PixPlant FAQ Help

# Frequently Asked Questions

#### Texture:

- How can I select the generated image size?
- What makes a good seed image?
- How can I improve the seamless tiling quality of generated images?
- Why is the Seed Pattern button displaying "Click to Edit!" in orange?
- What's the Snap to Seed Pattern feature?
- How can I stop PixPlant from using parts of a seed image?
- The Seed Edit area is too small!
- Can I generate non-tiled images for a large background?
- How how do I generate to a part of an image?
- I'm generating to a small area of the image, but it always generates similar pixels?
- Which platforms and applications does PixPlant work on?

#### 3D Material:

- The 3D Preview shows small artifacts, specially the specular reflections?
- The 3D Preview is not displaying correctly?
- What's the best size for the textures and 3D materials?

## Texture

#### How can I select the generated image size?

To select the size of the image PixPlant generates, click File > New and enter the desired width and height in the dialog. However in the plug-in version of PixPlant, the texture size is fixed: it's the same from the main image you are editing in the host application.

#### What makes a good seed image?

A good seed image should have a reasonable number of repeated elements, either structured (for example bricks along a wall) or unstructured (for example pebbles in the ground). In both cases the more elements in the image the better as it allows PixPlant to extract and generate more visual variety.
A good seed image should also avoid strong luminosity contrasts; however you can correct these contrasts up to a point with the Equalize Seed setting.
It should also have its repeated elements as aligned as possible with the image sides, but this can usually be corrected with the Straighten Seed tool.

#### How can I improve the seamless tiling quality of generated images?

You should usually prefer seed images with lots of repeated elements (see What makes a good seed image? above), so that PixPlant has enough variety to generate the image. The following actions can improve the seamless tiling quality of the generated image:

- Use the Straighten Seed tool to make sure the elements in the seed image are aligned with the image sides. Due to lens/perspective distortion or simply because the image was taken at an angle, the image elements may end up with distortions and misalignments which can negatively impact texture generation.
- PixPlant includes the Seed Pattern window, which was designed to solve most problems with seed images containing regular elements (for example a brick wall). Click the Seed Pattern button and check if a grid pattern was detected, and if not set it there: the next time you generate, it should tile without problems (make sure "Snap to Seed Pattern" checkbox is selected).
  This is only important for structured images (for example bricks in a wall) and not an issue for unstructured textures (for example pebbles in the ground).
- Check the Equalize Seed: Light and Color settings, which will filter the seed in order to have less light and color variations.
- If the seed image is not structured with regular repeated elements, select one or more of the Extra Seed Symmetry check-boxes, which will allow PixPlant to use symmetric copies of the seed image in order to increase variety. Take care however, that in seed images with regular elements, these settings might create unwanted symmetries in the generated image.
- Try generating again: each time you generate PixPlant will create a different image.
- Correct the specific problems by partially generating to the affected areas in the canvas.

#### Why is the Seed Pattern button displaying "Click to Edit!" in orange?

This means PixPlant is not sure about the detected Seed Pattern. It's a way of PixPlant requesting that you verify if the detected seed pattern grid is correct. Having a correct seed pattern is only important for textures with repeated regular elements (e.g. with structure).

#### What's the Snap to Seed Pattern feature?

Since version 1.1.9 PixPlant includes a new setting that automatically snaps the Seed Scale settings to the nearest best value for tiling. This is important so that the elements in the generated texture spatially "meet" at the image boundaries, so as to obtain a good tiling.
If the Scale Lock button at the right of the Seed Scale sliders is set, both width and height will snap - if you prefer, unset Scale Lock and then change the sliders individually.

#### How can I stop PixPlant from using parts of a seed image?

In the Seed Edit area, at the right side of the window, select with the mouse an area that you don't want PixPlant to use - this area will turn to black and won't be used. To make that black area available again, just click with the mouse over it.

#### The Seed Edit area is too small!

You can press the Expand/Collapse button [<] at the bottom of the window, next to the Undo/Redo buttons. This will change PixPlant into a layout with more space available for the Seed Edit area. Portrait oriented seed images will also benefit if you increase the vertical size of the PixPlant window.

#### Can I generate non-tiled images for a large background?

Yes - simply select "None" in the Tiling option at the bottom-left corner of the window. You can also generate horizontally tiled images (which are great for panning/scrolling backgrounds) or vertically tiled images, by changing the same setting.

#### How how do I generate to a part of an image?

In the main canvas area just select, by pressing the left mouse button, an area that you want to generate to and press Generate. This will rely on the neighbor portions of the image to generate the part that you selected. Generating to a part of the image is very useful for expanding existing images with extra pixels at the sides for example.

#### I'm generating to a small area of the image, but it always generates similar pixels?

If you always get the same pixels, this means that PixPlant is "land-locked" by the neighbor portions of the image - you can overcome this by increasing the size of generation area till it gives different results. This is usually only a problem when generating to small areas.

#### Which platforms and applications does PixPlant work on?

PixPlant Standalone runs in Windows Vista, XP and 2000 (a Mac version is in the works).
The Photoshop plug-in version runs in any application that can host Photoshop plug-ins or filters. If the host application is not listed in PixPlant installer, you can copy the PixPlant.8bf file from PixPlant's installation folder into the plug-ins folder of the host application.
The 3D preview requires a 3D graphics board capable of version 2.0 pixel shaders: any board sold since 2004 should support these without problems. As with any other 3D application which uses your 3D graphics board, it's important that you have the latest drivers and DirectX 9 installed. If you see any problems with the 3D Preview please check for the latest versions. Running the PixPlant installer will scan and offer to update DirectX.

## 3D Material

#### The 3D Preview shows small artifacts, specially the specular reflections?

To solve this, change the Normal Map Preview setting in the Options to "Floating Point". The Normal Map Preview setting selects whether the normal map in the 3D Preview is rendered from an 8-bit map or from a floating point map. If you see artifacts, usually in the specularity, change this setting to floating point. The bad news is that using floating point might slow-down 3D previews after changing settings, specially in older 3D graphics boards. These artifacts usually appear in smooth materials.

#### The 3D Preview is not displaying correctly?

The previewed model is rendered with parallax mapping (also called offset mapping or virtual displacement mapping), which requires a 3D graphics board capable of version 2.0 pixel shaders - any board sold since 2004 should support these without problems.
As with any other 3D application which uses your 3D graphics board, it's important that you have the latest drivers and DirectX 9 installed. Running the PixPlant installer will scan and offer to update DirectX.
If your board is an ATI, you can search for drivers at: http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
Drivers for NVIDIA boards are available for desktops here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and for notebooks here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_drivers.html

#### What's the best size for the textures and 3D materials?

The best size of course depends on the detail level and requirements of the application where you'll be using the generated textures and 3D maps.
However due to the way PixPlant works, we suggest to use images with sizes that are multiples of 8, which produce slightly higher quality (and are quicker to generate) textures and 3D maps.

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