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TomG said... ;-) UV Map, unwrap, etc?
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TomG said... ;-) UV Map, unwrap, etc? // Game Development
Post by BillyBT // Apr 24, 2009, 12:20pm
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BillyBT
Total Posts: 13
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Tom again kindly helped me out, pointing me to the starting gate; I tried it, thrashed about and got lost.
I posted elsewhere (this site) a while back about a ship I made; am still using/loving tS 2.01a but am using ts7.6 for certain niftier tools.
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Working on a game with some folks; the one fellow told me to make 1 texture (you could call it) which has all textures on it for a given model and the model would then refer to that on how to paint itself. Wasn't told how to do this. Been hard guessing at/trying to research it too, as you may guess. Um...
I asked Tom about this, as it I slowly found info here and there and it seems that that this concerns UV maps and unwrapping the model - I think. More or less...
Still don't know quite what to do, so I wanted to ask you game folks about this. Am I supposed to make models, one by one, unwrap it and - then what? No idea, folks...
So if you can help with idiot proof info, it's appreciated! Trying to get some odds and ends made for (small) demo of the game and I'm stuck again.
* Did however get that ship built earlier, with the help of Tom and some other nice folks on the forum. ;-)
So - thanks again, if you can help on this mess/mesh that I am supposed to do, with no idea how to do what I was asked to do. Yow! ;-(
Best/Thanks, BillyBT (Pat) |
Post by RAYMAN // Apr 24, 2009, 12:36pm
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RAYMAN
Total Posts: 1496
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Sorry dont understand what you want to do !
Am I right you want to Uv map something and your stuck?
Plese show us a pic of your model and more info ! |
Post by Jack Edwards // Apr 24, 2009, 1:41pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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You use the UV projection tools and the UVE to edit the UV projections. It's a non-trivial task and a subject that an entire book could be written about or an entire training video series done on.
The basics would be that you would that you enter point edit mode and select the faces that you want to project (flatten) into UV space, then click the Planar UV projection icon. If you have the UV Editor open you can see how the are being projected. Select that group of faces in the UVE and move them out of the way, then project the next group of faces.
Repeat until you have the whole model projected into UV space. Then you can size, split, weld, rotate, and generally move the pieces around to create the best UV mapping for what your looking to do.
Once you have the UV map done, you can export it as a bitmap to load into your paint program so that you can paint the texture for the object.
Here's some examples of what you want the texturing looks like when you are done:
http://www.poopinmymouth.com/3d/3d.htm
Also here's a good thread with links to more UV stuff:
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=5430
There hasn't been any UV mapping tutorials made for Workspace side yet. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put out a quicky one sometime next month... maybe... :o |
Post by BillyBT // Apr 24, 2009, 2:46pm
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BillyBT
Total Posts: 13
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OK... have enclosed one sample that I was sent, the other image you can view if you wish, at:
http://ogre.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ogre/trunk/Samples/Media/materials/textures/fw12b.jpg?revision=5331
I make 3d models and texture them in tS, turn them into .obj files. The .obj itself and its material file (and texture) is sent over to AC3D; I assemble the model, export it as Ogre mesh file which in turn has its own material file to go along with the mesh. Textures used go along with the Ogre mesh and Ogre material file.
But I am told by the other party in this game, to put all textures for a model on one "sheet" or page by themselves that is 128 or 256 or 512 squared. The model/s in a given scene then refer to those images - many per sheet, as I think this is efficient for games, CPU, video card etc.
BUT HOW IS THIS DONE? UV mapping, unwrapping a model (after I build each one, and texture it)? If so... it sounds like insane amount of work, for freeware game or so it seems to me.
OR... how is that done - what am I missing, here?
Again, thanks for your replies and esp. if you can solve The One True Great Riddle for me on how this is done. Doh!
Many thanks, again. Best, BillyBT (Pat) |
Post by Jack Edwards // Apr 24, 2009, 2:55pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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The separate UV maps for normals is a bit tricky since you need to have 2 sets of UVs to do that. trueSpace does support using two UV sets. UV1 and UV2 which are selectable in the UVE.
This is not a beginner task though and your question is sort of akin to "how do I model?" Creating a layout like what is being asked of you is probably the most advanced type of UV layout that can be created and like I mentioned before it's a non-trivial amount of work. There is no magic tool, the only way to learn it is to do it.
You should try to UV mapping a simple object first and painting that before moving up to doing characters. Read through the links in the thread I posted. Also do web searches on UV mapping so that you can find more examples and learn more about it. This is not something that you'll go from newbie to pro in a matter of hours, days, or even weeks.
As for how to get started doing it, read my previous post again.
1.) Enter point edit mode.
2.) Select the faces you want to apply a UV projection to.
3.) Click the planar UV projection tool icon.
4.) Position the projection and right click to complete.
5.) Adjust the results in the UV editor.
6.) repeat until the whole model it done.
For more "automatic" solution you can look into software like Headus UVLayout. But for low poly game models, and especially with the seperate UV sets, it's all goint to have to be done pretty much manually anyway.
A tip that can help you with selection for the projection is to paint the areas of the model with different colored materials so that you can use "select by material" to quickly select them for projection. |
Post by RichLevy // Apr 24, 2009, 4:19pm
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RichLevy
Total Posts: 1140
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There are free tools that do a decent job for low poly models:
Lithunwrap, this one may be hard to find, but I still hear people mentioning it.
RoadKill: this one is pretty good, it will do a decent job getting the entire mesh unwrapped, than you could take the mesh into TS and do as Jack suggests.
Programs like:
Blender or Wingz have good UV tools in them also
XSI makes a modtool XSI ModTool, it has most of the features of the commercial product but is free and does not have a render engine (sounds like TS :) ) The UVE in there is pretty good also.
Wanna pay a few bucks and get some pretty cool tools?
Ultimate Unwrap 3D. Good UV Tool, great import/export tool.
Silo, one of the coolest 3D modeling programs on the market, very affordable and it has a great little UVE in their also.
Like Jack mentions, UVMapping even easy stuff is not something that many enjoy or consider easy, it is an aquired taiste.
HTH
Rich |
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