Unrapping a complex model
Unwrapping a complex model in 3ds Max.
I use the term "complex" lightly. What is the best way to unwrap a model that has stacked polygons as shown in my pics? I want to keep all the faces in one UV space for export and texturing. I also want to be able to have a lot of the identical faces share UV space.
Must I flatten map, stitch, and overlay faces?
Thanks.
I use the term "complex" lightly. What is the best way to unwrap a model that has stacked polygons as shown in my pics? I want to keep all the faces in one UV space for export and texturing. I also want to be able to have a lot of the identical faces share UV space.
Must I flatten map, stitch, and overlay faces?
Thanks.
Replies
I would have made the first of those parts you want to stack uv mapped and layouted before making all duplicates. That way all your copies would have the same UV layout and be stacked from start.
Also if you want to break up the repetition after duplication is done you could select any number of the objects in the model and when they are selected go to UV editor and convert selection to UV and move them in the UV space.
I extruded the stacked parts from edges in a tall box, so they are not separate. I supposed I could break off a piece, apply UVW unwrap and remake the model with duplicate pieces, but would I then get all the UVs on one UV plane for export to a 2D program?
I'd like to know if anyone has any ideas for unwrapping the model as is also.
Well if you have one piece like I mentioned and uvw it and layout it before making any duplicates they all will share the same Uv space in 2D. So in the Uv editor you would only see what looks like one piece but it would be all duplicates stacked. So if you paint a texture for it they all would have the same texture.
And like I said about breaking up the repetition you could choose any number of the objects and convert the selection to UV and move them in UV space. That way you would get two stacks so you get two diffrent uv spaces/stacks to paint. And in that way you could break up the color/pattern and so on. Of course you could do this over again if you would like to have more variation.
Unwrapping as is is a pain in the a**, I've done it with a model with far less repeating geometry than this (a park bench with 16 planks) and the end result doesn't justify the effort put in at all.
It was a combination of flatten mapping, stitching, rotating, and manually positioning at an extremely high zoom level. Not fun.
As you can see all the Uvs are stacked and the texture is repeated.
Remember don't waste UV space like I did here on the quick show. ^_^
I'm not sure I understand how the second pic demonstrates how to break up the texturing.
I think I should also mention that I want to have a model with one set of UVs and one texture map that I can export and combine in a game engine editor. I don't want to have to import little pieces, apply textures to each one, and stack them up in the game editor.
I'm not sure joining all the geometry is a wise use of polygons. Since there will be UV seams where they join all those hanging fins will be broken off and separate geometry.
This explains why (read welcome to splitsville) http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/provost/byf2.html
So I think breaking all the fins off and clipping them into a single plane would be well worth it, it would also allow you to quickly unwrap one, and copy the rest.
If for whatever reason it must be a single mesh then I you could delete all of the fins but one. Then using the snap tool set to vert you can shift copy/clone one and crank the number of copies to the number of fins you need, then weld them in place.