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I am trying to apply uv-mapping to an object after adding a solidify modifier to a plane.
The problem that I'm having is that the mapping is applied to the plane and not the resulting solid body. (which causes texture stretching)
It's important that I can keep the modifiers, so applying the modifiers is NOT an option.
I'm looking for something similar to 3ds Max's uvw-map with a box projection in the modifiers panel like shown in the image below:
Geometry generated from a modifier is not directly accessible until after the modifier is applied. Otherwise, we would be able to control each UV vertex of an object with a subsurf modifier before committing to it.
Please explain why you must keep the modifiers, so that we can help you find a change in workflow to answer your question.
For now, the answer is that it is not possible to apply UV mapping to geometry made from a modifier that hasn't been applied.
Here is an example of a possible work around that may meet the behavior of your 3ds Max reference. First, I'm making these assumptions about your workflow:
Instead of using a UV-map to determine the texture positioning , Assign a material and texture to the object and use its texture properties to map an image to generated coordinates using a cube projection.
The results will not be reflected in the view-port (You must use view-port shading set to material to see it), but creating a render will show the texture projected on all sides.
I recently managed to achieve in Blender 2.79b exactly what you wanted to do, I just checked that if it was already possible in the 2016 version 2.77a. You only need to add a UVProject modifier after the Solidify modifier that you don’t have to apply, and add some empties as projectors to specify in the "projectors" field of the UVProject modifier. For your example where you want a full "box" mapping on the 6 faces, you need 6 empties with their Z arrows pointing in the 6 spatial directions X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+, Z-, and you can also scale/move them if you want to adjust the texture scale/position.
That enables to project textures with a virtual UV mapping on the "rim" faces generated by the solidify modifier. With this setup you can for example export your objects to SketchFab without applying anything: on this model https://skfb.ly/o7WuC I created all the wooden lacework, stairs and balustrades of the mansion this way (other different but similar case, I also managed to apply textures on the bulbs without applying the Screw modifier, using a UVWarp modifier)
Octane for blender can do that. In shader editor there is a "box projection" node you input in your texture's "projection slot". Works with solidify perfectly. Cant find this in cycles as well :(
