Hi folks, I've designed this tiffany-lamp style chandelier. I'm having a little trouble applying my texture map to the half-sphere at the bottom. It gets all stretched out. The red-tinted band at the top (the widest part) of the sphere is actually very thin. When I apply the texture map all three parts (the red, the orangeish and the pale mottled yellow) almost look like they are the same width. I used flat mapping, chose whole object from the drop-down menu, and then the appropirate side to apply it to the shape. In fact it isn't quite a half sphere. It's flat at the bottom and there's a fancy knobbly bit there. Is there something I can do to avoid this stretching texture problem? Thanks, H&B

PS: don't look too closely at the lighting. I just slapped in a few spot lights for this quick render. I used the same texture map in the glow channel by the way. Cheers

This a good candidate for the UV mapping tool in the Carrara VM room. Use the option that is a single square. Using this tool will allow you adjust the way the mesh and map play togethter. Once you start using it, it's pretty self explanitory. However, if you need some more help just post back. Mark

I'l give that a try Mark, thanks. But one quick question. Would the texture map work better if the shape was a real half-sphere (as opposed to this truncated cone with round sides, you can't see the flat bottom from the angle of the above render)? Cheers, H&B

Maybe. However, with the different mapping modes to choose from in the UV editor, you can make texture maps match exactly. If the options in the Carrara mapper tool don't meet your needs, the next step is using UVMapper by Steve Cox. Custom maps give you looks you can't get anywhere else. They also take more work than anything else. :D