There are many bitmaps that have strips like that, and are used differently in different situations. the mp lights small strips is a very good example. All kinds of lights use that as the regular lights strips as basemaps.

To use only one section of the basemap, you must uvw map is so that that section is on the sruface that you want it to be used on, and the rest is off it.
How to UVW map
Select the surface in editable poly or mesh, click on the modefyer stack, add UVW Map, click on that, choose what kind of mapping you want (planer for a single surface or somewhat flat mesh of surfaces, box for, well, most things, face to make the bitmap fit exactly on the polygons its being uvw mapped to, etc The names are somewhat self explanitory. Some ogf the other buttons there are helpfull too such as "view allign". Next, you can edit exactly how it is uvwd by clicking the + next to editable polu, clicking the gizmo, and then choosing move, rotate or scale. Play around with it and you'll see how they affect how the bitmap is displayed on the durface(s). Make sure you're using gizmo though, or you'll be altering the actual geometry. Once you're satisfied with the uvw map, right click and convert to editable poly.

thats in the animation section of the shader. you need to make an animation bitmap and set the settings in that section. look into that "heated_ceramic" shader for how it works.
Edited by Maniac1000 on Oct 28, 2008 at 01:39 PM