Quick Tip: Import Textures Like a Boss

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Say hello to a new addon that will save you lots of time.

Length:
3 minutes
Software:
Blender 2.5
Difficulty:
Beginner
Rate:
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Rating: 4.8/5 (44 votes cast)

“What’s this quick tip thing?”

From time to time you may see me post up a quick tip video. I’m working on a new training product right now, so I won’t always have time to create in-depth tutorials. In the meantime, enjoy some quick tips :)

In this video I’ll introduce you to a new addon called the ‘Import as Plane tool’. It’s not the most exciting sounding script, but it’s a Godsend. Watch the video to see why.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be using this add-on pretty much everyday from now on. Hope you found it useful!

Special thanks to reader ‘Patrik’ for alerting me about this awesome script! Do you know of a shortcut or tip? Share it in the comments below.

Quick Tip: Import Textures Like a Boss, 4.8 out of 5 based on 44 ratings

About Andrew Price

User of Blender for 9+ years. I've written tutorials for 3d World Magazine and spoken at three Blender conferences. My goal is to help artists get employed in the industry by making training accessible and easy to understand. I'm an Aussie and I live in South Korea ;)
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  • http://www.facebook.com/alec.ellis3 Alec Ellis

    Brilliant!!!!!! I am soooo thankfull to you for this.. Blender is soooo confusing at times but you just took bllody HOURS of working this all out and helped me get on with my job…. ty again!!!

  • Anonymous

    Good tip tutorial; great addon! Does anyone know how to create a nut or a bolt(mechanical one!) in less than 15 seconds? Sound impossible but not anymore because someone came up with a plugin. Search for the ‘bolt factory’ addon and enable it. Then go to add then mesh and click bolt. Now choose whether you want a nut or a bolt. You can thank the smart person who made the plug-in. There are a few other options to experiment with.
    Try it!!!

  • UK_FL

    So I followed this step by step, first for the long old fashioned way, and second for importing images as a plane. Even so, the portion of the image that should be transparent is remaining opaque. Any suggestions?

  • http://youtube.com/user/ficticiousanimation FicticiousAnimation

    My eyes have been opened to all that is good and decent in the world. O_O LOL!

  • Paolo

    Mhhhh this works only for Blender Render…no for Cycles Render

  • TFC

    Just what I was looking for,
    Awesome – thanks!!

  • MultiMegaSpeed

    Thanks Man You are The Boss

  • http://icblendz.com dionne

    A: it leaves a square shadow , how do i get rid of the square shadow?

    • http://kdotart.com Ksmith

      Just add a material to the plane receiving the shadow and scroll down to Shadow and click Receive Transparent. That should do it.

  • Oussama

    very cool tip ….i like it thanks

  • Manuel

    I don,t know why but I think your original screen was better than the one you use right now. With this one you feel like a thousand spikes are getting into your eyes, it is stichi. Other than that I thank you for your contribution to blender society.

  • http://noname rahmat

    ohhh well, congretulation about new screen… that look better

  • http://alltheshimmer.wordpress.com Cheli

    omg. thank goodness. <3 saved my life !

  • http://alltheshimmer.wordpress.com Cheli

    omg. thank goodness. <3 saved my life

  • @cteraKi

    Thnx very much, but…
    For some reason I can’t use the add-on for images in my pictures folder. I moved those pics in my C:\ folder and it worked. Do you have any tips for that?

  • Yo Mama

    You look like an Andrew I know, are you friends with Nathaniel Durr? (my step dad) did i ride a jetski with you? PLEASE TELL ME YES OR NO!!!!

  • http://andreucabre.blogspot.com Andreu Cabré

    Great tip, thanks for showing us this!
    If you don’t mind, I added a little corollary to your technique on this blog post: http://andreucabre.blogspot.com/2011/05/importing-multiple-images-for.html

  • Mirata

    What I always did to make the image the right size was to look at the pixel resolution and then scale the plane as such

    So if a pixture had

    X 389 pixels
    Y 925 pixels

    I would scale the plane

    S – X – 0.389
    S – Y – 0.925

    But your technic is easier, thanks for showing ;)

  • Russel

    I just tried this and when I impoted it the white part was still there when I rendered it not just the leaf. Can anybody help me?

  • Ralph

    G’day Andrew, thanks a lot for this great tip!!!!!! This is a huge help with many of my projects and I would not have found this feature without your tip;)

  • pixelslayer

    Wow! This is very handy. Andrew, does this script also import video or image sequences? Would be very handy for 3d video compositions.

  • http://what? Bawss

    Hey, that new product of yours looks interesting! Don’t forget pinetrees! There are very few tutes out there for trees other than the regular, bog standard leafed variety.

  • k4y

    you don’t need to guess what dimension of picture is, you can simply check the dimension of picture and type it in properties of plane ofc you can size it as you want later
    lets say your picture is 600 x 300 , you just need to put that numbers into the properties “dimensions” of plane by pressing n

    and thanks for your tutorials , have nice day :)

  • http://www.youtube.com/onjofilms Joel Godin

    Wow, awesome tip. Saves so much time. Thanks Andrew.

  • Jesse

    this feature has been in Blender for a few versions, ive never really used it (except to model something from an image, the background image thing never works for me)

  • http://anglishdetz.wordpress.com Anglish

    an other way is to set the image as a background like a reference image then get the size of the plane from there and then apply the image to the plane, but thats a nice feature there.

    i got a random question: why cant i see videos properly at my linux OS, they look so laggy

  • http://parkin-fx.com Gary Parkin

    Andrew, even a guru can’t know everything about Blender. it’s huge!

    And as Gabriel Bramböck said, I’d also love to see the same tutorial.
    I’m working on an animation of the same, with particles as falling sand and rocks as you move through the tunnel.
    Torches with fire.
    I thought the fire could be created and rendered ahead of time and added to planes and kept facing the camera if smoke and fire was too much for the engine.

  • Joshua

    Jonathan Williamson beat you to this one http://www.blendercookie.com/2010/12/20/tip-addon-import-images-as-planes/. But I think you described the more alternate tiresome process better. But you reminded me of the addon so thanks!

  • Addison

    Holy crap this is so awesome! Thanks a million!

  • Gabriel Bramböck

    I´d like to see a tutorial about creating a kind of “under the ground” athmosphere, like in a tunnel or mine. Maybe with a torch or so.
    The tut should teach how to create an earth material, the correct lighting etc.

  • DownUnderFromDownUnder

    The loop-tools for mesh-modeling are my favorites. You can find a short introduction video here:
    http://vimeo.com/21459725

    This script is a #1 time-saver.

    @ John:
    Just send me your money and I will forward a tip on your behalf wherever you want. Promised!

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