Question about 3d Models

dakiaiu

Hello i have recently completed several 3d Models for a future mobile game. File size is a large concern and i was wondering what would be the next step would i have to map uv and such or could i just go straight to texturing? If i need to map uv's how would i go about it as the automatic marks them all as small triangles is that bad or good? Somewhat new and wondering how i would go about this, thank you in advance.

Bartalon

Generally you will need UVs in place before you begin texturing. There are some exceptions to this, such as if you have a polypainted model in ZBrush.

You also probably don't want to use UV maps generated automatically by the software. It doesn't do a good job splitting edges or keeping pieces together that you may want together. UV mapping options vary almost as widely as texturing options. There's Blender, Max/Maya, Roadkill, 3D Coat, etc. It's hard to tell you exactly how to go about UV mapping without knowing which software you are using for it. My only recommendation at this point would be to look for a tutorial on YouTube.

dakiaiu

I am using maya, but as i said i am kinda new so judging by your response i would have to uv them ok. I tried using the automatic mapping uv feature but my model is much larger then the grid and when i zoom into his chest i see the uv and the mapping square objects inside him, would this mean i need to make him smaller to fit inside the grid and such?

automatic mapping is bad, so i will have to go about breaking each part off and doing uv's on each part, could you perhaps point me in the right direction as to how to do this i am using maya 2015, thank you in advance.

Bartalon

Yeah like I said before, automatic mapping is garbage and isn't really used. UV mapping techniques vary from person to person. My personal work flow for unwrapping is:

1) Select faces I want as a UV shell
2) Planar project across an axis that can "see" the most polygons of my selection
3) Cut seams
4) Unfold shell
5) Repeat steps 1-4 for entire model
6) Scale shells to a uniform texel density

Maya 2015 has some added features with the "Unfold 3D" options. Here is a video that covers some unwrapping techniques using Maya 2015:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZJx3xr0xOM[/ame]

dakiaiu

thank you very much.