iv been trying to texture a low-poly character with the following method in 3ds max 4, but is keeps on f**king up when it should work can someone plz lend a hand?? 1.add a edit mesh mod 2.take the mesh apart and place in a planar alignment 3.use texporter to produce bitmap of the now planar mesh 4.produce a texture with the newly created bitmap 5.apply the texture to the planar mesh(everthing works good till this point, at this point the flattened mesh has all the correct UVW coordinate applied and looks good) 6.apply a UVW unwrap modifier to lock in the UVWs 7.turn off the edit mesh modifier ... (at this point the mesh is suppose to go back to the normal shape, but since the uvw unwrap is suppose to make the texture stick to the mesh, so i am suppose to get a fully textured character, but for somereason the texture bitmap appears in thousands of little tiles on the character..

gotG,

try applying a UVW map instead of an unwrap

I''m not sure what you''re doing wrong, but another method is to use a morph instead of the edit mesh modifier.

To do this keep a copy of your original unflattened model, flatten the model and apply a planar uvw map, then morph the flattened model back into the original shape.

--
http://www.3dcgi.com/

No no no Don't ever take apart the mesh; it's way too hard and time confusing. I was watching this one video tut the other day on mapping, and the guy (who is quite good, btw) did it the same way I do:

- Select a bunch of faces that are more or less planar to begin with using the edit mesh modifier. For example, you might select the front of the faces as one set, the side as another, the back as another, etc... They key, though, is that you do this one at a time, doing the following each time.

- Apply a planar uv map to the selected faces. You'll then want to apply a checkerboard texture to the faces and display it in view port. It'll look good if youv'e done it right, but there is probably stretching.

- Apply a UVW Unwrap modifier. This is the really agravating part. You'll need to move around vertices in the UVW Unwrap window, watching how it effects the checkerboard pattern in the viewports. Once you're satisified with a piece, move it outside of the box (remembering where, very important ) and then collapse the stack.

- I dunno what other people do, but once I have a set of vertices mapped, I liked to hide those faces so that I don't accidentally select them or something later. Anyway, you proceed to map each of the sections and then you "stitch" it together later by welding all the parts together (not the mesh of course; the uvw unwrap window). You do this by applying a uvw unwrap modifier to a completly collapsed stack once everything is mapped.

- Oh, and one other thing. You really only need to map half of a model, if it's symmetrical. I forget how to make it assymetrical after mapping just half of it, but I've seen it and it can be done.

Hopefully that will help Lemme know if you have any questions about what I posted above, cuz I have no idea if it makes any sense, haha.

EDIT: I just reread some of the posts above and yeah, the problem is that right now, you are missing the uv map modifier.

Peon
Texture Artist
ROR!

[edited by - Peon on April 8, 2002 3:17:43 PM]

[edited by - Peon on April 8, 2002 3:18:31 PM]

quote: Original post by Peon
No no no Don''t ever take apart the mesh; it''s way too hard and time confusing.

I wouldn''t tell someone don''t ever do something. I''ve used all three methods before and for me breaking apart the mesh worked best. I haven''t textured a lot of models though. Maybe eventually I''ll switch methods. By the way I''ve read about all three of these methods in books. The last one I read through (it might have been Paul Steeds book) mentioned gotG''s method and the method I mentioned. The author prefered the method gotG attempted because it didn''t involve breaking apart the mesh. Peon''s method can get confusing because the stack can get very deep with a lot of edit mesh modifiers.

In the end I think it''s just personal preference. If you figure out your problem gotG please post the answer so the rest of us avoid the same mistake when using that method.



--
http://www.3dcgi.com/

"Peon''s method can get confusing because the stack can get very deep with a lot of edit mesh modifiers."

Actually, you collapse the stack each time. It''s really not hard at all. You select faces, map them, and collapse the stack. The most complex stack you''ll ever have if I remember right is like an edit mesh, a uvw map, and a unw unwrap. That''s it

The reason I said not to flatten mesh is that everyone I''ve either talked to or read about said they would never go back to it after trying my method (actually, that''s not right since it''s not my method, but just the one I posted about above) Try www.polycount.com, they have some good mapping tuts there.

Peon, when I tried that method I tried to keep the stack so I could go back and change something, but maybe that isn''t too important here. Maybe next time I''ll try it again to see if I like it better when the stack stays collapsed.

--
http://www.3dcgi.com/

Ooh okay. You can still change things if you do it my way. Apply a uvw unwrap to the ENTIRE mesh instead of specific faces and you''re good to go; you''ll be able to redit all uvw coords and everything. Give it a try in any case, you might find that it''s a lot easier