaces and make them Polygon Selection 1 (in my example the bottle surfaces are 3 but having its own Polygon selection is what is important here).
3. Set the bottle to a NEW shade selection before next step and leave all unselected.
4. Select ALL on the 'label' child object and import children.
5. Reset the Shade selection to 0 to confirm the label selection.
6. Delete the artefact label. Now when you select the 'label' surface for the bottle the label should hilight.
6. Make the Label Material the last in the row and give it is own Polygon Selection (in my example it is 1)
7. Scale the FLUID object to .999/.999/.999 so the surfaces will not be touching when it is imported
8. Create a new Shade selection on the bottle by selecting all surfaces PRIOR to importing the fluid child and save the surfaces (by going back to 0 again)
9. Import the fluid child object and delete the artefact fluid object.
10. Materials Order: The fluid is now the ALL Shade selection and must be 1st in line. The Glass is No 2 Shade Selection and must be 2nd. And the label is the last.

Now you can apply the modifier to the single object as well as weight it and so on at it will LOOK like 3 separate objects but behave as one.

I am not only posting this to help others but also for myself as I know that 6 months from now I'll be trying to do this again and I'll forget how I achieved it this time around.

Enjoy
DynaBottle_Bulge.jas.zip
 
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