Learning proper use of UVs in 3ds Max. Need help
Hi,
I am still trying to learn 3dsMax (off and again now for last 3 years...lol).
I friend helped me with a model that he unwrapped in Cinema. I didn't like the UV layout since he had a lot of empty space and I needed some of the areas to be larger for more detail.
The model contains separate objects: A dome-shaped water reservoir, 3 long pipes, the main structure, stairs and 2 doorways.
I tried to create 3 separate UV IDs per the instructions I have seen online and can't quite get them to work. I created the individual Materials (supposedly each would create it's own channel, so I thought).
If I can't figure that out, I may just have to texture it in Max and create one UV and that's it but, the quality on the model will be greatly compromised. I know my pipes will look like cr**. I can never get them to unwrap smoothly.
Any thoughts? Advice?
Thanks in advance.
A
I am still trying to learn 3dsMax (off and again now for last 3 years...lol).
I friend helped me with a model that he unwrapped in Cinema. I didn't like the UV layout since he had a lot of empty space and I needed some of the areas to be larger for more detail.
The model contains separate objects: A dome-shaped water reservoir, 3 long pipes, the main structure, stairs and 2 doorways.
I tried to create 3 separate UV IDs per the instructions I have seen online and can't quite get them to work. I created the individual Materials (supposedly each would create it's own channel, so I thought).
If I can't figure that out, I may just have to texture it in Max and create one UV and that's it but, the quality on the model will be greatly compromised. I know my pipes will look like cr**. I can never get them to unwrap smoothly.
Any thoughts? Advice?
Thanks in advance.
A
Replies
Thanks for the quick feedback.
Would I select all the objects in the name list first then create my submaterials?
At that point, texture the poly faces, then UV Unwrap all objects at once?
I think that is what I would do. Can you clarify my thinking for me?
A
I think you where confusing the UV channels with Material ID's?
You would think they would allow material ID assigning in the UV editor but they don't... you have to do it in edit poly.
The UV channels are so you can have multiple UV layouts on the same mesh. Different materials use those channels in various ways and it doesn't help that they're called "map channels" in the material editor.
Example:
UV1 = tiling concrete material, that has UV's specifically for the tile to make it look good. It typically looks like a rats nest.
UV2 = Ambient Occlusion or Lightmap. This typically all fits in the renderable space, each piece has its own unique space and enough padding so it mip-maps properly.
then create your multi/subobecject material and put the different materials in to match the poly ids.
you dont need different uv channels to do this. they can all be uv channel one.
You could always just use a larger texture size for more detail as well.
Edit: one day I will learn to type faster :P
Thanks everyone. I got it fixed. I know this seems overkill by I have 7 IDs.
I think the detail will be better though.
A
Good job on getting It to work for you Flapman, I'll probably be needing It to work for me as well soon but just wanted to ask a quick and hopefully easy to answer question.
Turns out, I only got it to half work. I got the materials to created the IDs I needed and they exported just fine.
It seems that for some reason the UVs are not lining up. It's like the textures only want to be tiled and not not lined based on the UV coordinates.
Does that make sense to anyone?
A
You can try saving the UV layout and loading in onto the others however this can be EXTREMELY dicey since it is dependent on the vertex numbering. If you've done anything to the boxes to change the vert numbering like attach and detach them to other objects or make any geometry changes, it will order the faces incorrectly.
Typically what I'll do in a case like that I'll unwrap one, copy and snap it to the positions of the other objects.
You can also use a plug-in called Morphix that looks at two identical meshes and re-orders the vertex indices to match, making it possible to load/save UV layouts and make morph targets.
I saw it while I stared at the material screen.
If they share the same vert count and order, you can save the UVs from one of them out to a file in the edit UVW unwrap modifier panel, and then load them up. If they have a different vert count, then the UVs won't load, and if they have a different vert order it might be crazy-looking and most likely useless.
You can also attach them all together, and then select the uvs of the unwrapped, right click quad and copy, and then select a single new box, paste (or paste weld), and repeat ad infinitum, and then detach all the boxes at the end. I think you can actually just apply a UVunwrap to a selection of objects rather than needing to attach/detach, but I do this so rarely, because there is a better way...
What I would personally do is center all of their pivots (if they're the same box) apply a new slightly transparent material to the unwrapped boxes, and then create new instances and use the align tool (not quick align) to match the new instances to the position/rotation/scale of the unwrapped boxes, and then right click the transparent material in the editor, select by material, and delete all of those old boxes.
The material shenanigans are just for easy scene management, it lets you make quickly spot which ones you've gotten/missed in the re-instancing, and then ensures you clean up the scene perfectly.
Hopefully one of these solutions works, or else I probably misunderstood the question