texturing with Wings3d

[Griff]

@ Amen Brick

You probably know this but here's a method to save out a UV 'Template' image into gimp and arrange it into layers so you can still see the UV 'Outlines' but they don't get in the way of your painting. I can edit this post to add in screen shots if it helps explain what i'm on about!

1. When you've got your UV's laid out as you wish, right click in the AutoUV: window and select Create Texture.

2. In the Draw options box that appears, set the resolution to something suitable eg 512x512, in the render options, make sure 0: is 'Background' and 1: is 'Draw Edges', 2&3 should both be set to 'None'.

3. Click the Options box for the Background layer, select 'Color' and then click the Color Swatch so we can specify a new background color - leave the RGB and HSV sliders as they are but make sure to slide the the A (alpha) slider all the way down to 0.0 - this will make the background colour transparent. Click OK, then Click OK on the 'Background' box, then finally click OK on the 'Draw Options' box.

4. In the Outliner window there should be a new image at the bottom of the list with a filename probably ending in _auv, click to select then right click on it's name and choose 'Export...' save out the image as a .png

5. Open GIMP and load up your saved image. Open the Layer palette - there should be only 1 layer present called Background. Rename this layer to Template then click the Lock option to stop you being able to paint in this layer.

6. Create a new layer and in the layer palette drag the new layer BELOW the Template Layer (always keep the template layer at the top of the stack, this way you will never obscure the UV outlines so you can see exactly where you need to paint).

7. Select your new layer and begin painting! Once you're ready to save out your final image map, click the Eye icon beside the Template layer to switch off it's visibility so that it doesn't appear in your final texture, then save out your image.

[Frame]

On the slight chance, that anyone of you got 3d max, now i know this program is very exspensive, so i´m not betting on it... and if you allready got it, you proberly know how to use..

But if anybody of you need some help in regard to uvmapping and you are using 3d max 5 or 7 i can be of assistance, with most of model building tools, which is what i have used since 3dmax 5...

[Commander McLane]

@ Commander McLane
see in step 4-6 of my post above, instead of laying out the UV's next to each other, place them on top of each other, then they'll share the same texture - this is a good way of saving space in your UV map too so you can spend it in other areas.
it might help if you swap out the multicoloured squares texture wings provides for one of your own textures, then it'll instantly click with you when you start moving the uv's around and see how the texture gets applied, it'll be more obvious what's going on than when using the 'squares' texture

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing right now. The result is that an object 40 kilometers across only needs 8KB of texture.

[Commander McLane]

I noticed something strange with the conversion of Wings3d-files to Oolite.

I am exporting them to Wavefront-format according to the manual. Then I open the .obj-files with DryDock and save them again as .dat-files.

But that doesn't work flawless. For some reason all the normals are corrupted if I open the .obj-files in DryDock. Large faces don't look plain, but the constituting triangles all have a different lighting. I have to use the "recalculate normals"-option in DryDock to correct this.

I think other people who use DryDock for conversion from .obj to .dat should know this (or perhaps it is known already, and only I didn't know?).

[Frame]

I noticed something strange with the conversion of Wings3d-files to Oolite.

I am exporting them to Wavefront-format according to the manual. Then I open the .obj-files with DryDock and save them again as .dat-files.

But that doesn't work flawless. For some reason all the normals are corrupted if I open the .obj-files in DryDock. Large faces don't look plain, but the constituting triangles all have a different lighting. I have to use the "recalculate normals"-option in DryDock to correct this.

Sounds like as if the normals of the .obj file is not saved... this is an option at least in 3dmax when you export to the wavefront obj format...

so are you sure the obj files have lines like this in them

Code: Select all

vn  0.22463 0.91818 0.32633

if not, there is the problem...

[Commander McLane]

Sounds like as if the normals of the .obj file is not saved... this is an option at least in 3dmax when you export to the wavefront obj format...

so are you sure the obj files have lines like this in them

Code: Select all

vn  0.22463 0.91818 0.32633

Yes, they have. They have "v", "vt", "vn" and "f".

Probably it's related to Wings and DryDock using a different number of decimals, which may lead to rounding errors?

[Amen Brick]

@Griff. Thanks! I assume the same is true of Paintshop Pro? If not, I can allus download GIMP, I suppose?

[Frame]

Sounds like as if the normals of the .obj file is not saved... this is an option at least in 3dmax when you export to the wavefront obj format...

so are you sure the obj files have lines like this in them

Code: Select all

vn  0.22463 0.91818 0.32633

Yes, they have. They have "v", "vt", "vn" and "f".

Probably it's related to Wings and DryDock using a different number of decimals, which may lead to rounding errors?

Oh yeah could be, 3dmax exporter module allows me to set the number of decimals used, and i have it set to that of what i can read inside the dat files which is usually 6 digits now that i look at it..

Wich makes me wonder if wings does not have a similar option...

[Griff]

@ Amen Brick
Paintshop pro should work the same as gimp, the key step is setting the alpha slider of the background colour to 0.0 when you save out the uv map template png in wings.
when you open the template png in paintshop the background should have been replaced by a chessboard of white & grey squares - that means the colour is transparent, place a new layer under the template layer and you can rapidly fill it with color or paste in a suitable texture etc.

[Commander McLane]

Another question: I remember that you have to flip your Wings-model around one axis, in order to not get your texture mirrored. Which one was it? X?

[Commander McLane]

Apart from the problem of getting the texture correct from Wings via DryDock to Oolite, the model itself is ready. Therefore I proudly present my first (very simple) own model (which will be incorporated in Cataclysm.oxp):

A Thargoid Hive

(and what you are seeing here is not all that's there)

[Cmdr. Maegil]

You may be interested to know that there are in FFE two very uncommon Tharg models, apparently useful for you: a dockable transport and a space station.

Unfortunately I don't have an extended keyboard, and I can't be bothered to play FFE in aeroplane-in-space mode any more to post you the screenshots, not after finding JJFFE - if someone has shots of these two models, it'd be nice to post them here

[Captain Hesperus]

@Griff. Thanks! I assume the same is true of Paintshop Pro? If not, I can allus download GIMP, I suppose?

Hurr, hurr, hurr! He said 'GIMP'....
</infantile humour>

Captain Hesperus

[DaddyHoggy]

[blackadder II mode]"Sounds a lot like - GIMP! Ha-ha!"[/blackadder II mode]

[Commander McLane]

You may be interested to know that there are in FFE two very uncommon Tharg models, apparently useful for you: a dockable transport and a space station.

I am indeed interested, although this does not mean that I would want to incorporate them in Oolite. I still am of the opinion that what is happening in the Ooniverse should make at least some sense, and to me it makes perfect sense that there is a development between Elite/Oolite and FFE. I assume Thargoids are developing, too, so the reason that there is no Thargoid space station in Oolite may well be that there were none in the time of Oolite. The Thargoids developed them only later - who knows, perhaps starting from a hive?