More texturing questions...

[Daycab]

Sorry if it seems I'm going over the texturing thing a bit much, but I really want to learn the best way to do this. I've pretty much figured out UVW Unwrap and Multi-Materials, now I'm trying to tie it all together... :isadizzy:

In this particular case, I used UVW Unwrap to place the base textures on the model. I want later to put the numbers and such on with UVW Mapping. The UVW Unwrap texture was #1 on the Multi-Material.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/kdryan/Aircraft/3ds%20Max%20Projects/Loving%20Wane%20WR-1/race883o.jpg

Next I want to use a UVW Map to place the flames around the fuselage so I can line them up. So I collapsed the stack, added an Edit Poly, selected the polys like below, assigned them as group 2, then made my flame decal (separate file from the UVW Unwrap) as Item #2 on the Multi-Material. I applied a Planar Map and sized it to the area I wanted...


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/kdryan/Aircraft/3ds%20Max%20Projects/Loving%20Wane%20WR-1/race884o.jpg

Only to get the below result. No textures will show up past the line on the fuselage, except for the bottom of the tail, which is black. Everything you see that is gray is going to stay that way.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b236/kdryan/Aircraft/3ds%20Max%20Projects/Loving%20Wane%20WR-1/race882o.jpg

Any ideas?

daycab

[n4gix]

The short answer is you cannot possibly do what you wish, period.

Any given polygon can have one -and only one- Material & UVW Map.

What you can do is create "decal polygons" that float slightly above the fuselage/wing polygons...

[Daycab]

Ok then... :kilroy: Here is my template, what do you think of it? I still have to put a few more textures on it (Numbers, etc.), but it you basically get the idea. I guess I'll use that little poly trick for the tail number, sharkmouth, etc...

daycab

[Daycab]

Thanks Bill, this is working out very nicely. If it's not too much trouble, I know this is a noob question, but how am I going to get these textures into the sim? With the Unwrap, it's fairly obvious. With these, getting them on in Max is pretty straight forward, but somehow I missed out on what to do with the files. Do I make a second texture file for the decals then put them into the texture folder?

daycab

[Daycab]

Hello... Hello... Hello...

Big echo, crickets chirping... :wavey:

Either I pi$$ed someone off, or everyone went on vacation at the same time. :icon_lol:


love, daycab :ernae:

[n4gix]

No, oddly enough some of us do choose to eat, sleep and use the loo on a somewhat irregular basis... :monkies:

As for the textures, simply convert your image file(s) to either DXT3 .bmp files for FS9, or DDS/DXT5 format for FSX, placing the converted/compressed image file(s) into the aircraft's ..\texture folder.

[N2056]

I'm a bit confused, as I know for a fact that you have been able to get your artwork into the sim before. Are you trying to work straight from the unwrap program?

[Daycab]

I'm looking for the best way to get fine details onto the plane. So far I have been placing a larger image of what I want on the unwrap texture, cutting out the poly's on the unwrap template, expanding them and placing them over that portion of the image. This has the disadvantage of taking up too much room on the template, however and I don't think that's how you pros do it.

I did Bill's idea with the poly's on the model, made a multi material giving each different decal an id and it seemed to work well, but now I'm not sure how to make the images appear in the sim. I guess I need to make bmp's for the images in the texture folder, but am not certain how to set it up.

I'm just looking for the best way to do it. I could go ahead with what I have, but I'm kind of anal that way... :kilroy:

daycab

[N2056]

Check you PM's :wavey:

[Mathias]

I'm looking for the best way to get fine details onto the plane. So far I have been placing a larger image of what I want on the unwrap texture, cutting out the poly's on the unwrap template, expanding them and placing them over that portion of the image. This has the disadvantage of taking up too much room on the template, however and I don't think that's how you pros do it.


daycab

That is absolutely the wrong approach that you're trying there as it a.) makes it impossible to repaint your work and b.) causes a sh*tload of seams.
Mind you every seam doubles the texture vertices what will cause a solid fps hit and also problems with material assignment as there there's a 64k vertex limit per shader in FSX, besides that it's generally good practice to lay out the UV coordinates as ergonomically as possible.
Rather than fitting the UV mapping to an image you should first lay out your mapping with as few seams and stretching as possible.
Next you can try - if you wish - to fit an image to your mappings, though good old painting in most cases is still giving the best results.

[Daycab]

That is absolutely the wrong approach that you're trying there as it a.) makes it impossible to repaint your work

IMHO, this is not necessarily a bad thing.


Mind you every seam doubles the texture vertices what will cause a solid fps hit and also problems with material assignment as there there's a 64k vertex limit per shader in FSX, besides that it's generally good practice to lay out the UV coordinates as ergonomically as possible. Rather than fitting the UV mapping to an image you should first lay out your mapping with as few seams and stretching as possible.
Next you can try - if you wish - to fit an image to your mappings, though good old painting in most cases is still giving the best results.


Do you know how long it will take me to weld all of those vertices into as few pieces as possible? :)

thanks,

daycab

[Mathias]

Do you know how long it will take me to weld all of those vertices into as few pieces as possible? :)

thanks,

daycab

I certainly have a vague idea. :bump: and since you asked for "the best way" there's no need to get emotional.
On a serious note, I was about to post a link to a good tutorial on the subject but figured it isn't there anymore where it's supposed to be.
Will see if I can find something usefull.

[Daycab]

Who's emotional? See the smiley? ;)

Have one on me.... :icon29:

daycab

[FelixFFDS]

Mathias - I thinik that daycab is Inspector Poly's long lost cousin!

[n4gix]

Do you know how long it will take me to weld all of those vertices into as few pieces as possible? :)

Oh, about 30 seconds or thereabouts...

Hint: Attach objects, select ALL vertices, set the Weld threshold to 0.001mm and click the Weld button.