Overview#
Real products carry logos, labels, warning stickers and printed graphics. In Fusion you add these with Decals: an image placed on a face and projected onto it. Decals are separate from appearances, so you can add a logo to a product without creating a new appearance for it.
A related tool, Texture Map Controls, adjusts how an image texture inside an appearance (wood grain, fabric weave, carbon fibre) is scaled and oriented on a body. Together the two tools provide the surface detail that makes renders believable.
Both are visual only. They do not change geometry, mass or manufacturing output.
Where to find it#
- Decal: Render workspace > Setup > Decal.
- Texture Map Controls: Render workspace > Setup > Texture Map Controls.
- Browser: a Decal folder with the image is added to the browser when you finish a decal.
Step by step#
Place a decal#
- In the Render workspace choose Setup > Decal.
- In the Decal dialog, navigate to an image and click Insert. (Autodesk does not list supported image types; PNG with transparency is a common choice for cutout logos.)
- Select the face to receive the decal. Unlike Attached Canvas, Decal can place an image on a curved face.
- Use the manipulators or enter values to set opacity, position and scale, and to flip horizontally or vertically.
- Select Chain Faces to chain tangent faces so the image wraps.
- Click OK. A Decal folder with the image appears in the Browser.
Edit or remove a decal#
- Expand the Decals folder in the Browser.
- Double-click the decal (or right-click > Edit Decal) to modify it.
- Right-click > Delete to remove it. Deleting the decal does not delete the image file on disk.
Adjust texture mapping#
- Make sure the body uses an appearance with an image (for example a wood appearance).
- Choose Setup > Texture Map Controls and select the body.
- Choose the Projection Type: Automatic (uses topology), Box (repeats on each side), Cylindrical (with a capped or uncapped option), Planar (undistorted only on faces normal to the projection) or Spherical (compresses at the poles). 3D Texture is available only for Wood (Solid) appearances.
- Select the Axis (not offered for Automatic and Box) and set the Mapping Transform; Reset returns the map to the body's bounding box.
- Click OK.
Options reference#
| Option | What it does | Notes/default |
|---|---|---|
| Image | The picture used for the decal | Chosen with Insert; resolution guidance below is general, not Autodesk data |
| Face selection | Target surface(s) | Can accept several faces |
| Chain Faces (Decal) | Chains tangent faces to wrap the image | Off by default is not stated |
| Projection Type (Texture Map Controls) | Automatic, Box, Cylindrical, Planar, Spherical, 3D Texture | 3D Texture only for Wood (Solid) |
| Scale | Size of the decal | Manipulator or dialog values |
| Position | Placement on the face | Manipulator or dialog values |
| Flip | Flips horizontally or vertically | Useful when a decal appears reversed |
| Opacity | Visibility of the decal | Dialog value |
| Mapping Transform (texture controls) | Positions the texture on the body | Reset returns to the bounding box |
Tips and pitfalls#
Tip: Prepare artwork before bringing it in. A logo with a transparent background should be saved as PNG. Crop the canvas tightly so the decal bounds equal the artwork bounds, which makes alignment easier.
Tip: For the sharpest labels, start with an image of at least 2000 pixels on the long side if the decal will be large in the final render. Low-resolution images blur on close-up camera shots.
Warning: Decals are projected onto the selected face. On strongly curved faces the image stretches. Flat labels on cylinders can be placed, but wide labels will distort at the edges. Reduce the size or split the artwork.
Warning: Decals ride with the component they belong to. If you move a component with a decal in an assembly, it moves too, but if you apply the decal in the parent assembly to a face of a child, the decal may not follow when you replace the child. Place the decal in the component that owns the face.
Note: not confirmed in Autodesk's documentation: which display settings are needed for decals to appear. If a decal is missing, check the face, visibility and Render workspace display.
Tip: Use a decal for printed graphics and an appearance with a bump texture for raised or engraved text. If you want legible, physically accurate engravings or embossing for manufacturing, model them with Emboss, a sketch Text extrusion, or similar solid tools instead.
Additional guidance:
- Keep a library of brand assets (logo PNG at a few sizes) in a project folder on the Fusion Team data panel, so you can reuse the same artwork in every design.
- Autodesk's Decal topic lists opacity, position, scale and flip; it does not list a rotation field, so use the manipulators to rotate.
- For wrapped labels on bottles, create a surface face segment that is flat enough (or use a texture on an appearance with mapping set to Cylinder) rather than a decal.
- Test at final resolution in the in-canvas render. Small text that looks fine on the canvas may be unreadable in the final image.
- Turn on a lighter environment to check decal contrast, because an all-white logo on a pale surface disappears.
How texture controls differ from decals#
A decal is a single, placed image with a defined boundary. Texture mapping repeats an image across a whole body, like wallpaper. Use decals for stickers and graphics, and use texture controls for patterns. A common workflow combines the two: a wood appearance with texture controls to align the grain, plus a brand decal burned into one face.
Transparency and shape cutouts#
If you want a label with a non-rectangular outline, use a PNG with transparent areas. Anti-aliased edges generally render cleanly. If you see a white halo, the image was saved with premultiplied alpha issues; re-export it with a transparent background and no matte color.
Worked example: sizing artwork for a label#
Suppose a 40 mm wide logo decal will be seen in a 1920 pixel wide render where the product fills about 1400 pixels and is 200 mm wide. The decal then covers 40 / 200 x 1400 = 280 pixels across. Any source image at least 280 pixels wide would be sharp at that framing, but you will want margin for crops and close-ups: at a 3x close-up the decal covers 840 pixels, so a 1000 to 2000 pixel wide source is the sensible target. A 4000 pixel wide source adds file size without visible gain. The same logic applies to texture images: if a 600 mm wide wood panel uses a 1500 pixel texture that tiles once, each pixel represents 0.4 mm, which is fine; if the same image is stretched over a 6 m wall, each pixel is 4 mm and the grain looks blurry.
Decal behavior in more detail#
- Planar projection: the decal is projected straight onto the face along its normal. On a flat face it is exact. On a curved face, features at the edges stretch, as in the warning above. As a rule of thumb, a label wider than about a third of the cylinder's diameter will visibly distort.
- Multiple faces: a decal can span several faces in a continuous region, and the image continues across the edge. If the faces are not coplanar, expect a visible bend line.
- Transparency: PNG alpha is honored. A decal on a transparent glass body shows over the glass, which is useful for printed lettering.
- Order of operations: a decal sits on top of the appearance. Changing the appearance later keeps the decal; changing the face geometry, for example splitting the face, may detach the reference. If a decal disappears after a design change, edit it and reselect the face.
- Several decals on the same face: overlapping decals stack in creation order. Edit the later decal to nudge it clear rather than deleting the first.
Texture Map Controls: practical values#
| Task | Setting | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| Wood grain along the long axis of a board | Rotation | 0 or 90 degrees, depending on the image orientation |
| Make wood look like larger planks | Scale | Increase the scale to 150 percent to 200 percent |
| Make carbon fiber weave match a real 2 x 2 twill | Scale | Pick a weave cell of 4 to 6 mm and match by eye against a photo |
| Hide visible tiling | Offset on adjoining faces, or choose a larger texture | Offset by an irrational-looking fraction such as 0.37 of the tile |
| Fabric across a curved cushion | Mapping style | Box or Sphere style, not Planar |
If your image is "seamless" (made to tile) the repeats will not show. If it is not, tiling shows a grid at the same spacing everywhere; the cure is a larger single image or a different mapping, not heavy blur.
Failure modes and fixes#
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Decal appears mirrored | You are viewing a face from behind, or the mapping is flipped | Use Flip in the dialog |
| White box around logo | The image has an opaque white background | Re-export with transparency and no matte |
| Logo too blurry | Source resolution too low for the camera | Use a larger image, or reduce the decal size |
| Decal missing in render only | Decal hidden with its parent component, or on a hidden body | Check Browser visibility of the owner component |
| Wood grain runs the wrong way on one part | Texture orientation is per body | Open Texture Map Controls for that body and rotate 90 degrees |
| Texture stretches on a fillet | Planar projection onto a rounded surface | Change the mapping style or split the faces |
Workflow advice#
Build the artwork library before you start. Save each logo as a transparent PNG at 2000 pixels on the long side and name it by use ("logo-white.png", "logo-black.png", "warning-triangle.png"). Place decals last in the workflow, after the appearances are final, because an appearance change that alters brightness can make a white logo vanish. Use the live preview to check legibility at the actual camera distance, and test dark and light versions of the logo against the final surface color.
Remember that decals are visual only. If the physical product must carry laser-etched or embossed text, model it as geometry in the Design workspace. A common trap is sending a rendering of a decal to a customer and then discovering that the machine shop has nothing to cut from.
Practice exercise#
- Create a 100 x 60 x 10 mm plate and apply an oak or similar wood appearance.
- Open Texture Map Controls, rotate the grain 90 degrees so it runs along the 60 mm side, then set the scale to 150 percent. Record both values.
- Prepare or download a PNG logo with a transparent background about 1500 pixels wide. Add it as a decal on the top face, 30 mm wide, centered.
- Add a second, smaller decal 8 mm wide near a corner, rotated 90 degrees, and confirm it is readable in the live preview at the hero camera.
- Create a 40 mm diameter, 80 mm tall cylinder and place the 30 mm decal on it. Note the distortion, then reduce the width to 12 mm and compare.
- Replace the logo with a version that has an opaque white background and observe the halo; replace again with the transparent version.
- Expected result: grain direction changes visibly, the first logo is crisp, the cylinder shows distortion that shrinks as the decal narrows, and the halo disappears with the transparent PNG.
Related#
- Appearances and Physical Materials
- In-Canvas Render
- Tips for Photoreal Output