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Thread: UVW Mapping in Gmax tutorial series

  1. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by Milton Shupe View Post
    Yes, and remember to assign material ids to each poly(s) you want to map separately.
    Set your poly(mesh) Select, select by ID, add uvw, collapse.

    If you make a mistake or oversight, just redo the process for the incorrect polys.

    I noticed on your video that you had assigned poly's ID's before even doing the poly select modifiers. Are you doing this within the editable poly modifier, or did poly selects and assigned ID, then collapsed before the currently shown select and mapping sequence ? Are you doing all the assigning BEFORE actually assigning a material to the object ?

    Just to keep it simple, I'm trying to use a standard material (MatID=1), so is there a sequence I have to map (i.e. Left,top,right,front,bottom,back) and/or does each following mapping from te base object need to touch each other ?
    "May fortune favor the foolish"
    MaddogK

  2. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by MaddogK View Post

    I noticed on your video that you had assigned poly's ID's before even doing the poly select modifiers. Are you doing this within the editable poly modifier, or did poly selects and assigned ID, then collapsed before the currently shown select and mapping sequence ? Are you doing all the assigning BEFORE actually assigning a material to the object ?

    Just to keep it simple, I'm trying to use a standard material (MatID=1), so is there a sequence I have to map (i.e. Left,top,right,front,bottom,back) and/or does each following mapping from te base object need to touch each other ?
    MDK,

    Material IDs are assigned automatically when the object is created.
    However, you can select each poly and change the material ID as you wish, after you assign an Editable Poly/Mesh to the stack.
    You should assign material IDs before you start mapping.
    You do NOT have to assign a material to the object before mapping.
    There is no specific mapping sequence required.
    You can anything, anytime.
    No, you do not have to break the sides apart; map as one object.

    Once mapping is done (collapse the stack if you have not done so), add a Unwrap UVW to the stack.
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  3. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Milton Shupe View Post
    MDK,

    Material IDs are assigned automatically when the object is created.
    However, you can select each poly and change the material ID as you wish, after you assign an Editable Poly/Mesh to the stack.
    You should assign material IDs before you start mapping.
    You do NOT have to assign a material to the object before mapping.
    There is no specific mapping sequence required.
    You can anything, anytime.
    No, you do not have to break the sides apart; map as one object.

    Once mapping is done (collapse the stack if you have not done so), add a Unwrap UVW to the stack.
    I think I understand.
    Since my material is already created, I shouldn't apply it to the object until after it's mapped and collapsed ? Since I understand the the matID on the select screen corresponds to a MATID layer on a multilayer material, collapsing the stack also collapses the MatID assignments in the mappings allowing the entire editable object to be assigned to a single level ID (standard material) ?
    "May fortune favor the foolish"
    MaddogK

  4. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by MaddogK View Post
    I think I understand.
    Since my material is already created, I shouldn't apply it to the object until after it's mapped and collapsed ? Since I understand the the matID on the select screen corresponds to a MATID layer on a multilayer material, collapsing the stack also collapses the MatID assignments in the mappings allowing the entire editable object to be assigned to a single level ID (standard material) ?
    Actually you can apply your standard or multi-material anytime AFAIK; it does not matter.

    You have a lot of flexibility to assign, reassign selections to any part of a material you wish.

    I use Lithunwrap to create a texture sheet so I usually do that last.

    But once assigned and mapped, you can move your poly selections around on the texture sheet in the Edit Unwrap to fine tune your placement if needed.
    The key thing is using the channels to manage the polys in each group so when you edit, you can select the individual channel set of polys to manage location on the texture sheet as you need to.
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

  5. #55
    Quote Originally Posted by Milton Shupe View Post
    Actually you can apply your standard or multi-material anytime AFAIK; it does not matter.

    You have a lot of flexibility to assign, reassign selections to any part of a material you wish.

    I use Lithunwrap to create a texture sheet so I usually do that last.

    But once assigned and mapped, you can move your poly selections around on the texture sheet in the Edit Unwrap to fine tune your placement if needed.
    The key thing is using the channels to manage the polys in each group so when you edit, you can select the individual channel set of polys to manage location on the texture sheet as you need to.
    After about 5 hours of practice I got the hang of this. As you explain, it IS rather simple but unfortunately I still have the same result- unmapped faces, that cannot be mapped to.

    Instead of fighting these faces in the main aircraft model I created a new model by deleting every object except the one I'm trying to map, as well as ALL the materials. I then save the model with a different filename, and exit and restart Gmax, then open the new file. I then change the object name to ensure when I import it into the main aircraft model it's not a duplicate of an existing object, create a new standard material and map the object. Everything looks great, all the faces are mapped just how I want them so I collapse the stack and I save the UVW's and unassign the material and delete it. I then save the the entire model again with a different name and close down Gmax.

    I'm now ready to import the newly mapped part so I open Gmax again and load my aircraft model. I unassign the material from the part I'm going to replace, then delete the part. I use the merge function to import the mapped part from the above paragraph and am expecting my job to be done. Now that it's imported I select the part and assign the material. This is the same BMP I used to create the material in the above file. I look at my newly imported part and notice 2 of my face groups aren't showing the texture, they're just flat grey. They appear to have no reflectivity as well so I check the normals on those faces and they are still projecting in the correct direction. I then select the faces and flip the normals thinking maybe the faces flipped during the import but watch them turn invisible on the flip, so I undo the flip. I then do a mesh select modifier and select the faces which are still properly grouped from the original mapping, and do another UVWunwrap and see the item is still in it's correct position on the material.

    So I'm at a loss now what to do next.

    I've had this happen a few years ago with a different model, a few faces didn't survive the import from Milkshape but I stumbled on a post somewhere describing how to reverse the vertex order of a face in Gmax, but have long since forgotten how to do it.

    ANY suggestions how to fix this ?
    "May fortune favor the foolish"
    MaddogK

  6. #56
    Charter Member 2012 nigel richards's Avatar
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    MaddogK:

    No expert, but like yourself - still crossing many of these learning hurdles, I think you may have 'trapped' yourself and overcomplicated your mapping sequence.
    I've had myself in several tight corners - thank heavens Milton has always bravely pulled me out of the deep water!
    (Thank YOU Sir!)

    As Milton says, there's massive built-in flexibility allowing all manner of awesome applications and variations.


    I'd recommend one more stab - in these stages.


    1. Create NEW material.

    2. Apply material to ENTIRE part NOT polys.

    3. Map and collapse each side.

    4. UVW unwrap for any fine tuning, collapse.

    Hope this helps - Good Luck!

    Nigel
    Most men often say what they think!
    An honest man usually means what he says!
    A gentleman always says what he means!

    "Αίεν Υψικρατείν "

    A fool is not he who asks a simple question, but he who would simply have its asking denied. (Richards 2012)

  7. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by nigel richards View Post
    MaddogK:

    No expert, but like yourself - still crossing many of these learning hurdles, I think you may have 'trapped' yourself and overcomplicated your mapping sequence.
    I've had myself in several tight corners - thank heavens Milton has always bravely pulled me out of the deep water!
    (Thank YOU Sir!)

    As Milton says, there's massive built-in flexibility allowing all manner of awesome applications and variations.


    I'd recommend one more stab - in these stages.


    1. Create NEW material.

    2. Apply material to ENTIRE part NOT polys.

    3. Map and collapse each side.

    4. UVW unwrap for any fine tuning, collapse.

    Hope this helps - Good Luck!

    Nigel
    Funny thing is just last week I did a cleanup of my fuselage and some tweeking of the nose shape. I split it right down the center nose to tail and deleted one half so I could work the cleanup on the remaining side, then clone it to the other side when finished. When all was done and exported into flightsim I found I had an entire fuselage that was textured in-side-out even tho the normals were facing the correct direction. I still havent figured out how/why Gmax would project the normals out of the backside of the poly's, and flipping the normals only made the inside textures even darker.

    *shrug

    I ended up deleting the newly created side, flipping the normals on the other side, then mirroring, deleting the original side, selecting the copy and mirroring it back to replace the original, then selecting ALL faces on the entire object and flipping all the normals.

    If there was only a way to flip the face without flipping the normal. I'm even worse at normal aligning than I am at brain surgery.
    "May fortune favor the foolish"
    MaddogK

  8. #58
    Originally Posted by MaddogK
    ...I still haven't figured out how/why Gmax would project the normals out of the backside of the polys...


    Oh boy, does this bring back some memories!

    To quote the tutorial series this thread was originally announcing:–

    UVW mapping ... controls how and where a texture file is projected on to a model.


    When you map a selection of polys, the mapping determines from which direction a texture is projected on to the polys. That's what View Align when applying a UVW Map modifier does. If the left side of a fuselage has been mapped as if the texture is projected from left of the fuselage, then a cloned left half, mirrored to make the right half, will have the same mapping as the left half:–














    I hope this helps.
    Last edited by hairyspin; October 8th, 2017 at 12:49.
    Tom
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    Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7



  9. #59
    Charter Member 2012 nigel richards's Avatar
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    Nicely illustrated, Tom.
    Most men often say what they think!
    An honest man usually means what he says!
    A gentleman always says what he means!

    "Αίεν Υψικρατείν "

    A fool is not he who asks a simple question, but he who would simply have its asking denied. (Richards 2012)

  10. #60
    The right side can be remapped or have its mapping edited to avoid confusing sides on the texture sheet.

    FYI, some models have both sides of the fuselage apparently mapped from the same direction (eg Vertigo F8-F Bearcat) so the texture for one side will seem back to front. This is not a mistake, it's all to do with how the modeller arranged the mappings on a texture sheet and it's up to you how you arrange yours. Just have a thought for the painter: he/she (or you) may curse an idiosyncratic layout.
    Tom
    __________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
    Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7



  11. #61
    Here is something else to think about when making an object and mapping.

    If you have an object and want to cut it in half, its best to use the "boolean cut" method. Rather than just deleting the polys or verts. If you don't use the boolean then you will have issues if you use "cap holes" to create the inner portion of the object. There may be ways around it that I don't know about. I've just found that its not as messy.

    I've only done simple models. My water bufflo was the most complex model that I've done to date. the horns are not mpped all that great but it looks good from the air. I used the boolean to create one side of the body and head. Then cloned and mirrored the object once it was mapped. It saved me from having to map it twice.

    I'm working on a round fishing boat now and using the same method. This is where I found out about the "cap holes" issue.

    Just thought I'd throw that out there.

    'til Later,
    John
    "Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose."-Tom Krause

    My works Here: http://www.thefreeflightsite.com/JFortin.htm

  12. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by nigel richards View Post
    MaddogK:

    No expert, but like yourself - still crossing many of these learning hurdles, I think you may have 'trapped' yourself and overcomplicated your mapping sequence.
    I've had myself in several tight corners - thank heavens Milton has always bravely pulled me out of the deep water!
    (Thank YOU Sir!)

    As Milton says, there's massive built-in flexibility allowing all manner of awesome applications and variations.


    I'd recommend one more stab - in these stages.


    1. Create NEW material.

    2. Apply material to ENTIRE part NOT polys.

    3. Map and collapse each side.

    4. UVW unwrap for any fine tuning, collapse.

    Hope this helps - Good Luck!

    Nigel

    GOOD call on recreating the material, that's all it took to fix the problem. A 30 second fix for a 1+ year old problem.

    Thanks everyone for the lessons, this was a very eye-opening week.
    "May fortune favor the foolish"
    MaddogK

  13. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by MaddogK View Post
    GOOD call on recreating the material, that's all it took to fix the problem. A 30 second fix for a 1+ year old problem.

    Thanks everyone for the lessons, this was a very eye-opening week.
    Very happy you got it sorted out MDK. Let the modeling continue. :-)
    Milton Shupe
    FS9/FSX Modeler Hack

    My Uploads at SOH - Here
    Video Tutorials - Gmax for Beginners

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