Create a solid of any type then ctrl-shift select a sub surface. Go to Properties:Displacement (Orange ball) then click on the empty box “(click to assign texture)” Choose any texture.
At the bottom of the properties menu is displayed a green message “Displacement complete” as if it already rendered but it did not. Additionally, the ability to change the mesh detail setting is greyed out. As if you had not selected a texture yet.
Since I’m here talking about textures I would like to request additional functionality. I work on my surfaces separate from the object. I explode them and move them to the side so I can isolate and see what I’m working on with more clarity. I would like to assign a texture to the surfaces separately and then join them back to the main body. When I do this I would like just the surfaces I was working on to retain the texture WITHOUT assigning it to the entire geometry.
Rhino version 8.6
WIndows 11
EVGA motheorboard
Intel Core i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)|64.0 GB|
NVIDIA Quadro P4000
The behavior gets weirder. It wasn’t working Rhino 8 so I tried Rhino 7 and it was working doing the above described test. So I got back to work on my actual geometry and when it was finalized and I tried to do the last texture mapping it wouldn’t work again. This time in Rhino 7.
So I tried rebooting my computer and my computer hung on the Motherboard graphic while making a persistent beeping noise.
So I walked away from the computer for an hour or so and when I came back the computer finally booted without the persistent rhythmic beeping.
Now that I’m all back into Windows and typing this to you everything seems to be working just fine again except the texture mapping. Also, I’ve noticed that my ability to undo previous rhino commands is gone after I do a texture mapping or two. I press ctrl-Z and it just returns “Nothing to undo.” like the work history has been erased.
I’ve included two files. One is the project with a copy of the surface to be texture mapped onto. separated. The other file is the custom texture.png that I created.
Going back to Rhino 7 I am able to sub select the surface and turn on the texture mapping but it looks low resolution. I am also unable to change the “Initial Quality” and change the resolution of the texture map.
In Rhino8 the functionally is more broken than in Rhino 7. However, In Rhino7 you can change the initial quality by clicking on the entire object. I think that sub surfaces of the object are not allowed to have a different quality than the overall object. So that does make it a little more workable.
In the end my group of friends figured out that the best workflow in late 2024 is to create a groove around the area where you want the grip texture. Then export the finished object to an STL. Import that STL file into Blender and do the displacement work in that program instead. Blender is surprisingly capable at accomplishing the task. Much more functional than the module which is built into Rhino as of this writing. Hopefully they fix the issue for Rhino9.
In this case, the problem is not in Rhino, but in the geometry (red area). I extract the mesh from displacement a lot, and when problems like this arise, I break the object into separate segments and try to apply displacement to them separately. Good luck.
That surface may well be problematic, but in further experiments I can duplicate these issues with a simple cube. The module is under developed. There is only one workflow and if you deviate it just doesn’t work. The functionality in Blender is more advanced. I hope they do some further development for this functionality for the Rhino9 Release. More and more CAD models are being made strictly for 3D printing. Displacement Textures is a very useful tool to have.
I am surprised that the same tool works well for me and does not work for you. My production is directly related to 3D printing and CNC processing, I use displacement constantly in the 6th (6.36) and 8th (8.13) versions of Rhino and with the correct construction of geometry I have almost never encountered the problem of extracting a render mesh. I emphasize that the function works and the problem is not in it. Yes, sometimes more accuracy is required when constructing. Yes, perhaps Blender is more patient with construction flaws. But, based on the practice of use, I personally have no reason to present this as a bug or an error. I do not position this as a dispute or discussion - everyone is free to choose their own way of solving - but simply as a possible solution. Peace.
