### 13.11. Map Object

#### 13.11.1. Overview

Figure 17.317. The “Map Object” filter applied to a photograph

Original image

Filter applied

This filter maps a picture to an object (plane, sphere, box or cylinder).

| Note
If the image is in grayscale mode or indexed mode, this menu entry is disabled.

#### 13.11.2. Activating the Filter

This filter is found in the main menu under Filters → Map → Map Object….

#### 13.11.3. Options

##### 13.11.3.1. Preview

This preview has several possibilities:

Preview!

  Preview is automatic for some options but you will have to press this button to update Preview after modifying many other parameters.

  When mouse pointer is on Preview and the Light tab is selected, it takes the form of a small hand to grab the blue point which marks light source origin and to displace it. This blue point may not be visible if light source has negative X and Y settings in the Light tab.

Zoom out, Zoom in

  Zoom buttons allow you to enlarge or to reduce image in Preview. Their action is limited, but may be useful in case of a large image.

Show wireframe

  Puts a grid over the preview to make displacements and rotations more easy. Works well on a plan.

Update preview live

  To have preview working as usual.

##### 13.11.3.2. General Options

Figure 17.318. “Map Object” options (General)

Map to

  This drop-down list allows you to select the object the image will be mapped on. It can be a Plane, a Sphere, a Box or a Cylinder.

Transparent background

  This option makes image transparent around the object. If not set, the background is filled with the current background color.

Tile source image

  When moving Plane object and displacing it with Orientation tab options, a part of the image turns empty. By checking the Tile source image, source image copies will fill this empty space in. This option seems not to work with the other objects.

  | Note
  This option works with “Plane” only.

Create new image

  When this option is checked, a new image is created with the result of the filter, preserving the original image.

Create new layer

  When this option is checked, a new layer is created with the result of the filter, leaving the original layer unchanged. This has no effect if Create new image is also checked.

Antialiasing

  Enabling this setting allows you to remove or reduce the aliasing effect that can show up on borders. When checked, this enables the following settings:

  Depth

    Defines the anti-aliasing quality. A higher value gives better quality at the cost of being slower.

  Threshold

    Defines anti-aliasing limits. Anti-aliasing stops when the value difference between pixels becomes lower than the value set here.

##### 13.11.3.3. Light

Figure 17.319. “Map Object” options (Light)

Light Settings
  Light source type

    You can select among Point light, Directional light and No light.

  Light source color

    Press this button to open the Color Selector dialog.

Position

  If “Point light” is selected, you can control there light source Position (the blue point), according to X, Y and Z coordinates.

  If “Directional light” is selected, these X, Y and Z parameters control the “Direction vector” (effect is not evident).

##### 13.11.3.4. Viewpoint

Figure 17.320. “Map Object” options (Viewpoint)

Viewpoint Position

  When Light Source Type is set to "Point Light", changing the X, Y, and Z values moves the "viewer" closer to or further from the object in those directions.

  Note that this will not visually affect images set to "Plane" in the Map To field.

First Axis, Second Axis

  When Map To is set to "Plane", changing the X, Y, and Z values simulates the effect of tilting the plane on the Y and Z axes. This impacts how the Material tab settings affect the render.

##### 13.11.3.5. Orientation

Figure 17.321. “Map Object” options (Orientation)

Position

  These three sliders and their input boxes allows you to vary object position in image, according to the X, Y, Z coordinates of the object upper left corner.

Rotation

  These three sliders make the object rotate around X, Y, Z axes respectively.

##### 13.11.3.6. Material

Figure 17.322. “Map Object” options (Material)

Intensity Levels
  Ambient

    Amount of color to show where no light falls directly.

  Diffuse

    Intensity of original color when lit by a light source.

Reflectivity
  Diffuse

    Higher values make object reflect more light (looks brighter).

  Specular

    Controls how intense the highlights will be.

  Highlight

    Higher values make the highlights more focused.

##### 13.11.3.7. Sphere

This tab appears only when you select the Sphere object.

Figure 17.323. “Map Object” options (Sphere)

Size
  Radius

    The radius ratio in comparison to the image size.

##### 13.11.3.8. Box

This tab appears only when you select the Box object.

Figure 17.324. “Map Object” options (Box)

Map Images to Box Faces

  Select an image for every face of the box. These images must be present on your screen when you call the Map Object filter.

Scale X, Scale Y, Scale Z

  These X, Y, Z sliders allow you to change the size of every X, Y, Z dimension of the box.

##### 13.11.3.9. Cylinder

This tab appears only when you select the Cylinder object.

Figure 17.325. “Map Object” options (Cylinder)

Images for the Cap Faces

  Select an image for every face of the cylinder. Images must be present on your screen when you call the Map Object filter.

Size
  Radius

    This slider and its input boxes let you control the Cylinder diameter. Unfortunately, this setting works on the image mapped onto the cylinder and resamples this image to adapt it to the new cylinder size. It would be better to have the possibility of setting size cylinder before mapping so that we could map a whole image.

  Cylinder length

    Controls cylinder length.

13.10. Tile Seamless |  | 13.12. Small Tiles

Report a bug in GIMP Report a documentation error