UVW mapping

[Simon Wicker]

why do you not want to use bodypaint?

since version 10 bp and c4d are integrated together and i would imagine that most people would use the tools from bodypaint for all the complex mapping in cinema.

cheers, simon w.

[Srek]

Bodypaint 3D is just a different word for UV tools in CINEMA 4D.

Cheers
Björn

[lllab]

i am no friend on 3d max but unwrapping of simple geometry in max is really much easier. just one click basicly.

specially for architecrural work i would also wish some one click unwrapp (without the need to pin points and set edges , and rotating the uv parts. max has that part made really nice and automatic. specially a powerfull tool like bodypaint should get a simple unrapp mode for pure "hard" polygonal objects.

cheers
stefan

[vfx20]

I am only asking about not using bodypaint, because I don't have bodypaint. I am trying to figure out how to place different mapping coordinates on different sets of faces. In max, I select the faces and lay them out in the square. I saw an example online of a character unwrapped in bodypaint in the square. So is bodypaint just a way to cut out going through photoshop, or is it something I need in order to unwrap my meshes?

[LucentDreams]

i am no friend on 3d max but unwrapping of simple geometry in max is really much easier. just one click basicly.

specially for architecrural work i would also wish some one click unwrapp (without the need to pin points and set edges , and rotating the uv parts. max has that part made really nice and automatic. specially a powerfull tool like bodypaint should get a simple unrapp mode for pure "hard" polygonal objects.

cheers
stefan

You mean besides the basic projection and 2 different automatic modes?

[vfx20]

I'm not sure what you mean. I've been reading up on it, and i think i need to do something with the tags. maybe it's because i'm not used to it, but I liked the modifier list much better than the tags.

[JamesMK]

No, really, a straight cubic unwrap without overlaps can easily be turned into a single click operation.

Assuming you have BP, or a recent enough version of Cinema in which BP is already included whether you know it or not, you only need to:

- Select the object and switch to polygon mode
- In the BP layout, find the UV Mapping manager/tab
- Click the Mapping tab and select Optimal (Cubic)
- Click the Apply button

If you need to do this often, simply locate the Optimal Mapping command in the Command Manager and add this as a button in your default layout - and with that you've got yourself a one-click cubic unwrap button.

One could agree that maybe this should already be included in the standard layout though, but then again, that could be said about any given command, depending on different people's different needs and workflows.

[JamesMK]

and with that you've got yourself a one-click cubic unwrap button.

.... OK, two-click... you have to press 'Apply' as well :lightbulb

[vfx20]

i have updated from 10 to 10.5. on the maxon site, it makes bodypaint sound like an additional feature. are you saying that bodypaint is included? it's definitely blocking me out of using some features that have BP in the name.

[fluffouille]

since version 10 bp and c4d are integrated together
first reply.

[vfx20]

okay, james, i did what you said with the optimal setting and it separated the faces all out in a template. For the test object I am trying it out on it works okay, but in on a real model, I need to figure out how to have more control. That way I can group certain faces. I don't know if you used max at all, but they have a function where I can render a UV template and place open it in photoshop, then place the bitmap back onto the image. Am I missing that command somewhere in the program, or do I need to do like in previous versions of max and take a screen shot of the template? I was trying the brush tool out and painted straight on the object, I'm confused as to where that texture is saving to, as it just overrides my other checkerboard I was using to see where my UVs were pulling. In max, I only need to map the object once. Will these UVs I create always translate if I place a new bitmap or texture on the object, or is this going to have to be remapped each time I switch it.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

[vinced]

Hi vfx20,

i am no expert in bodypaint and things like uv-mapping, but i got here a tutorial from Anders Lejczak which is describing among other things how to create a carboncopy of your polygons on a texture. I think that is what you`re looking for:

http://www.colacola.se/howto_uvtut.htm

Greetings
Dirk

[JamesMK]

Yeah, it simply sounds like you need to read your manual, the sections describing how to use the UV tools. Trust me, there's all the control you could ever need, and more.

My initial post here was simply an answer to the "one click" discussion.



.

[lllab]

@lucentdreams" You mean besides the basic projection and 2 different automatic modes?"

...well maybe i am just too stupid for BP then, i didnt figure it out how to make in that view clicks;-)
guess i have to learn it more then. seems to be my fault then, sorry

i bought cactus dan's bd dvd, but havnt yet fully time to get into it, maybe this will clear me up:-)

i know bodypaint is a very powerfull tool, still not easy to get into i think. great it is direct in c4d base package now. what would be about more mergeing the layout into the normal c4d layout? i think for many users it is a bit of a problem to have this 2 "different worlds" into one programm. that of course comes as both had been 2 seperate programnes or modules. maybe for soem future version it would be good to unify and merge the 2 to more feel as one thing. then all users would see the power of bodypaint faster/easier( the famous maxon way:-)

cheers
stefan

cheers
stefan

[Horganovski]

The Bodypaint DVD is by 3DKiwi, and it will take a lot of the mystery out of Bodypaint if you watch it.

It makes sense to me to have different layouts for different tasks in Cinema, if all of the tools were available in the standard layout it would be pretty darn cluttered and a lot harder to navigate imo.

Cheers,
Brian

[Dtox]

Once your object is editable(which means the same thing as 'sub-object mode' in Max, and 'current-state-to-object' in cinema is the same as collapsing the modifier stack in Max), go into poly mode, then click-edit>select all.
Then go to-Tools>UV polygons(they change color).
Then go to-window>Layout>BP UV Edit.
Go to the UV mapping tab in the lower right once the BP UVEdit layout is in place.
Go to the 'projection' tab to choose your projection, then to the 'mapping' tab and hit apply, then to the 'UV commands' tab and click "store UV".

Then click the file menu, 'new texture', set the size-color, then name the texture.
Click the brush tool, set the color and size attributes by opening a new 'attribute manager" pane in 'tool mode'.
Then, back in UV polygons mode, click the 'layer' menu and create a new layer, then while still in the layer menu hit "outline polys".
Save your texture from the file menu and you have a UV template just like Max gives you.

It's ever so slightly more difficult to have multiple UV sets on 1 object.
You can also just select the polys you want and apply a material directly to only those polys.
It automatically creates a poly selection tag and puts it in your existing UV tag selection slot(which is created when you make the object editable).

You should know though, Cinema doesn't have a "face mode" like Max does.
Cinema only has points-edges-polys.
Which is better IMO as I always hated faces.

I did like the 'construction history' function in Max, and cinema has no equivalent to it.

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone even elude to the notion that cinema is more difficult than Max for any task.
But after writing this post I realize that all the steps above IS actually way more involved than Max' UV template function.

There's another way too though.
Assign a basic material to your object, and in the render menu click "bake texture".
It assigns a bake texture tag to your object.
This is the same as Max' 'render to texture' function.
From there you can choose from several material channels to bake including UV guide.
You can also bake your occlusion into the material to help with texture painting and save on render time.
You can bake all the channels to a single PSD file and they show as layers in PS.
With this method though, the UV guide layer doesn't give you a UV mesh it gives solid shapes which is not ideal IMO.

[vfx20]

okay, thanks guys, much appreciated. I'm working with what you all have suggested. I know cinema is supposed to be more user friendly, at this point it's more a matter of figuring out the cinema equivalents to other 3d applications. I switched applications for the cross-platform capabilities.

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