UV Project Modifier

Projecting the Blender logo onto Suzanne.

The UV Project Modifier acts like a slide projector. It emits a UV map from the negative Z-axis of a controller object (such as an empty), and applies it to the object as the “light” hits it. It can optionally override the objects face texture.

Download an example.

Options

UV Map

Which UV map to modify. Defaults to the active rendering layer.

Image

The image associated with this modifier. Not required; you can just project a UV for use elsewhere. Override Image, below, defines how the image is used.

Override Image

• When true, the Face Texture of all vertices on the mesh is replaced with the Image. This will cause the image to repeat, which is usually undesirable.
• When false, the modifier is limited to faces with the Image as their Face Texture.

Projectors

Up to ten projector objects are supported. Each face will choose the closest and aligned projector with its surface normal. Projections emit from the negative Z-axis (i.e. straight down a camera or lamp). If the projector is a camera, the projection will adhere to its perspective/orthographic setting.

Objects

Specify the projector Object.

Aspect X/Y and Scale X/Y

These allow simple manipulation of the image. Only apply when a camera is used as projector Object.

Usage

General

UV Project is great for making spotlights more diverse, and also for creating decals to break up repetition.

The modifier’s Image property is not generally used. Instead, a texture mapped to the UV map that the modifier targets is added to the object’s Material. This allows you to prevent the image from repeating by setting Texture ‣ Image Mapping ‣ Extension to Clip.

Perspective Cameras

When using perspective cameras or spot lamps, you will likely want to enable the UV Project Material Option (available in the materials panel), This uses a different UV interpolation to prevent distortion.

Note

This option is not yet available for Cycles