UV mapping (pic heavy)

[Sniper62]

bomber decided to meet with me on ts and go through some basics for LightWave 3D. we talked for about two hours, i learned how to do some pretty koo stuff. mostly what i learned how to do was the UV maps.

first you have to have your 3D object:



then you have to make a new UV maps for that object, for this square this is what a UV map looks like for it. ( top left window)



once u have done that you gota export it as a Encapsulated PostScript ( .eps) once u have that saved somewhere this is where photoshoping textures starts. the .eps file will open with adobe photoshop. once it is open it looked like this:



now the photoshoping skills come into play, once all finished doing the painting ect, you have to save it as a Targa ( .tga ) img. to do this you have to make sure u have RGB colors selected.



then save it, this is when charlie would send the file back to fuelpump and he then would put it on the object. i dont know how his program works but this is how its donw in LightWave 3D



then you have your finished object:





so pretty mutch the hardest part of this all is the photoshoping part.


ok discuss...

[Charlie3]

cool thx snipet.

[Sniper62]

hey fuel if ur having problems with geting charlie the UV maps, maybe you could send me the .lwo file and then i can map it and he can paint it?

[Charlie3]

I sent you a file for shits and giggles.

Simon has already flattened some files but they are too many polys so he has to put his files on a diet and resend them after he gets home from work tonight Snipet.

Render mine and post a pic just to see what happens.

[FuelPump]

hey fuel if ur having problems with geting charlie the UV maps, maybe you could send me the .lwo file and then i can map it and he can paint it?

No problems getting Charlie the UV maps, that's the easy part.

Bringing Charlie's painted maps back into Maya is proving to be a bastard.

I suspect also that converting Maya binary files into LWO Lightwave files could prove to be a problem too. But once that is sorted out, I will probably be able to edit and place UV maps from within Lightwave, then export in a format that Targetware will be able to use pretty easily.

Your tutorial for Lightwave UV placement should help me.

I posted on the TW forums to find out who is doing what. From my understanding, I do the models, Charlie paints the map, and Bomber puts it all together, just waiting for confirmation that I have it right. If you are fine with puting the maps on the models, that might be where you can fit in (between Charlie and Bomber), we'll have a real little production line going.

Looks like my next project (after I get the refinery stuff sorted out) will be a power plant and a POW camp for a precision raid (Colditz Castle maybe? Or that camp they busted open with Mosquitos, can't remember the details, but it's pretty famous). Also I have an MG42 to do for Hawkcz.

[FuelPump]

I figured out a good way to do it Sniper.
Get yourself a plugin for Lightwave called FBX.

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/downloads/FBX.php

FBX allows models and scenes produced in Maya to be ported over to Lightwave.

That way I can send you the models, you can get the UV maps off them and send them to Charlie, who paints them and sends the coloured maps back to you.
You assemble them, and send the completed models to Bomber, who works his magic and places it all in the mod.

That way we can get a bit of a production line going.

I sent a test scene to Bomber to see if he can open it once he downloads FBX. If that works, we should be good to go.

[Charlie3]

teamwork at its best

[Sniper62]

send me a test to c if i got it working

[FuelPump]

No worries Sniper, I'll send you a test scene to check when I get home after work.

I got an email off Bomber this morning saying that the plugin won't work for him, as he only has version 7.5 on a Mac (the plugin apparently only works for v8 and above). There's an FBX conversion tool (a seperate program, not a plugin) I'll point him to, otherwise we'll have to see how he can get his mits on a Lightwave 8.0 or 8.5 for Mac.

[Sniper62]

MACs suxx0r i got version 8.0 and the update to 8.5 but its for windows.(if any wants it leme know) when i was on ts with him he said he was guna look for a 8.5 version for MAC.

ok u got my email

he asked me to build a gothic style church, somthing easy to start off with. im almost done with the 3D part and the photoshop part shouldnt be to bad...

heres what i got so far:



heres what im going on:




im proud of myself!!!

[FuelPump]

Looking good Snipe! Nice work.
To get the windows, you could either map windows onto the walls, or use a boolean operation to cut them out (but that would add more polys to the model).
Check your poly count, I don't think it would be too high with that model, but it's worth checking.
Have a go at mapping it, you'll find that it's a little harder than mapping a cube Good practise.
Keep up the good work!

[Sniper62]

Check your poly count, I don't think it would be too high with that model, but it's worth checking.

now i gota figure out how to check that lol

[Charlie3]

I was amazed by the PhotoShop work until I saw the copyright stuff on the bottom!

WTG Snipet.

[FuelPump]

lol yeah I did the same thing!
I thought Sniper had come a helluva long way from colouring cubes to fully rendered cathedrals with light and lense flares and stuff!

But your cathedral is a good copy of that one, maybe without some of the bells and whistles

BTW I found a couple of ways to get models between me-->Sniper-->Bomber. Should work OK (in theory at least).

[Bomber]

Hi guys,

You're going to need to see a UV mapped building to get a rough idea of some of the tricks...

When I get home 2.5 hours from now I'll send you guys a ziped folder containing Hans's Flaktower... It contains the UV maped lightwave object and it's psd texture..

it's also contains the acm and anm file... I'm sure you're find these simple.

That reminds me I must send Hans a copy of the zipped folder now that we've got it ingame...

It's all go...

Simon