Complicated mapping for DIFs?
by Arseniy Tomkevich · in Artist Corner · 07/25/2005 (9:16 am) · 5 replies
Hi. I have a few objects I made in 3d studio max and I am exporting them with GBL 3.0 into Map. This works, I can open them in QUARK.
GBL Does not export material coordinates into torque, which is horrible.
My object is a rail road. I had to break it up into simpler convex objects in order for it to export. Now the question is, how do i apply the mapping coordinates I had in 3dsmax on to this object. How do i keep the same UV mapping coordinates ;( and If i can not get mapping out of 3dsmax, how can I do something similar and which software? I tried QUARK and it applies a texture but it doesnt have unwrap or anything similar where I can move UV coordinates and apply them to my models.
Thanks,
Arseniy
GBL Does not export material coordinates into torque, which is horrible.
My object is a rail road. I had to break it up into simpler convex objects in order for it to export. Now the question is, how do i apply the mapping coordinates I had in 3dsmax on to this object. How do i keep the same UV mapping coordinates ;( and If i can not get mapping out of 3dsmax, how can I do something similar and which software? I tried QUARK and it applies a texture but it doesnt have unwrap or anything similar where I can move UV coordinates and apply them to my models.
Thanks,
Arseniy
About the author
#2
However Quark and Cartography Shop both do allow you to move your texture/resize it/rotate etc you just need to use the help for the appropriate program to learn how it's done in each of them
I have seen some UV mapping though done in blender however I am not sure if it was a bsp dif or a dts shape been a long time since I looked. It was a picnic table and the post was somewhere here in the forums.
07/25/2005 (1:58 pm)
I haven't seen any BSP editor in my usage that allowed for full on UV mapping where you create a UV map then paint the map then apply it to a model like you do for normal 3d models.However Quark and Cartography Shop both do allow you to move your texture/resize it/rotate etc you just need to use the help for the appropriate program to learn how it's done in each of them
I have seen some UV mapping though done in blender however I am not sure if it was a bsp dif or a dts shape been a long time since I looked. It was a picnic table and the post was somewhere here in the forums.
#3
The basic idea of it was; take all the brush faces facing one direction and group them by themselves. It's referred to as 'shared faces' I believe in QuArK. You can then apply a texture to that shared face, and it will stretch over the entire wall, even if its made up of umpteen brushes. Although this probably won't be even close to the mapping you had done in Max, it does approximate a typical texturing style for Max.
I'm horrid at ascii art, so I won't even try. Imagine a single wall with one doorway. You have two large rectangle brushes on either side of the door, and a small square above it. If you've used standard QuArK brushes, you should have 3 folders, 1 per brush, and inside each is 6 faces listed, possibly with the direction named. Grab all the ones that say 'north' and click regroup. You'll now have 4 folders. 3 have only 5 faces listed, 1 has 3 in it. If you now select a north face in one of your view windows, it will highlight the entire north side, treating it as one solid face.
07/25/2005 (1:59 pm)
Actually, it is somewhat possible. There was a page, tutorial or resource somewhere, but I can't recall where, if it was even on GG.The basic idea of it was; take all the brush faces facing one direction and group them by themselves. It's referred to as 'shared faces' I believe in QuArK. You can then apply a texture to that shared face, and it will stretch over the entire wall, even if its made up of umpteen brushes. Although this probably won't be even close to the mapping you had done in Max, it does approximate a typical texturing style for Max.
I'm horrid at ascii art, so I won't even try. Imagine a single wall with one doorway. You have two large rectangle brushes on either side of the door, and a small square above it. If you've used standard QuArK brushes, you should have 3 folders, 1 per brush, and inside each is 6 faces listed, possibly with the direction named. Grab all the ones that say 'north' and click regroup. You'll now have 4 folders. 3 have only 5 faces listed, 1 has 3 in it. If you now select a north face in one of your view windows, it will highlight the entire north side, treating it as one solid face.
#4
07/25/2005 (3:39 pm)
If you use planar mapping instead of unwrapping then I believe GLB3.0 will preserve your texture coordinates (I recently watched a video on that).
#5
And you can't share faces unless they are planar to each other.
You can in fact take an unwrapped model and load it and the texture map into Quark, then piece them back together. The more comlicated the shape the harder it is is to do. (RailRoad tracks don't sound to bad)
Generally I start out using a texture map output by TexPorter. That way I can line the triangles up with quark. Quark has a visual editor for the face mapping. It scales and rotates the selected faces. Then I apply the painted texture map to object.
If you Keep max open while working you can use the UV editor for visual guide. And if you know exactly how your shape is broken up on your map that helps alot.
The biggest problem with complicated shapes is the smoothing. DIF shapes don't smooth real nice. But when your in Quark you use face tagging to set your textures you end up with a pretty nice looking surface.
It Works, but it takes some getting used to and its better to do it on small objects. It also make for a long day.
Good Luck.
Matt
07/25/2005 (4:44 pm)
In fact all objects built with GLB are plain_mapped on creation.And you can't share faces unless they are planar to each other.
You can in fact take an unwrapped model and load it and the texture map into Quark, then piece them back together. The more comlicated the shape the harder it is is to do. (RailRoad tracks don't sound to bad)
Generally I start out using a texture map output by TexPorter. That way I can line the triangles up with quark. Quark has a visual editor for the face mapping. It scales and rotates the selected faces. Then I apply the painted texture map to object.
If you Keep max open while working you can use the UV editor for visual guide. And if you know exactly how your shape is broken up on your map that helps alot.
The biggest problem with complicated shapes is the smoothing. DIF shapes don't smooth real nice. But when your in Quark you use face tagging to set your textures you end up with a pretty nice looking surface.
It Works, but it takes some getting used to and its better to do it on small objects. It also make for a long day.
Good Luck.
Matt
Torque Owner Magnus Blikstad
Someone with more recent (and more torque specific) knowledge can probably add quite a bit to my answer.