Texturing a simple static mesh; I just can't figure this out :(
Hi everyone 
I'm an audio guy who has recently found himself in-need of some basic 3d modeling/asset creation skills (I want to have a little more control over what the environments that I'm creating sound for actually look like :P). In the last few weeks I've watched/read countless tutorials, subscribed to digitaltutors.com and 3dmotive, gotten a good feel for the layout of both 3ds Max and Zbrush, and am feeling really excited about being able to start creating things. I didn't realize 3d technology had come this far (I've been especially amazed by the whole idea of "digital sculpting" in zbrush)and the amount of support/resources available online is staggering! With audio, most of us are just stuck still using the same old Pro-Tools :P
But, that being said, I've kind of hit a wall in the last few days. I've been trying to create a very basic model of a metal locker (Like you'd find in a gym/locker room) and I've realized that I still haven't grasped alot of the basic concepts. My main problem has been with UVW Unwrapping and how to create a texture for my model. I've watched most of the UV tutorials on 3dmotive and digitaltutors, but I still feel a little lost on how the entire process works.
I have a few basic questions, if anyone feels like helping a complete beginner :P I'd really appreciate it.
1: When making a model (like the locker I'm working on) should I be attaching every piece to the main object? Or am I supposed to be keeping them separate (and making separate UV maps for each)? (For example, the locker itself, and then the locker door.)
2: When I'm UVW Unwrapping in 3ds Max, is it alright for me to overlap things on top of each other that I want to all use the same texture for? The only part of the locker that will probably need specific details is the door, so I was wondering if I needed to make/paint unique textures for every single face of the object, or just that door.
3: Finally, once I finish laying out the UV map and render it, do I just open it in photoshop and try to hand paint the texture/details myself? Or can I cut and paste piece from pictures of a real locker that I've taken and use those :O It's confusing :P
I'm gonna keep messing around with it, but any advice would be really appreciated Thankyou!
I'm an audio guy who has recently found himself in-need of some basic 3d modeling/asset creation skills (I want to have a little more control over what the environments that I'm creating sound for actually look like :P). In the last few weeks I've watched/read countless tutorials, subscribed to digitaltutors.com and 3dmotive, gotten a good feel for the layout of both 3ds Max and Zbrush, and am feeling really excited about being able to start creating things. I didn't realize 3d technology had come this far (I've been especially amazed by the whole idea of "digital sculpting" in zbrush)and the amount of support/resources available online is staggering! With audio, most of us are just stuck still using the same old Pro-Tools :P
But, that being said, I've kind of hit a wall in the last few days. I've been trying to create a very basic model of a metal locker (Like you'd find in a gym/locker room) and I've realized that I still haven't grasped alot of the basic concepts. My main problem has been with UVW Unwrapping and how to create a texture for my model. I've watched most of the UV tutorials on 3dmotive and digitaltutors, but I still feel a little lost on how the entire process works.
I have a few basic questions, if anyone feels like helping a complete beginner :P I'd really appreciate it.
1: When making a model (like the locker I'm working on) should I be attaching every piece to the main object? Or am I supposed to be keeping them separate (and making separate UV maps for each)? (For example, the locker itself, and then the locker door.)
2: When I'm UVW Unwrapping in 3ds Max, is it alright for me to overlap things on top of each other that I want to all use the same texture for? The only part of the locker that will probably need specific details is the door, so I was wondering if I needed to make/paint unique textures for every single face of the object, or just that door.
3: Finally, once I finish laying out the UV map and render it, do I just open it in photoshop and try to hand paint the texture/details myself? Or can I cut and paste piece from pictures of a real locker that I've taken and use those :O It's confusing :P
I'm gonna keep messing around with it, but any advice would be really appreciated
Thankyou!
Replies
When you are finishing your model, everything should be attached as 1 piece.
(don't actually model everything together, but just use the attach button in max).
And so the model will have 1 UV map.
-If you are doing more complex objects, you will leave everything separate, unwrap every piece, and then attach them together and pack them in the UV map. (this basicly makes it easier to unwrap, but is only really needed when dealing with more complex objects such as guns).
So maybe you saw this somwhere, and this caused some confusion, so wanted to mention it.
So in short, 1 object -> 1 texture (there are some cases where this is not the case, tilable textures, putting certain parts on a seperate sheet (think of scopes on a gun), but don't worry about that for now.
2)Yes, and for game graphics this is done a lot, everything that can share UV space, overlap it.
If you do that, you will have much more UV space/pixels for the important parts
3)Yes, just render out your UV's (these will be your guideline).
But in terms of texturing
-Yes you can just take a picture of a locker and put it on your texture
Problem: it will probably not look very good.
You won't learn a lot, and you will be stuck doing only this.
So imo it's better to just 'paint' the textures yourself. (but do have an actual picture of a locker besides you, as reference, so you can see what sort of material/damage/etc it has)
For this, it's just best to look up some basic texturing tutorials, have a look at the wiki, and tutorials done by people such as racer445, laurens Corijn/xoliul, etc.
Texturing was a wall for me as well, but once you understand the process it really does not become daunting anymore. That tutorial I referenced above really did it for me. After that any other texturing tutorials you watch will make much more sense (at least in my case).
A locker is essentially a box. Start with a box unwrap and then arrange each side to fit optimally in the UV grid. You should probably give the most space to the front of the locker and minimal to the back, top and bottom (unless they are seen alot.)
You could also planar map each side of the locker. I typically find the results of planar mapping easier to arrange afterwards over box unwrapping. But whatever you find easiest to understand.
Tutorial onehttp://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/an-introduction-to-uvmapping-in-3d-studio-max-using-the-unwrap-uvw-modifier-part-2/?search_index=5
Tutorial two http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/how-to-create-a-video-game-dumpster-the-complete-current-gen-workflow/
Weather you need to attach the meshes before UVing just depends on your 3D software and preferences. I believe it was just mentioned because once you attach all the parts together it's easier to see and arrange all the UV sections (called "islands") as a whole.
The software will not automatically fix overlapping (there is a tool for it however.) Anything that is overlapped will have the same texture on it. So if you move the hand UVs to the face then the hand will have a face texture on it.
Thankyou. I'm watching those now!
Thankyou!
No you do not have to make all the squares equal. It varies from who you talk to but generally its best to give most space to what is actually seen. So areas like the bottom and back can be be scaled down so that the important parts like the front can have more resolution.
However... it IS important that the squares are actually squares on the model and not stretched or distorted. Yours looks pretty good in this area as far as I can tell.
but depending on the details you display, you can allow yourself to have some texture stretch, everything doesn't have to be perfectly squared
Just in case you don't know, it's important to understand what the UV space is and what it represents:
By that i mean: whatever the picture width/height you decide to use as a texture, the square where you put your UVs will be stretch to fit these dimensions.
And whatever UV stuff you put on the outside of this square, is tiled over the main one like if it's wrapping around.