Gah! How have I never known that? I always use that to flatten them on W so I can weld points properly, but didn't know about the move version. Still, it doesn't seem to have any kind of scale transform to it. (i.e. make this selection 2x bigger, or make it .25x3, etc.)
Gah! How have I never known that? I always use that to flatten them on W so I can weld points properly, but didn't know about the move version. Still, it doesn't seem to have any kind of scale transform to it. (i.e. make this selection 2x bigger, or make it .25x3, etc.)
because its bad designed (in my opinion) just like the UV channel switching/editing or in general how the UV editor is accessed (a single button in the main toolbar for opening/ adding or editing a UV map would be nice just like my open Editor button).
The problem with the aligning, scaling, shifting stuff is that it usually requires a unique or special GUI element as it usually don't fit on just 1 button. Hence the reason why I didn't added Tolon's scripts yet because I am unsure atm. how to implement them GUI wise.
because its bad designed (in my opinion) just like the UV channel switching/editing or in general how the UV editor is accessed (a single button in the main toolbar for opening/ adding or editing a UV map would be nice just like my open Editor button).
The problem with the aligning, scaling, shifting stuff is that it usually requires a unique or special GUI element as it usually don't fit on just 1 button. Hence the reason why I didn't added Tolon's scripts yet because I am unsure atm. how to implement them GUI wise.
Well, that's fine renderjs. Thanks for your post because it is very well said.
I agree with that the probem is GUI wise.
just to let you guys know what I am planning at the moment depending on how certain things will turn out:
these are screens of the MZPrucksack system that I have been researching on and how I could imagine it with texTools. General input boxes like texture resolution, padding size and the open/close UV-Editor are missing but will most likely be liquid as well so if you change the panel it will change or remove elements if needed (sorted by importance,...).
some advantages of this method compared to what I have now
- split in code, icon design, GUI design, GUI behaviour, Language so I can easier upgrade one of these or extend them
- liquid layout, so you can align icons also horizontal or vertical, or even single lined
- different zoom/ detail modes lets you choose the way you can read the icons/ buttons best
- drag and drop MZP package (drop it into max and it should run instantly)
- tabs: lets you focus on a particular group of scripts you need ( I plan on allowing to open multiple tabs at once using shift+click)
- looks equal for once on max9, 2008, 2009, 2010
and basically all more control to me for the GUI as its flash driven and I know Actionscript very well (way more than maxscript). The only thing that slows me down right now though is the 64bit support as I cant use activeX objects in maxscript anymore (microsoft does not support most of them anymore in 64bit windows systems) instead I need to find a way of doing it using .NET which unfortunately is not easy to find examples for that use other than the default stuff.
So depending on how the MZPrucksack project evolves this might go in similar direction and probably is the delay you see now or will see within the next weeks.
funny I had that same thought a few days ago too
I thought about using the shift key or alternatively drawing a selection box of the tabs you want to have open. Or some tab dragging so you can switch tab order. I think I can add that functionality after I solved the 64bit issue
ha, i was just thinking about clicking on each tab for it to open and close and depending on how much it had in how much room it took up, plus you could possibly click and drag the tabs to change their order [;-)
hehe-then if you hold down on any button they would alll start jiggling and you could move their order around, it must be really simple to do ;-)
Hey Render, wanted to say thanks for putting this together. I've just started using it (UVs on the Atlas) and already it's quite helpful! You've put a lot of work into it and it shows. Gotta say I'm really looking forward to the stitching features, since I use a 0.0 bias stitch on hard surface UVs very often and that dialog box I have to click through is super painful.
hey there renderhjs !
wanted to say thank you at first for this super useful tool. before i saw your thread my uvmapping pipeline was max-->milkshape-->lith unwrap1.3 - then back to milkshape-->max-->export to hl2-smd format.
but after following this thread i just gave it a try and invested a couple of hours to get the hang of maxes uv tools and your plugin proved to be extremely helpful
so i got a question/request now - but first i have to say, maybe thats already possible in max but i just don't know how to do so - so bare with me
so while i was making the uv's for a simple boxy object i made various planar maps and then wanted to weld the parts together. so what i did was, take each of the boxes side moved it closely to each other and manually welded the vertices together until all sides were welded correctly.
so while i know there's the unfold mapping option - which works just fine for simple boxes and stuff, I'd like to know if it would be generally possible to have a "weld along edge"-option ?
you know i have 2 uv elements that share the same edge. now i'd like to select one edge of the 1st element and one of the 2nd element, click a button, and the two elements should be welded along the edge without being transformed (expect for proper scaling).
if i failed to explain, i can make simple pictures to illustrate what im talking about. i hope such a feature doesn't already exist, that would be sad (for me)
Yeah that new interface is awesome. Might be a bit larger, but I won't have to hover over icons to see what they are. The less time I have the waste, the better.
anyway, since my text was too long and unappealing, im having another try for a feature request
And so sum up my post a couple of days ago. Will something like that be possible to program, or is it already available but i just didn't find the button ?
Anyways, such a feature would be most awesome (at least) for me
Isn't it possible to assign a hotkey to the "Open Editor" button? Can't find it in the TexTools list in customise... I'm so used to having my toggle key in Maya to open/close the UV panel, would be great to be able to do it in Max as well.
anyway, since my text was too long and unappealing, im having another try for a feature request
And so sum up my post a couple of days ago. Will something like that be possible to program, or is it already available but i just didn't find the button ?
Anyways, such a feature would be most awesome (at least) for me
Umm, that's a basic Max feature and has been for years - look for "Stitch Selected" in the Edit UVWs window menus (I think it's in Tools menu, can't remember offhand though).
hm, okay, while it somehow stiches stuff together, i can't seem to really control this. it gives me pretty crazy results with lines going on over everywhere - even with a box
pretty weird, since i read in a dolphin tutorial how it's done and screens proof, how it works
i also searched on the forums and found this thread, where someone describes kinda the problem im getting, but selecting the edge i'd like to stitch doesn't change anything.
but sry, don't wanna hijack the thread ! i might start another topic on that in the boards !
edit: oke, after really really reading the thread at: http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=61506&highlight=stitch
i found out that i have to select the edges i like to stitch in the viewport. then deselect the edge i want to move in the uv editor window
so without more overreacting - are you kidding me ? all these hours and hours or zooooming in 1200% and manually welding vertices, just because i didn't understand what that feature does and how it works - for my lowpoly work this is like million million muchos time saver !
THANK YOU very much, MOP
but still, summing that hysterics up, pleeeeease make that stitch-feature easier in the future
Acumen: dont worry about hijacking - it actually helps me understanding how others suffer or work with the UV stuff.
I was not aware of the stitch thing either even though I know max for many years, see: http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=60553&page=5#116
even I made a screenshot
@MoP:
like this?
basicly it moves the whole shell based on a single edge selection to the counter part of that edge
I wrote some experiments that I want to include in my stitch button like easier edge marking (edge, face or vert selection based) and a single click for connecting the shells http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=957015&postcount=384
(for some reason your messages always delayed here so often I did not even noticed them, they shifted into the others way afterwards)
ah see, i read the entire thread, but didn't always understand what you guys were talking about, because i didn't use the max uv feature until page 15 or something !
and until a couple of days ago i didn't understand what you were talking about in that post:http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=957015&postcount=384
that's really cool to know, you're actually working on that kind of problemsolving already
i think my messages got delayed because i had under 3 posts and an admin had to check my messages. it sometimes took 3 days till they were posted, but now it works on the fly
think that's because the board got reinstalled and stuff and i didn't post in here after that - just for your excellent app i applied in my workflow, made me post again :X
anyways, in all seriousness, you're doing a wonderful job here, and i'm more than excited for your next update on this application !
if you use the stitch selected from the menu, and set bias to 0.0, it even rescales the stitched object. i use it all the time, and have it set to alt+s.
actually, figured something out here:
$.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0
this script will do exactly what i want.
now i just need to make it into an itsy bitsy tool and set it to alt+s
macroScript stitchverts category:"raino"
(
if $.modifiers[1].name == "Unwrap UVW" then ($.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0 )
)
neverrmind, your way is probably better and less hacky. plus it'll work when the UVW unwrap is something else than the first object, and if you rename UVW modifier to something else :P
macroScript stitchverts category:"raino"
(
if classof (modPanel.getCurrentObject()) == Unwrap_UVW then($.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0 )
else print "you need to apply a UVW unwrap modifier"
)
complete script.
hmm, would be better if its in the unwrap UVW group though.
waaaahh, can't anything work with this crappy program?
they forgot to add scale clusters as an option so now the clusters don't scale :´(
even with the stitchVertsNoParams()
SIGH.
oh btw, not fixed even in max 2009.
ok, here goes another wish.
since i'm struggling with this again....
i'm always having a hard time with making uvmaps that don't have a 1:1 ratio.
and i always end up in scaling here and rescale workspace there - but it's not as easy as i thought it could be.
you know, if i decide "oh i shall go with 256x512 instead of 512x512" i can't seem to get it done really as fast as one could imagine it should be - since the uv's always get smashed
do you think that'd be possible to realize ?
it was rather a personal thing at first to go for only square images because thats what I work usually with (RT and rendering stuff). I plan to rewrite most of the functions to include:
- better error recognition (wrong object type, UVunwrap modifier existence)
- multi object support (for max 2008+)
- allow texture map width and height parameters (now its just 1 variable)
but it will take a while because atm. I am working on a new GUI for this and other projects that allows customization and has a liquid layout (means you can resize it any way you want)
once that part is done I am going to port + move the existing functions of texTools to it and improve & fix them where it makes sense then.
that sounds lovely !
cause it really is a pain, imo, to get a 2:1 ratio to work - with all that rescaling and stuff.
once again, you are doing wonderful work here - thanks a ton !
sorry, dont want to sound too rude, but ehm its quite easy to scale from a 1:1 to a 2:1 ratio, have a look at uvw xform or try some uv scaling scripts - invest more time in research, if you cant come up with a solution then it might be an idea asking someone to script something, not the other way around...well at least thats my view
well, like i said, i know how to do it. but since renderhjs specifically asked to request features for this massive script application, i did. because for me personally i'd prefer having it integrated inside this script from renderhjs instead of having to pop another modifier on top - just to change the uv-ratio or another uv script. so, maybe that's just me
you know, i won't die if i don't have that feature, but almost
well what I mean is that many functions in texTools ask for parameters (like render UVlayout to clipboard). Right now it only can render square sizes, but once I go through all functions and try to modify them so that 2 length sizes are accepted and computed I can change the whole thing so that one can define a different height or width.
got some code from a game developer in germany - and added some personal stuff to it. Its about a function that can determine the optimal texture resolution based on input texel values (remember: pixels per unit) and pixel padding.
That way you can pick a texel density from a source object set it to your new object and based on its size in the world compared to the other source objects it will determine the optimal texture size (with your current UV layout) to keep that texel density of the source object.
Maybe it sounds complicated for now but I will post some screens that should explain well how it works. All you need to know is that it can calculate the required texture Size for Object X with an input texel density value.
Apart from that I will add the stitch and pelt scripts and some quick fixes of older functions. Also some quick fix button for common material setups or settings. I.e when working with PNG textures it will copy the PNG bitmap to the alpha slot and enables monochrome alpha output within that slot, something you otherwise have to setup manually each time. I am open for other suggestions like searching for similar texture file names and based on some keywords like "normal, bump, spec,specular,alpha,..." it will assign and load them into their slots.
just to those who don't know what a block out map is:
I know the term from comic production and CG painting,- and it is often what I do in texture stuff as well. The first step is always to find out in your texture which UV parts belong together,- like which parts are wood, metal,.... and it often comes down to equal elements of your model (faces that are welded and tight connected with each other).
What this script thus does is that it generates a texture map where each poly or mesh element is coded by a different unique color (HSV rainbow flow in fact, so its always unique and not almost close or random).
Once you have that map you can easily select elements of the texture map by using the magic wand tool without smoothing or anti aliasing enabled.(the first checkbox).
The other code I talked about before was submitted by Mario Röske from Piranha-Bytes (Lead Level & Graphics on Risen).
Its about texel texture size calculation. I need to check his code if I understand it and implement it (although he already did most of that for me ). Anyway its not always easy to read through someone else's code but he said that he tested it several times and it worked for their work. And yes of course I am very happy about this contribution , More about this script soon.
no download link update yet,- still working on some fixes
Sweet time saver! I always have made my blocking maps manually by rendering an all white version then coloring in Photoshop, but usually there would be a few shells that just barely touch each other, then I'd have to take the time to manually select the one I wanted to paint bucket. Thanks renderhjs
Sweet time saver! I always have made my blocking maps manually by rendering an all white version then coloring in Photoshop, but usually there would be a few shells that just barely touch each other, then I'd have to take the time to manually select the one I wanted to paint bucket. Thanks renderhjs
thats exactly what I do, this blockout map thing is gonna be a really nice tool I'll be using for every model Looking forward to it!
btw did anyone figure out how to make a proper script to hotkey for stitching shells AND keep scaling ticked? Currently the "stitch selected" hotkey doesnt remember the "scale shells" option even if you save the settings~
I googled it and it seems to be a common problem too
But to be honest, most the time I relax all the shells before and after stitching anyway so the regular stitch hotkey works ok... but sometimes for non-organic models I'd prefer to stitch with auto shell scaling.
So I've assigned another hotkey for "stitch selected options" and have to click ok for every stitch.
Would just be neat if both of these were combined into a single key
Are the colors consistent or randomized?
I used to do this by hand also with a specific multi sub-object material, that had specific colors in each slot and a photoshop action script that would break each specific color off and set up layers and clipping masks for it. If they're consistent I can change the script, if they always change, well I have to go back to manually doing it...
btw did anyone figure out how to make a proper script to hotkey for stitching shells AND keep scaling ticked? Currently the "stitch selected" hotkey doesnt remember the "scale shells" option even if you save the settings~
I googled it and it seems to be a common problem too
But to be honest, most the time I relax all the shells before and after stitching anyway so the regular stitch hotkey works ok... but sometimes for non-organic models I'd prefer to stitch with auto shell scaling.
So I've assigned another hotkey for "stitch selected options" and have to click ok for every stitch.
Would just be neat if both of these were combined into a single key
they will be, I wrote a script for a sitch button that combines several cases all in 1 press.
It uses
....unwrap2.stitchVertsNoParams
and by that uses the default settings I believe (will test it, but it worked fine for me so far). The other modes include converting selections to outer edge stitch able edges. Which makes it faster for selecting edges that you want to stitch,- it then kind of filters out the edges that can not be sitched (inside shell for example).
Are the colors consistent or randomized?
I used to do this by hand also with a specific multi sub-object material, that had specific colors in each slot and a photoshop action script that would break each specific color off and set up layers and clipping masks for it. If they're consistent I can change the script, if they always change, well I have to go back to manually doing it...
consistent as in they follow a certain mechanic. And depending on how many shells there are the spectrum is more used. The order of the shells is atm. not yet sorted in any special way. Possible ideas would be object z- position (top -> down).
First I used just random colors but it often resulted into way to similar colors for the eye (even though they were different, just slightly). So I used the HSV color range, for the range I pick within the loop (through the shells) for each shell.
It gives a very good contrast among the different elements
the code is something like this:
--03.) assign random color material to each element face collection
function rainbowColor p =(
local clr = color 0 0 0;
clr.h = p*255;
clr.s = 255;
clr.v = 255;
return clr;
)
tmesh.material = Multimaterial();
tmesh.material.numsubs = elem.count;
tmesh.material.materialList.count = elem.count;
with redraw off(--speed improvement 1
undo off(--speed improvement 2
for i=1 to elem.count do (
local clor = rainbowColor ((i as float)*(1.0/elem.count));
tmesh.material.materialList[i].Diffuse = clor;
tmesh.material.materialList[i].ambient = clor;
tmesh.material.materialList[i].selfIllumAmount = 100
)
)
)
so if you have 4 shells you get colors from the range of:
0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00
what you probably have in mind is a fixed linear list of colors that start always the same, without dynamic distribution (depending on the amount of shells). Of course you could do the same according to prior defined material ID's of the faces, or smoothing groups. But I decided in this case that the most common task would be just different Object elements.
but you might have some use for the script,- it should not be to hard changing stuff the way it tastes best for you.
it came out different as I expected or targeted at first, it has not yet the texel- texture size calculation scripts but in return many new features.
The most notable changes and additions are:
width and height input values support (texel scripts are excluded for now from this, they only eat the width input as square texture size). It works with most functions but my impression is and was that square textures are basically the way to go in max booth from a technical and practical perspective. Even internal max functions such as auto unwrap functions do NOT WORK proper in non square texture sizes. Max just treats everything as a square, I guess thats why I first included just square texture size inputs.
droplet support, just drag and drop the MZP file into the viewport and it should run.
Alternatively you can like before put the file into the scripts/startup folder
cavity map render to clip board button. Just like Polyboost or max2010 you can render a cavity map but in this case it gets stored right away into your clipboard so that you can paste it in photoshop without saving/ opening files at all!
blockout map render to clipboard button. This makes it easy to follow in Photoshop which UV shells belong together. You can also quicker select in Photoshop related UV shells using the magic wand without anti-aliasing.
Sitches without any dialogue your selected edges with the counter pair (select only 1 side).
If you select faces it will convert and filter out possible edges to stitch and stich them. Right-click will filter your selection to stitch able edges (either faces or edges)
BETA:Cut & Pelt: A way to unwrap a shell via peltmapping with just 1 click. If you have a series of faces selected it will try to cut around this face selection and pelt map this new shell.
If you select some edges it will cut the UV-shell at that edge selection (seam marking) and pelt map the associated UV shell.
other smaller changes:
lineup: starts lining up in booth cases (vertical or horizontal) from your former selection most upper left corner (the same way pixels are arranged and most people handle the axis)
open Editor comes with non-square texture support (unique texture width and height variables)
changed the relax (just edges before) to a general relax button. Its case sensitive and reacts different on edges compared to selected faces, verts are not supported.
added macroscript for relax (face or edge selection based)
added macroscript for stitch selection (works for faces (converts to outer sitchable edges, or edges and filters them)
added macroscript for quick- peltmapping (select faces to pelt simulate that selection into a new shell, select edges to cut and pelt map the associated shell right away)
getTexture size gets booth width and height of available resources (i.e applied texture or uvUnwrap Modifier width and height settings)
render UVlayout to clipboard supports width and height texture settings
render selected UV faces as mask supports width and height texture settings (some bug there using max9, it has to work though, maybe its just max9 -it cant filter the selected faces).
render AO map supports width and height texture settings
render Blockmap comes with some autodesk bugs:
when rendering in MentalRay unique width and height is supported, but aliasing is ignored (all anti-aliased). When rendering with scanline renderer no unique width's and height's are supported in RTT- dont know what autodesk did wrong there.
lineup optimized for unique width and height texture settings
for a comparison, here are all render to clipboard methods of the same model:
I tested most of this only in max 9, I will have to do some testing in 2009 and perhaps 2010 but most of it should work just like it does here in max 9.
sometime perhaps,- till now I have not found out yet how to do it. I even had/ have problems reading out the unwrapUV editor's position and width/ height because some of the maxscript methods are still broken and not fixed by autodesk.
I contacted autodesk a few times but they never replied and no one on their forums could help me.
I know that the Chuggnuts UV Tools register themselves to be visible always with the UV editor- I might check out some of that code- maybe I did everything wrong till now.
Hi, thanks for the update...
The width/height stuff seem to work fine, but I'm having some problems with the new tools;
Your UV edge stitch acts exactly like the default stitch selected. It doesnt scale clusters to match the selected shell's scale. And selecting faces to stitch acts the same way by default as your script anyway.
The blockout map doesnt seem to work for me... for some reason its using mental ray to render the map? Is that normal?
Anyways the result is something like this;
switch to the Scanline renderer and check if it does the same. MR was a lot slower in my tests and sometimes came with some bugs (forced AA,..).
Your UV edge stitch acts exactly like the default stitch selected. It doesnt scale clusters to match the selected shell's scale. And selecting faces to stitch acts the same way by default as your script anyway.
ok, haven't tested that. Will check out the code and see if I can temporarily swap values for scaling while stitching.
Replies
The problem with the aligning, scaling, shifting stuff is that it usually requires a unique or special GUI element as it usually don't fit on just 1 button. Hence the reason why I didn't added Tolon's scripts yet because I am unsure atm. how to implement them GUI wise.
Well, that's fine renderjs. Thanks for your post because it is very well said.
I agree with that the probem is GUI wise.
Simulation pret
these are screens of the MZPrucksack system that I have been researching on and how I could imagine it with texTools. General input boxes like texture resolution, padding size and the open/close UV-Editor are missing but will most likely be liquid as well so if you change the panel it will change or remove elements if needed (sorted by importance,...).
some advantages of this method compared to what I have now
- split in code, icon design, GUI design, GUI behaviour, Language so I can easier upgrade one of these or extend them
- liquid layout, so you can align icons also horizontal or vertical, or even single lined
- different zoom/ detail modes lets you choose the way you can read the icons/ buttons best
- drag and drop MZP package (drop it into max and it should run instantly)
- tabs: lets you focus on a particular group of scripts you need ( I plan on allowing to open multiple tabs at once using shift+click)
- looks equal for once on max9, 2008, 2009, 2010
and basically all more control to me for the GUI as its flash driven and I know Actionscript very well (way more than maxscript). The only thing that slows me down right now though is the 64bit support as I cant use activeX objects in maxscript anymore (microsoft does not support most of them anymore in 64bit windows systems) instead I need to find a way of doing it using .NET which unfortunately is not easy to find examples for that use other than the default stuff.
So depending on how the MZPrucksack project evolves this might go in similar direction and probably is the delay you see now or will see within the next weeks.
I thought about using the shift key or alternatively drawing a selection box of the tabs you want to have open. Or some tab dragging so you can switch tab order. I think I can add that functionality after I solved the 64bit issue
hehe-then if you hold down on any button they would alll start jiggling and you could move their order around, it must be really simple to do ;-)
wanted to say thank you at first for this super useful tool. before i saw your thread my uvmapping pipeline was max-->milkshape-->lith unwrap1.3 - then back to milkshape-->max-->export to hl2-smd format.
but after following this thread i just gave it a try and invested a couple of hours to get the hang of maxes uv tools and your plugin proved to be extremely helpful
so i got a question/request now - but first i have to say, maybe thats already possible in max but i just don't know how to do so - so bare with me
so while i was making the uv's for a simple boxy object i made various planar maps and then wanted to weld the parts together. so what i did was, take each of the boxes side moved it closely to each other and manually welded the vertices together until all sides were welded correctly.
let's take this picture as an example: a simple box uvmapped
http://reinerstileset.4players.de/uvmappingtut_%20htm_files/uved1.png
so while i know there's the unfold mapping option - which works just fine for simple boxes and stuff, I'd like to know if it would be generally possible to have a "weld along edge"-option ?
you know i have 2 uv elements that share the same edge. now i'd like to select one edge of the 1st element and one of the 2nd element, click a button, and the two elements should be welded along the edge without being transformed (expect for proper scaling).
if i failed to explain, i can make simple pictures to illustrate what im talking about. i hope such a feature doesn't already exist, that would be sad (for me)
And so sum up my post a couple of days ago. Will something like that be possible to program, or is it already available but i just didn't find the button ?
Anyways, such a feature would be most awesome (at least) for me
Otherwise, thanks for the great tools!
Umm, that's a basic Max feature and has been for years - look for "Stitch Selected" in the Edit UVWs window menus (I think it's in Tools menu, can't remember offhand though).
pretty weird, since i read in a dolphin tutorial how it's done and screens proof, how it works
i also searched on the forums and found this thread, where someone describes kinda the problem im getting, but selecting the edge i'd like to stitch doesn't change anything.
but sry, don't wanna hijack the thread ! i might start another topic on that in the boards !
edit: oke, after really really reading the thread at:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=61506&highlight=stitch
i found out that i have to select the edges i like to stitch in the viewport. then deselect the edge i want to move in the uv editor window
so without more overreacting - are you kidding me ? all these hours and hours or zooooming in 1200% and manually welding vertices, just because i didn't understand what that feature does and how it works - for my lowpoly work this is like million million muchos time saver !
THANK YOU very much, MOP
but still, summing that hysterics up, pleeeeease make that stitch-feature easier in the future
I was not aware of the stitch thing either even though I know max for many years, see:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=60553&page=5#116
even I made a screenshot
http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=957015&postcount=384
(for some reason your messages always delayed here so often I did not even noticed them, they shifted into the others way afterwards)
and until a couple of days ago i didn't understand what you were talking about in that post:http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=957015&postcount=384
that's really cool to know, you're actually working on that kind of problemsolving already
i think my messages got delayed because i had under 3 posts and an admin had to check my messages. it sometimes took 3 days till they were posted, but now it works on the fly
think that's because the board got reinstalled and stuff and i didn't post in here after that - just for your excellent app i applied in my workflow, made me post again :X
anyways, in all seriousness, you're doing a wonderful job here, and i'm more than excited for your next update on this application !
actually, figured something out here:
$.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0
this script will do exactly what i want.
now i just need to make it into an itsy bitsy tool and set it to alt+s
if $.modifiers[1] == Unwrap_UVW then print "true" else print "false"
even though the first modifier is a unwrap uvw. i tried #unwrap_uvw as well, no go.
and typing $.modifiers[1] to find the type doesn't work either... grrr.
and for the UV class instance then: then you can use "uv" to access all the modifier methods and properties
like for example:
macroScript stitchverts category:"raino"
(
if $.modifiers[1].name == "Unwrap UVW" then ($.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0 )
)
neverrmind, your way is probably better and less hacky. plus it'll work when the UVW unwrap is something else than the first object, and if you rename UVW modifier to something else :P
(
if classof (modPanel.getCurrentObject()) == Unwrap_UVW then($.modifiers[#unwrap_uvw].unwrap2.stitchverts true 0.0 )
else print "you need to apply a UVW unwrap modifier"
)
complete script.
hmm, would be better if its in the unwrap UVW group though.
edit:
my suggestion to your code:
they forgot to add scale clusters as an option
even with the stitchVertsNoParams()
SIGH.
oh btw, not fixed even in max 2009.
since i'm struggling with this again....
i'm always having a hard time with making uvmaps that don't have a 1:1 ratio.
and i always end up in scaling here and rescale workspace there - but it's not as easy as i thought it could be.
you know, if i decide "oh i shall go with 256x512 instead of 512x512" i can't seem to get it done really as fast as one could imagine it should be - since the uv's always get smashed
do you think that'd be possible to realize ?
it was rather a personal thing at first to go for only square images because thats what I work usually with (RT and rendering stuff). I plan to rewrite most of the functions to include:
- better error recognition (wrong object type, UVunwrap modifier existence)
- multi object support (for max 2008+)
- allow texture map width and height parameters (now its just 1 variable)
but it will take a while because atm. I am working on a new GUI for this and other projects that allows customization and has a liquid layout (means you can resize it any way you want)
once that part is done I am going to port + move the existing functions of texTools to it and improve & fix them where it makes sense then.
cause it really is a pain, imo, to get a 2:1 ratio to work - with all that rescaling and stuff.
once again, you are doing wonderful work here - thanks a ton !
you know, i won't die if i don't have that feature, but almost
That way you can pick a texel density from a source object set it to your new object and based on its size in the world compared to the other source objects it will determine the optimal texture size (with your current UV layout) to keep that texel density of the source object.
Maybe it sounds complicated for now but I will post some screens that should explain well how it works. All you need to know is that it can calculate the required texture Size for Object X with an input texel density value.
Apart from that I will add the stitch and pelt scripts and some quick fixes of older functions. Also some quick fix button for common material setups or settings. I.e when working with PNG textures it will copy the PNG bitmap to the alpha slot and enables monochrome alpha output within that slot, something you otherwise have to setup manually each time. I am open for other suggestions like searching for similar texture file names and based on some keywords like "normal, bump, spec,specular,alpha,..." it will assign and load them into their slots.
expect a release within the next few days.
works really fast
just to those who don't know what a block out map is:
I know the term from comic production and CG painting,- and it is often what I do in texture stuff as well. The first step is always to find out in your texture which UV parts belong together,- like which parts are wood, metal,.... and it often comes down to equal elements of your model (faces that are welded and tight connected with each other).
What this script thus does is that it generates a texture map where each poly or mesh element is coded by a different unique color (HSV rainbow flow in fact, so its always unique and not almost close or random).
Once you have that map you can easily select elements of the texture map by using the magic wand tool without smoothing or anti aliasing enabled.(the first checkbox).
The other code I talked about before was submitted by Mario Röske from Piranha-Bytes (Lead Level & Graphics on Risen).
Its about texel texture size calculation. I need to check his code if I understand it and implement it (although he already did most of that for me
no download link update yet,- still working on some fixes
thats exactly what I do, this blockout map thing is gonna be a really nice tool I'll be using for every model
btw did anyone figure out how to make a proper script to hotkey for stitching shells AND keep scaling ticked? Currently the "stitch selected" hotkey doesnt remember the "scale shells" option even if you save the settings~
I googled it and it seems to be a common problem too
But to be honest, most the time I relax all the shells before and after stitching anyway so the regular stitch hotkey works ok... but sometimes for non-organic models I'd prefer to stitch with auto shell scaling.
So I've assigned another hotkey for "stitch selected options" and have to click ok for every stitch.
Would just be neat if both of these were combined into a single key
Are the colors consistent or randomized?
I used to do this by hand also with a specific multi sub-object material, that had specific colors in each slot and a photoshop action script that would break each specific color off and set up layers and clipping masks for it. If they're consistent I can change the script, if they always change, well I have to go back to manually doing it...
It uses and by that uses the default settings I believe (will test it, but it worked fine for me so far). The other modes include converting selections to outer edge stitch able edges. Which makes it faster for selecting edges that you want to stitch,- it then kind of filters out the edges that can not be sitched (inside shell for example).
consistent as in they follow a certain mechanic. And depending on how many shells there are the spectrum is more used. The order of the shells is atm. not yet sorted in any special way. Possible ideas would be object z- position (top -> down).
First I used just random colors but it often resulted into way to similar colors for the eye (even though they were different, just slightly). So I used the HSV color range, for the range I pick within the loop (through the shells) for each shell.
It gives a very good contrast among the different elements
the code is something like this: so if you have 4 shells you get colors from the range of:
0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00
what you probably have in mind is a fixed linear list of colors that start always the same, without dynamic distribution (depending on the amount of shells). Of course you could do the same according to prior defined material ID's of the faces, or smoothing groups. But I decided in this case that the most common task would be just different Object elements.
but you might have some use for the script,- it should not be to hard changing stuff the way it tastes best for you.
update with download: uv_toolbox_2.20.mzp
it came out different as I expected or targeted at first, it has not yet the texel- texture size calculation scripts but in return many new features.
The most notable changes and additions are:
Alternatively you can like before put the file into the scripts/startup folder
If you select faces it will convert and filter out possible edges to stitch and stich them. Right-click will filter your selection to stitch able edges (either faces or edges)
If you select some edges it will cut the UV-shell at that edge selection (seam marking) and pelt map the associated UV shell.
other smaller changes:
when rendering in MentalRay unique width and height is supported, but aliasing is ignored (all anti-aliased). When rendering with scanline renderer no unique width's and height's are supported in RTT- dont know what autodesk did wrong there.
for a comparison, here are all render to clipboard methods of the same model:
I tested most of this only in max 9, I will have to do some testing in 2009 and perhaps 2010 but most of it should work just like it does here in max 9.
Been using v1.7 for a while!
could you make it so that it only shows when the uv editor is open?
I contacted autodesk a few times but they never replied and no one on their forums could help me.
I know that the Chuggnuts UV Tools register themselves to be visible always with the UV editor- I might check out some of that code- maybe I did everything wrong till now.
The width/height stuff seem to work fine, but I'm having some problems with the new tools;
Your UV edge stitch acts exactly like the default stitch selected. It doesnt scale clusters to match the selected shell's scale. And selecting faces to stitch acts the same way by default as your script anyway.
The blockout map doesnt seem to work for me... for some reason its using mental ray to render the map? Is that normal?
Anyways the result is something like this;
ok, haven't tested that. Will check out the code and see if I can temporarily swap values for scaling while stitching.