Distortion at edges of decals?

[Meowx]

This is a problem I've always had and was wondering if it was normal. The edge of the patch where the decal ends is always distorted. Decals are applied to the flattened surface as planar and extend beyond the edge of the patch. The "seam" you see in the screenshot is the product of the edges of two decals (front and back).

 

I fix it by just covering up the seam with another decal, but this complicates bump maps. Is this normal or is there a way around this?

[Paul Forwood]

Yes, this is normal. Some people peak the splines that run up to the edges to get rid of the tension there. You can also try moving the edge spline a little in the UV editor. Bias tweaking may help.

[NancyGormezano]

for a pattern such as you have - you might try patch images...they also have funnies - but it might suit you better

 

select group in pws - right click, choose add image/ select image from drop down - each patch will get the entire image - you will then have to probably rotate the images on selected patches to have them orient correctly (right click on selected patches - choose rotate image). You can also set the repeat pattern (change x,y repeats) for scaling the pattern - & you can use values less than 1 if the pattern is too small - or else change your image to work with the scale you want.

[Meowx]

Cool, good to know. Thanks!

[robcat2075]

Presuming that image is made to match edges properly you could apply it with method>cylindrical to each leg (those are legs, right?) and get nice mapping. Adjust the repeat values to suit.