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Computator 5000
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Computator 5000 // Work in Progress
Post by Jack Edwards // May 10, 2007, 8:25am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Thanks Skipper :)
I think unless your mapping from to a photo, the UV map has to come first. But I also think it's important to plan ahead how you're going to paint a particular area when mapping it.
I got my model cleaned up and exported to UU3D. Took me a bit to figure out a good workflow for UU3D but I've got to say that I'm really liking it. The way it handles groups is just AWESOME, makes UV layout a breeze. Only problem is that I forgot to enter my registration code.... so I couldn't save my work until after I activated and restarted the program. :( So gotta do the mapping all over again. Another cool thing I noticed is that it's file format conversion is robust. It gave me direct feedback on what about my model wasn't compatible with that format which made it pretty easy to fix things and get the model exported.
I can say that TS 7.5 does have a handy feature that UU3D doesn't. Arbitrary "best fit" projection mapping. The mappings in UU3D are all axis aligned, whereas TS will try to align the mapping to the object.
In anycase, UU3D is a great companion product for TS. The robust import and export alone are worth the $50 paid, plus it looks like it does handle animation and bones.
-Jack. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 10, 2007, 8:32am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Oh yeah forgot to post about what I needed to clean up. Don't use the "bevel" tool on Workspace side if you're planning to export. It creates a polygon with a "hole" in it that won't export properly. Better to use the extrude tool and just scale in and line it up. That way you maintain quads and correct geometry.
To fix the issues caused by the using the bevel tool to create an inset: Use the add edges tool to connect the vertices in order to make the geometry correct.
Triangulating selected faces with the "split polygons" tool also works.
-Jack. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 10, 2007, 9:42am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Bummer. My 7.5 e-mail hasn't arrived yet and 7.5 isn't in the downloads either. I'm gonna drive myself nuts here between hitting refresh on the forums and Send/Receive on the e-mail. So I'm gonna turn in early, get some rest, and then hopefully I'll have all night with the release version 7.5 when I wake up. :D
-Jack. |
Post by Steinie // May 10, 2007, 9:44am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Is Maryland in a Wayyyy different time zone then New Jersey?....:confused: :D
Early Bird? |
Post by tomasb // May 10, 2007, 9:46am
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tomasb
Total Posts: 261
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Oh yeah forgot to post about what I needed to clean up. Don't use the "bevel" tool on Workspace side if you're planning to export. It creates a polygon with a "hole" in it that won't export properly. Better to use the extrude tool and just scale in and line it up. That way you maintain quads and correct geometry.
-Jack.
bevel has checkbox to create quads instead of holes. Use this setting if you are using SDS or want to export to formats not supporting holes for better results. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 10, 2007, 10:02am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Thanks Tom, I must've missed that.
LOL Steinie. :)
More like a night owl :o
-Jack. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 4:09pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Okay got the UV mapping done. Think I made this one a bit harder than it needed to be:
6018
Here's the UV Map:
6017
Next come painting textures.... :)
-Jack. |
Post by kena // May 14, 2007, 6:41pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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looking good - keep it up. |
Post by Steinie // May 15, 2007, 1:03am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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I can tell you going nuts with your new toys!:) The UV mapping should be in the Hall of Fame!!! |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 15, 2007, 4:01am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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:) hehe Steinie! Thanks Kena. Yeah I need to note that I did the UV mapping in UU3D. That kind of multi object map would be very impractical to do in TS's UVE.
Of course now that I'm looking at it fresh, I see a few places where I could've optimized the mapping a bit more... ah well.
-Jack. |
Post by MadMouse // May 15, 2007, 8:29am
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MadMouse
Total Posts: 1069
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Ya see.. Mousey told you UU3D was a good bit of kit...Mousey dont tell lies:D
Good job Jack. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 15, 2007, 8:46am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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:) Yup, yup! Was kinda fun too, instead of the usual hair-pulling tedium of UV mapping -- sort of like piecing together a puzzle.
Now I'm feeling the joy of texture painting with my intuos tablet :jumpy:
-Jack. |
Post by skipper // May 16, 2007, 11:53pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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Got my serial today for UU3D... I'll be going through the video tutorials over the next days. I noticed that you can let UU3D do the mesh unwrapping automatically, the result isn't very practical as your polygons get spread all over the place (while neatly, it doesn't make sense, you'd have to paint one half (one triangle) of a square in one corner of your map and the other half in another corner...).
So doing it on foot is still the best way to go. Workflow is key, if you don't know how to place one foot in front of the other to walk, how can you learn how to run?
I have a model I've had on the backburner for a while, so I hope to finally get the details worked out.
Nice texture mapping Jack, I'm curious, does it matter that certain checkerboards appear larger in some of your polygons, or do only the proportions matter to avoid texture stretching? |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 17, 2007, 4:20am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Yeah the auto unwrap is really only good for 3D paint. The most useful tool I found so far is the "Unwrap From" tool, which lets you choose a face and unfold sequential edges manualy -- very cool.
The goal is to get the checkers to be the same size, but some areas need more detail then others, and some I had to scale a bit to squeeze them on the map. Hopefully it won't be too obvious when the texture is painted.
Stretching is a whole different beast. When the edges in the UV map aren't the same ratios as the edges in the mesh, you get stretching and distortion. Unfortunately for some shapes (especially curved ones) this is unavoidable and the goal is to minimize the stretching as much as possible and keep it to less visible areas.
-Jack. |
Post by skipper // May 17, 2007, 8:46am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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I'll have to look into that "unwrap from" feature. So far I've been gathering my faces into groups and unwrapping them using box, flat and cylindrical projections. Works like a charm, very intuitive too. I select the faces directly from the 3D viewport.
I noticed that scaling your faces will increase or decrease the texture resolution, so I'll have to play with that later on to see how much I need to scale up my mesh to get a certain amount of detail displayed.
I wonder if I can increase the pixel size of the texture imagemap field, because that could become critical because I want to texture every face individually, no mirroring or duplicating since I have different texture versions (color schemes, etc.) planned.
So far so good. :) |
Post by Jack Edwards // Jul 7, 2007, 2:58pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Haven't had any time to work on this lately, so thought I'd post a screen cap of where I left off. Still lots of texturing to do. Might have some time next week.
7356
More brass will be added. The metal will be more bushed and will get scratches and stuff. Probabaly will change the name plate for a cooler font. Front grill needs some work.
Lightning textures need to be re-applied, but that'll wait until I finish painting. ;)
-Jack. |
Post by Steinie // Jul 7, 2007, 3:11pm
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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I was wondering when you would finish this! I still feel like those buttons will open a dam in Zork... |
Post by trueSpaced // Jul 7, 2007, 3:13pm
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trueSpaced
Total Posts: 544
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That isn't rendered, is it?
-TrueSpaced:banana: |
Post by Jack Edwards // Jul 7, 2007, 3:17pm
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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LOL yeah me too Steinie. I'm going to model a Gnome to go with it, but dunno when I'll find time.
@ Truespaced: nope, just a real-time screen cap that I cropped in GIMP.
-Jack. |
Post by trueSpaced // Jul 7, 2007, 3:26pm
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trueSpaced
Total Posts: 544
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Cool, cool, just wondering.....
-TrueSpaced:banana: |
Post by MadMouse // Jul 8, 2007, 1:58am
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MadMouse
Total Posts: 1069
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Glad to see this project isnt dead Jack, I rather liked this one :D |
Post by Momaw // Jul 10, 2007, 6:38pm
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Momaw
Total Posts: 21
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State of the art device, that. :)
Though, what happened with the smaller gear driving the whirly? It looks like it's got about 3 times too many edges, scattered all over! |
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