Vector: Mapping

Node Interface

Overview

Function	Alters the coordinates of a texture, allowing you to move, scale and rotate textures applied to an object
Nearest C4D equivalent	Texture tag or switch to Texture mode and adjust texture

This node is intended for use with bitmaps and procedural textures. You can use it to transform a vector - for example, to move a texture (e.g. when placing a decal), scale it, or rotate it. In Cinema you would get the equivalent by using the move, scale and rotate tools in texture mode, or if all you need is to offset and/or scale a texture, by using the texture tag.

Although not present in Cycles itself, we have added another node - the Texture Tag node - which is for many purposes more convenient than this node. But if you need precise adjustments, this node is extremely useful.

Settings

Note: a * symbol next to the name indicates the parameter also has an input port. A # symbol indicates that the parameter can only be changed with an input node, not in the node itself.

Type drop-down menu

This allows you to select the type of transformation to use:

Point and Texture

For most purposes you are likely to use one of these modes. The only difference is that in Point mode, if you enter a scale value of 2, you might expect the texture to double in size. In fact its size is divided by 2. This is because mathematically this is correct, but it is not intuitive!

Texture mode uses the inputs as given, so a scale of 2 will indeed double the texture size. This is the default setting.

Vector

Behaves the same as Point mode but changes in Position are ignored - that is, the texture does not move.

Normal

This does not refer to the polygon normal. In this mode the output vector is normalized. This will not produce useful results unless the coordinate system has been changed using a Texture Coordinate tag. Experimentation is recommended!

Vector *

This is the vector you want to transform in some way. Although you can enter a specific vector here, you would normally link another node such as a Texture Coordinate node to this port.

Location *

These are offsets from the initial texture position. The result is similar to using the Offset U and Offset V values in the Cinema 4D texture tag. A value of 0.0 represents no offset; a value of 1.0 represents an offset of 100% of the texture size in the respective axis. Negative values are possible.

Rotation *

These values rotate the texture around the respective axis of the object.

Scale *

This setting alters the size of the texture. In Point and Vector modes, a value of 2.0 will halve the texture size, while in Texture mode the size is double. This is the same as the Length U and Length V settings in the Cinema 4D texture tag.

Output

Vector

This is the transformed vector. You would normally link this to another node such as the Image Texture node.