Inverse texture warping

Standard texturing of a geometric surface works by mapping a 2D image into the parametric space of the surface. This technique works great whenever the texture image is created (painted, etc) for a specific surface with predetermined contours. Serious problems arise when the same texture is applied to the same surface but after some deformation has been applied. The result is the all too familiar rubbery texture look. This stretchy appearance can be particularly noticeable on surfaces that have identifiable traits such as scars, holes, text, repeating patterns, or in our case reptilian scales.