[starbug]

I was wondering if you's could help me, i am looking to getting into texturing, I am studying Art of Games design at uni which covers modelling and texturing. So far though our texturing hasn't covered anything to complex, most complex thing i have UV mapped is a church. The more complicated stuff doesn't come into play until second year. Also to keep things fresh in my head i thought i keep practising my texturing and thought i became good enough would offer my help to mods.

So here's where i am getting stuck, i thought i would have a go at doing a model from one of Aldo's model dumps. The problem occurs when i go to unwrap it and when i flatten it there are polyies all over the place and its hard to make out whats what(see attach images), as i said i have only learned the very basics of UVmapping. So is there a tutorial for texturing Capital ships as all i have found is fighters.

I am using 3ds Max 2011 student edition. (i have found some tutorials but i think they must be using older versions as some of the things the tutorials ask you to do are not in 2011)

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Angelus]

I'm still a noob when it comes to UVing ( i avoid where i can), but in this case, i'd say use unfolding mapping and rearange the UV clusters ( islands) on your map.

Take a look at this: http://www.3d-tutorial.com/intro_to_uvw_unrap-1040.html

[-Sara-]

I'll be honest, the UV map leaves a lot to desire. A real good start is to attach edges and move vertexes around until a temporary tiled texture deforms as little as possible. That way instead of having seperate parts to texture (which often look silly when after texturing then individually, as they have seams where textures don't properly align) you got a sort of 'paper craft' which can be textured as one object. Many voluntary texturers are far more likely to decline a bad UV job because it's a horrible task to make it look good and never has the potential to match what a texture on top of a good UV map can look like.

If you have trouble using your graphics modelling program for UV mapping, you can also try RoadKill, a stand alone (and free) piece of UV mapping software: http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm

[mjn.mixael]

Hmm, that looks like you used auto unwrap. My tip? Don't.

Do it manually. It takes forever and isn't for the impatient. However, you can control the size of your islands and what they are connected to. You also become familiar with the UV and what pieces are what. Auto unwrap is fine for small and simple objects, but for big, complex things, you need to do it the hard way.

[JGZinv]

My favorite tut is - http://waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html

I'm basically about where the OP is myself...  I'm auto unwrapping to large/med chunks,  then I'll edit the uv from there by combining the pieces
into recognizable shapes. Then fixing for distortion before adding the textures.

If you're looking for some stuff to work on starbug, we've got several low poly fighters we need UV help with on the FringeSpace mod.

[starbug]

Cheers for the response's guys, erm how do you go about combining the pieces as i haven't been taught that at uni yet and think that will be done in second year as first is now basically finished.

[Angelus]

You mean welding the verts in the UV editor?
Please check the link to the video tutorial, those ~ 8minutes explain a lot of things.

[rscaper1070]

That's a great tut, thanks Angelus! 

[starbug]

Started watching it, and cheers bud, thats a great help

[-Sara-]

Some tools also have a camera-angle UV tool. Maya uses it, where you position the camera at a convenient angle and the program tries to turn the selected faces into a UV map, with a lay-out identical to what you see from the camera angle. This can be useful to quickly get large chunks properly UV'ed which you can then 'weld' together.