CGTalk - Texturing laying out Uv's Part II

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:24 PM

For the head I am going to use a Cylindrical projection. The model is centered at 0,0,0 XYZ. when I put projection on him, I move the X Projection Center to 0. This way I have less distortion. Already the face looks pretty well mapped.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/4.gif

Ok ,great example of overlapping uvs. the necks uvs are all overlapping. To fix this, you will have to start pulling uvs down. When adjusting uvs you want to have them be the same distance as you see on your model in the viewport. This does not have to be perfect but as close of a distance as you can get. Just look at your model. “Make sense?” A nice way to make sure your not moving uvs to far, is by having the texture either checkers, or the image of the colored numbers, which I prefer. I talk about why I use the colored numbers in my first uv tutorial.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/5.gif

I looked at my models edges, and tried to have the uvs flow in the same way. They are as close as I could guess, the distance apart from uv to uv. So now the overlapping uvs are gone. When you get done with some uv, like a characters face. You want your texture to be the general same size on your entire model. So when you paint from uv shell, to uv shell your texture don’t jump.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/6.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:28 PM

Off the top of my head, there are 3 main places for overlapping on a head model. under the jaw, eyes, ears and...nostrils on the nose.
“If you modeled the inside of the mouth like I did, that would be another” I go over all the main parts on this tutorial. For the inside of the mouth I just did a cylindrical projection and moved it to the side.

The lips have overlaying uvs also. So does the nostrils. So to fix, just like under the jaw, move the uvs as close as you can get them to looking like your model.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/7.gif

So the nostrils are overlapping, the texture on the model is a great help. So just move uvs until the distortion on the texture is gone.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/8.gif

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/9.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:30 PM

For the nostrils inside, I seriously doubt your going to be painting anything in there. But if you are... I just moved the uvs so nothing was overlapping. Also another reason I did this is when creating a normal map for Bump/Displacement. Your are going to get weird results.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/10.gif

Now this eye has overlapping everywhere, if you are wondering why I have that half eyeball geometry, behind the eye. The geometry is moved into the eye, so when looking at the face your not seeing inside the head. It was just something simple to do.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/11.gif

I moved uvs until nothing was overlapping, nothing complicated. This time the uvs are not the same length as they should be, compared to my actual model. That is because the geometry inside the eye is never seen its just in the way. so I just moved uvs to make nice and neat. In Maya I used RELAX on a few places, to smooth uvs. My iterations were set on 2. I didn’t want anything drastic to happen. I only use RELAX seldom. When my uvs are in the general shape I want, but need smoothed a bit. I will use RELAX. But it is mainly used by me on the head. I used on the ears, eyes and bottom of jaw. I don’t recommend using on your entire uv shell. If you do, its going to distort your uvs to much. The lips may be fine now, but after a relax they could be all squished in. So I only use it on certain areas.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/12.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:34 PM

Now im sure everyone hates fixing the uvs on an ear. But its really not hard if you just work your way out, in. Not much to say on this im just doing what I have been doing from the beginning. Moving uvs until they don’t overlap.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/13.gif

Here is my finished ear. Nothing is overlapping its all nice . But you may notice again the uvs are not the same length as they should be, compared to the actual model . That’s because most of my characters ear is going to be a skin color. It wasn’t important since im mainly going to be painting the detail of the ear, inside the ear.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/14.gif

Once again “POLES” there annoying. On my digimon tutorial I did a planar projection to get rid of the pole, then I merged uvs.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/15.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:36 PM

This time however, after viewing some images of doom 3 uvs, out of one of my friends PC mags. I liked how ID set up there face uv’s. they just moved all the uvs to the general position of the face. So like I said before move the uvs till there proportional to the model. This was just something I tried that was new. I got less distortion this way. So im going to use this technique. If you don’t want to, try a planar projection at the poles. Then merge the uvs to the head. That works for me. I explain this in the digimon uv tutorial. So the finished head. No overlapping, everything seems to be flowing nicely. Onward!

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/16.gif

This is my characters hand before I fixed the blasted thumb. Its much to long, but for the tutorial it still works. Just BIG.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/17.gif

One idea I like using is a planar map on the hand.

http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/18.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:37 PM

If you apply planar your going to have uvs underneath with the same projection. I just cut these uvs and moved them so nothing is overlapping.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/19.gif

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/20.gif

Yikes “im sure your thinking” what did I do to the thumb...tsk tsk. the geometry on the thumb looks weird in the uv window. I like using planar projection on the hand, especially when you have fingers on your character. I have a lot less seams to fix later when texturing. Since the fingers are connected to the hand, I don’t have to worry about as many seams when texturing.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/21.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:37 PM

Half way there. Same old, same old. No uvs on this arm either? Just as before, needs projection mapping of some sort.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/22.gif

I did cylindrical projection on as many faces as I thought would look good, with out being to distorted. I included the faces around the shoulder in my projection. Its easy enough to just move the uvs later on. Plus one less seam to fix.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/23.gif

The arm is a cylindrical shape. So im going with what I know...

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/24.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:39 PM

This is the whole jacket uv mapped. There is not much distortion at all, only on the shoulder. So im going to adjust them uvs until no distortion.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/25.gif

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/26.gif

The finished uvs. I attached the collar to the body again. Less seams. you could do the same thing I suppose for the head. I used cylindrical on both jacket and head. I didn’t attach because I want my heads uvs to be slightly bigger when texturing. So I can have finer detail.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/27.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:40 PM

Man...I love that no uv gag...it doesn’t actually matter because everything is getting projections on it anyway. Cylindrical map on leg.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/28.gif

The same method I used on the hand, I will use on the foot. But I have 2 planar projections this time.
1. Bottom of the foot.
2. Actual foot, but at the angle of the foot. Less distortion/uv tweaking .

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/29.gif

That should cover everything the zombie has uv’s laid out. And I said overlapping 20+ times...I still have a few things to do/explain. In the image, all the uvs are laid out. And I attached the geometry. Good. I now need to move the uvs into the 0 to 1 space. I select all my uvs and using MAYA I use the “layout uvs”

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/30.gif

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:42 PM

my options for layout uvs are
Separate off
layout into square
scale Uniform
map size 1024
that is the settings for Maya I use. If in your 3d package there is something that does a similar layout use it. If I had that knowledge I would explain here, but I only use Maya.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/31.gif

now my final step, I select all my uvs and scale them so all the squares on the texture are small. I can find distortions much easier this way. Everything looks fine to me, I did have to scale the hands uvs down some, but that was it.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/32.gif

One last thing, I did the uvs for half of the character. If you don’t want to just mirror your character and have the uvs the same for both sides do this. This is nothing complicated, im sure everyone has figured this out there first week using a 3d program. But I just duplicate my character. Then grab the uvs for the duplicated side, and flip them. Now if you wanted the characters right arm to have a rock and roll patch, and his left arm have a “legalize it”patch you now can. The uvs on the right side of the character are not in the 0 to 1 space. So use the layout uv. The uvs will be much smaller now because everything has to fit in o to 1. But you could also just flip say an arms uvs. Not the whole character.

Http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/Advanced/33.gif

I hope that this helps people, that is my method to setting the uvs...again. Hopefully something’s got cleared up this time? Any questions you can reply to this thread, or email me.

Ciao!

CGmonkey

08-01-2003, 06:09 PM

Great tutorial!!

But I think there are other ways of achieving a slightly better resault with areas with alot of details (such as the ear) with relaxing vertices (or relaxing uv's whatever you want :) )

Levitateme

08-01-2003, 10:18 PM

yah like i said, i dont like using it beacsue it distorts my uvs to much.

leigh

08-01-2003, 11:45 PM

Holy crap, you're on a roll, Levitateme!! :D

Awesome tutorial of course, and plugged on the front page :D

Fantastic stuff :love: CG Talk loves you!!

Levitateme

08-02-2003, 12:33 AM

Leigh, your to kind. thanks agian.

behzad

08-02-2003, 12:34 AM

I love it, there is so much to learn. :applause:

rasmusW

08-02-2003, 12:35 AM

you just can't stop heh!!!:)

once again GREAT TUT...
really love what you are doing to the forum. helping out all us other cg peeps.

you rocks:beer: :applause: :thumbsup:

Tuqui-tuqui

08-02-2003, 03:30 AM

Awesome levitateme! :buttrock: You're on your way to becoming the texturing tutorial king... lol

mohh

08-02-2003, 04:48 AM

Thanks a lot, these are great!

Rezz

08-02-2003, 06:39 AM

great tutorial man - but I have a question

- how can I lay out the UV's correctly with very little distortion. sadly the geo is really heavy -esp around the piston like thingy sticking out of the collar.

http://www.caffeineartist.com/drawings/JUMPSUIT.jpg

Levitateme

08-02-2003, 08:03 AM

Rezz- how can I lay out the UV's correctly with very little distortion.

not to sound like a total deuch bag, but...i did just write 2 tutorials on this...

well...im not trying to give my self a pat on the back. but using black and white checkers works, but when tehre that big its hard to see all your distortion. that is why i use the colored texture. your way can work. but i stopped using that awhile ago. if i was you , i would scale your uvs up. "which i talk about in both tutorials" then you can see more clearly what uvs are being troublesome.

i mention in the tutorials, that "you want to use projections that best match the shape of your model". for the neck, i would use cylindrial. i would do the same for the body. move my uvs so there all nice, then stitch the 2 uv shells together.

your plug on the neck "frankenstein thing" i would do planar projection on that plug. move the uvs out so there not distorted. then on the border edge of your plug UV's, stitch that back to your neck.

freedom

08-02-2003, 08:43 AM

thanks!:applause:

Rezz

08-02-2003, 09:34 AM

thanks for the heads up- sorry for the poor wording it should have been "how can I lay out the UV's correctly if the geometry is really intense in a difficult area like the collar".

I read both of your tutorials (great stuff) the only reason why I used a checkerboard was simply –I didn’t see your tutorial until today but I agree with you that your method is way more efficient.

This is actually my first attempt at UV mapping so I wasn’t sure how I would go about that problem since I figure a cylinder would be idea. Forgive me noobish traits :D

but your tutorial has really helped me out - at least less hours trying to figure it out on my own lol

cheers
:beer:

Locutus

08-02-2003, 09:43 AM

This question is going to make me sound like a total noob, but what do you mean when you say 0 to 1 space. I think i have an idea, but an exlanation would help. I know it has to do with the texture space.

Thanks,

P.S. Great tutorial!!!

Memodin

08-02-2003, 11:00 AM

This is realy a good tutorial. Thanks...:applause:

KINGOMONKEY

08-02-2003, 11:25 AM

Wow, What a great tutorial, UV Mapping seems to be some kind of black art, and ive seen loads of tutorials that seem to overcomplicate it. This however seems really quite simple.

Thanks a lot:beer:

Levitateme

08-02-2003, 02:58 PM

Rezz.

No problem. i hope i wasnt coming off as uptight. but i was just trying to explain that that is why i did these tutorials. i mean if it works for me. and i find it very useful. it should work for everyone. so just remember, map your geometry by the shape it is. Cylindrial=arm Planar=Flat faces. like that. hope that helps

Locutus

but what do you mean when you say 0 to 1 space.

I am using maya. i would assume most 3d packages have this same term. when your laying out uvs. you have your texture coordinates. so if you have a 256x256 texture, that texture will fit exactly in the 0-1 space. any texture size will always be in the 0-1. these images should explain it. i tried looking in the help docs for a exact explantion of 0-1 . but in maya 5 i can never find anything without much difficulty.

http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/zeroone.gif

so you see in the above image, i highlighted the 0-1 grid coordinates. so this means after it goes out of 1, it is going to start over. then you get tiling textures. this isnt a bad thing depending on what your doing. like tire texture. you would probably do what i did in the bottom image. i took the top UV's moved them up so now the Light is repeating. I am sure them images are explaining what the 0-1 does. also on the bottom pic. i tried showing what the uv coordinates are looking like on the actual object.

http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/zeroone2.gif

shmegegge

08-02-2003, 05:49 PM

Thanks so much for the great tutorial. I have a question, though...

What size texture maps do you normally use for your characters? I mean, let's say you want to make a detailed chracter, and there will be both head shots and full body shots of it. Since the head needs so much detail compared to the rest of the body, does this make your image maps HUGE?

Also, what's your preferred method for taking care of seams?

Thanks again. You rock.

Levitateme

08-02-2003, 07:30 PM

What size texture maps do you normally use for your characters

It depends on what im doing. if its something that i want to be pretty nice looking. 1024x1024 i like that for game models. if i need something more high res. than i wouldnt go much higher than that. not by much anyway. cause i am not doing like 3k textures. i just dont do that kinda work. but 1024x1024 i like using.

Also, what's your preferred method for taking care of seams

i have mentioned i use maya. in maya it has texture tools, i rarley use for anything but getting rid of seams. if you use maya, use the clone brush with a nice fall off. stamp near your seam, then start cloning directly next to were you stamped. you can get rid of your seams in about 5 min. its flawless since its projection painting. i DONT use deep paint 3d. i know alot of people like it, but i have used at work long ago. i dont care for it. sorry ,there is that, and zbrush. off the top of my head they will do projection painting. i am working more and more in zbrush now, i like it. but i still prefer usign photoshop/maya for textures.

Locutus

08-02-2003, 08:11 PM

Originally posted by Levitateme
It depends on what im doing. if its something that i want to be pretty nice looking. 1024x1024 i like that for game models. if i need something more high res. than i wouldnt go much higher than that. not by much anyway. cause i am not doing like 3k textures. i just dont do that kinda work. but 1024x1024 i like using.

i have mentioned i use maya. in maya it has texture tools, i rarley use for anything but getting rid of seams. if you use maya, use the clone brush with a nice fall off. stamp near your seam, then start cloning directly next to were you stamped. you can get rid of your seams in about 5 min. its flawless since its projection painting. i DONT use deep paint 3d. i know alot of people like it, but i have used at work long ago. i dont care for it. sorry ,there is that, and zbrush. off the top of my head they will do projection painting. i am working more and more in zbrush now, i like it. but i still prefer usign photoshop/maya for textures.

Thank you.
It so happens I already knew what you were talking about I just never heard the term 0 to1 used before.
I also, prefer using photoshop instead of deep paint 3D, although I have used it on occasion when I texture (I use 3dsmax and Lightwave). I'm learning Maya right now.
One other thing, do you always put all your textures on one page?
Thank again. You have been extremely helpful.

Levitateme

08-02-2003, 08:27 PM

Locutus - do you always put all your textures on one page?

like a texture just for the head? texture just for the body?
rarley. i try do do mostly game model type models. but i have High res models to get my normal maps from using zbrush now. but on occasion i would. it just depends on what you need.

Locutus

08-02-2003, 10:19 PM

Again I really appreciate all the time you take to reply to everyone's posts and for the wonderful instruction.

sauyat

08-03-2003, 01:13 PM

I always give my attention to your tutorials since I met you here,this time as before,:thumbsup: you are my torch in the darkness to lighten my way.

xcomb

08-06-2003, 08:49 PM

Thanks man you really helped me to clear my mind on how to properly layout uvs, i had some experience but i had issues with charcters and was way too strechy.
Thanks again greate job, much appritiate time you dedicated on this tutorial.

xcomb

08-06-2003, 08:52 PM

thanks man for your excelen job u dedicated time to us!!
greate Job!!!

Kinematics

08-10-2003, 03:01 PM

Thank you very much levitateme! It really did clear up alot of stuff for me, honestly.

Ive got a few questions if anyone could clear up for me. I rather new at all this.

1) How do u go about detach portions? when i do it, the faces all are seperated on their own. So instead of seperate the work into 2 meshes i got 1 body and like 700 seperate faces.
2) Lets say you got a cube which you rotated bout 45 degrees. How do u go about doing the projection just right?Do u all project face by face?
3)Lastly, i created a robotic arm and i didnt know better :) so i combined all the polys into sections to reduce the amount of geometry in the outliner. But its confusing when i try to project upon the uv's. Does the geometry that intersect disappear or isit still "Inside"

Thank you all very much in advance and thanks again levitateme, your tutorial topped with leigh's (thank you too leigh) create a rather well covered texturing tutorial from theory to practical.

Levitateme

08-10-2003, 06:45 PM

1) How do u go about detach portions? when i do it, the faces all are seperated on their own. So instead of seperate the work into 2 meshes i got 1 body and like 700 seperate faces.

What program are you using? are you using maya? if your using maya, go to polygons>tool options>keep faces together. that is your problem

2) Lets say you got a cube which you rotated bout 45 degrees. How do u go about doing the projection just right?Do u all project face by face?

If it is a flat face i would more than likley use PLANAR. and if your using maya, you have history on, you can see what the cube was rotated to. you can use them rotations for yourplanar projection. so everythign would line up, no need for guessing.

3) Lastly, i created a robotic arm and i didnt know better so i combined all the polys into sections to reduce the amount of geometry in the outliner. But its confusing when i try to project upon the uv's. Does the geometry that intersect disappear or isit still "Inside"

without seeing your model, yes its still in the geometry , because you cant see it dont mean its not there boob! :) 1. that is what groups are for. or parenting. if i was your, i would go back select each piece of geometry extract it, so its all its seperate pieces again. then i would just group them, this way you can select them individiaully still. and for your group have it show its displayhandle, that way you can grab it in the viewport.

that clear up everything?

Kel Solaar

08-10-2003, 09:20 PM

Very good tutorial! Thanks :)

AC_Shrike

08-12-2003, 04:54 AM

Now thats one damn fine tutorial there. Now I have to eat crow, based on my comments concerning your last tut. ;-P Thanks, bro.

Kinematics

08-12-2003, 05:13 AM

Indeed it did levitateme! THank you soo much for the help and the great tutorial u wrote.
Im sorry i didnt include screenshots, but my models are in school with no internet connection and so i couldnt bring it back (sadly with todays technology u would think id be easier :) )

rob-beddall

08-21-2003, 10:25 AM

hey!!:wavey:

levitateme: could you explain, just for me, why in the "frankenstein collar thing" you would have used a planar projection instead of a cylindrical one. surely it would be easier using cylindrical because then you wouldn't have to move as many uv's?

i'm quite eperienced in texture mapping and i just found that a bit weird.

also, where has your normal mapping for low poly models tutorial gone? i really need a tutorial for normal mapping in maya.
you got any links?
i pm'd you too. ( same question)

hope you can help.

cheers!!:beer:

Levitateme

08-22-2003, 01:04 AM

I would use planar on the collar, i would just move out the UVS until no stretching occured. that way its still connected to the neck. and i dont have to worry about anymore seams.

My normal map tutorial, i think i deleted that...i did because i know alot more now. and that tutorial was justone method. and it was the wrong method for getting normal maps. i was using world space to get the normal map. when a character needs tangent space...

if anyone was interested, i would make a new one, but in PDF. also , i cant relaly do anything now, i fooked up my computer. and i ahve to wait for my pc friend to come over here and tell me what i did wrong... i pray he knows what is going on. its hard for me to work with out a pc.

tranceya

09-07-2003, 02:11 AM

Now that I understand a better way to layout UV's (great tutorial by the way) I don't understand the best way to apply a texture that won't have seams. If you export your new uv maps (UV snapshot) and paint them in photoshop won't you have seams on the edges of the uv maps that touch? Or do you use the 3d paint tool. For me I can paint much more realistic maps in photoshop. Maybe I'm just missing something.:hmm: Could someone please show me what I'm missing. Thanks.:applause:

Levitateme

09-07-2003, 06:01 AM

tranceya

There isnt a full proof method to getting seams to go away. i am using body paint 3d 2. and i paint most my stuff in photoshop, i would say about...98%, then ill get rid of the seams in bodypaint 3d. you should try and get a program that will do projection painting. if you have maya, it has projection painting. i use to use that. but body paint3d 2 is so much faster. plus its an amazing improvement over body paint3d. sorry , but i have asked around quite a lot about seams. everyone has told me either, its a lot of work. or its trial and error.

Andrei2k

09-19-2003, 11:09 PM

I tried to detach all the parts and do the UV mapping like that and found it is easier but because I'm keeping the history on when using a fairly high rez model by the time i broke it all to pieces maya would eat up more than 1 GB or RAM to work with the model because of the REALLY extensive history.....have you found this to be a problem and if so what did you do?.....I was afraid that if i delete history and finish UV mapping i woulnd't be able to transfer the UV set to the original mode......or is that possible?

Thanks and keep up the amazing work

Levitateme

09-20-2003, 03:17 AM

Hi Andrei2k

No i have never had any memory consumption near that big, ever. It sounds to me like you are taking each part and putting its own texture on taht part? im sure im wrong. but maybe im just misreading you, but i chop up my model, do the uvs for each piece, then i stick it all back together. maybe your model is very high res? but if your gettnig a ton of history why don tyou just delete it, your not going to be using it anyway once you stick your pieces back together. i hope this help? i just think i am not reading you right.

Ciao

Andrei2k

09-20-2003, 03:22 AM

so I can delete the history and i still can put the model back together? i thought if i deleted history i couldn't ....guess thats where im confused

Levitateme

09-20-2003, 04:35 AM

??? of course youc an delete history, you can even freeze transformations. and if you do that, just use the point to point snap tool and everything wil be put back together, there are lots of ways around these things;)

NelsonInomvan

09-27-2003, 11:37 PM

ooo man this one is simply awesome. This is one of the most usefull tut out there. You don't know how you helped me whit this stuff. 10x a lot. You have my admiration.

And it looks maya have some great features when it come to Uv's. Anyway i think you wrote it very good so every other user can use the same methods. 10nx again

ok i took the freedom to download your pics and put them into html format here is the url : http://www.freewebs.com/atmos/tut2.zip

It's a zip coz i didn't have the nervers to upload all the files one by one. ( if the link doesn't work try to copu / paste it to your address bar )

Levitateme

09-28-2003, 04:17 AM

thanks for the nice commenta atmos. i would add more to them now, sincei just got done setting up my uvs on my newest character. but it would be minor things. one day ill get a website made and ill have a bunch of tutorials in pdf . thanks agian.;)

alesmav

10-29-2003, 11:19 AM

Hey levitateme, great tutorial... I used pretty much the same method for my character.

ALES

P.S.

Is it true Pixies are about to reunite for the 2004 spring tour?

deuce

11-06-2003, 06:00 PM

Those 2 tutorials were a big help. Thanks for the info and pattern map. I liked your method of planar mapping the hand. That'll be a help for future texturing.

P_T

11-10-2003, 12:35 PM

your tutorial works great when i map my low rez texture but how do i keep my UVmap from distorting when i smooth my model?

i find a tutorial that address this issue but it requires a plugin. is there anyway to solve this problem without resorting to plugin coz i can't install anything in school puter.

Levitateme

11-10-2003, 03:18 PM

Distorting how? can you post some before and after?

P_T

11-10-2003, 11:14 PM

here it is... not the best example of modeling/texturing :p

the tutorial i found mentioned something about the UVmap is subdivided with linear interpolation while the mesh is smoothed in a different way.

http://www.geocities.com/davwut/distort.txt

Levitateme

11-11-2003, 12:00 AM

hmm well your object is always going to be distored a little. its adding geometry to your mesh. so of course its going to be distored. in your uv layout, it shouldnt change. it should just add UV's. but other than that, i dont know why or what you could do, cause there layed out that way. but your just adding more detail so of course its going to move. and if you mean distored, that little triangle part is a mess if you fixed that , im sure your uvs would look much better. does that help?

P_T

11-11-2003, 06:10 AM

that picture i showed u just represent one of several distortion on my map caused by poly smoothing. that model only has several hundred poly so fixing them after the poly smooth is still doable but wat if the model has 100k+ poly?

http://www.drone.org/tutorials/uv_smoothing.html

ok here's a little extract from that site.
When you apply a polySmooth in Maya, new vertices will be created, as well as new UV coordinates for these vertices. Both the space coordinates and the UV coordinates of these new vertices will be derived from the old vertices (the original or « low res » mesh). The problem is whereas new vertices position are obtained through smooth interpolation, the new UV coordinates are obtained through simple linear interpolation. This is the cause of disrependancies between these new vertices space coordinates and UV coordinates and thus, map distortion.

there are some good example of good and bad uv smoothing. he solved the problem by way of a script/plugin but i was wondering if you or anyone else know how to solve this problem without using a script/plugin.

i'll do some experiment with Relax UV... see if that tool can help a little and if it does, i'll post the result here.

thanks again Levitateme for the great tutorial. :thumbsup:

Andrei2k

11-11-2003, 06:14 AM

I believe this was an issue before maya 5. I think Mya 5 corrected this although i havent tested yet......anyone correct me if im wrong. WHat version are you using for the problem to occur?

P_T

11-11-2003, 06:20 AM

i tried it on 5.01 at school. still have that problem i guess...

Levitateme

11-11-2003, 08:06 PM

well p t, its kidna hard for me to see what is really going on then. cause i guess im not seeing something your seeing. maybe sometime you acn send the file to me and i could look at it. maybe then i can see whats going on. if you want just pm me and ill send you my name on AIM or something. im on trillian so i could talk to you on any of them chat programs if you wanted, then maybe i could help you's.

P_T

11-12-2003, 10:24 PM

just in case u missed it, i've PM u my email and address where u can get my .mb file. thanks dude.:cool:

fr3drik

11-20-2003, 11:33 PM

What about using these methods when working with Maya's subdivs?

Can I simply do all this in poly mode (within subd) and then switch to subd after stitching the parts together again?

I'm gonna try it now!

yangmiemie

01-14-2004, 01:53 AM

:wip:

JA-forreal

04-26-2004, 01:11 AM

Levitateme I loved both of your tutorials they are easy to understand and have practical application in most 3d apps that have uv mapping tools.

I try to stay away from the uv tools as much as possible. Most of my uv mapping is done in the mesh modeling stage. I often morph my mesh models from their original modeled state out to a completely flat mesh layout with no overlapping vertexes. Then I give the flat morphed object a uv Planar Projection and move the uv's around until I get rid most of the distortion. Finally I return the morphed mesh back to it's original state and make a copy of the morph to arrive at a final uv mapped mesh.

My biggest problem with uv mapping is distortion and not always getting the type of uv layout that perfectly matches my model. I have learned to compromise as most of us have to do from time to time as 3d uv mapping artist. Normally I can let minor distortion slide.

But recently I have been working on some high polygon organic/inorganic models that have perfectly flat surfaces with very complex curved shapes modeled down below the face of the flat surfaces. I found it impossible to draw straight lines on this object no matter what. So I resorted to using a mix of displacement mapping and uv mapping. I got complex curved shapes I needed and the ability to draw perfectly straight distortion free lines across those shapes.

I know that if I went to some modeling extremes I could have modeled in the complex shapes on a highly subdivided object. But it would have been too complex to handle in 3d space.

I have learned that sometimes its best to model in the details whenever you can if your hardware can handle the added polygons. Then you can arrange those details as flat planar uv mapped elements. For a low poly game model distortion is hardly a problem but if you model a character with all the folds and curves on their body and complex clothing with even more curves and wrinkles distortion is really a problem. On one character I even modeled her lace part of her garment from a part of a sub mesh element as I found it impossible to paint the lace evenly amid the other complex model details. This added to the complexity of the polys and slowed down my 3d view workflow.

I am really looking forward to the new Zbrush displacement map features. I think with the new Zbrush software many 3d artist will finally start to enjoy 3d texturing for the first time.

If you are an experienced artist who takes up 3d art on a computer the first thing that you want to do is duplicate your real world art as a 3d model. That part is not that hard for some who have a background in sculpting etc. Then you come to the part of texturing your model. This is always where the problem has been for 3d artist. Some 3d artist say that they have a hard time with character animation. Complex uv texturing is often the hardest part of the 3d workflow for some. I’m connected which a group of 3d coders who think that think that they can solve some of the issues that face complex uv texturing. I hope that they do. I really want to see more developments for features in this area in 3d software than any other area.

Levitateme I know that many CGtalk members are getting some major relief from your uv mapping tutorials. Thanks.