How to do "seamless" UV mapping / texturing?

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Good evening everybody!

 

So, I am currently working on a new set of "interior pieces" that I will be publishing as a modders resource.

 

I know how to get the actual meshes to line up perfectly so if you use the "snap to grid" thing in the CK there will be no seams.

 

But how do I get textures to also look "seamless", just like the vanilla assets?

The answer is "do the UV mapping in a perfect way", since the UV mapping is what determins how the texture will be applied to the mesh.

But how?

 

 

 

 

I could be lazy and just ask somebody to do the texturing / UV mapping for me, that would be easier, but I want to learn how to do this myself ...

[Perraine]

You'd need to create a "seamless" or "tile-able" texture.

 

Usually "seamless" textures are for larger areas with a varied pattern, such as grass or dirt etc, so you have to make a texture where all 4 edges of the texture sort of "roll over" into each other and don't show any seam when placed side by side.

 

"Tile-able" textures are usually things like bricks, tiles or wooden planks etc. They can be of smaller size, and just repeated infinitely to make the pattern cover the whole area.

[RoNin1971]

It totally depends on what kind of object and texture we're talking about.

but most textures are painted using software like z-brush, so you don't need to worry about seams or the exact UV mapping. (as long as its applied correctly)

(I'm doing it the "hard" way with just Blender & GIMP myself)

 

Others are just seamless tileable, or just reused 'general purpose' parts.

Edited July 4, 2021 by RoNin1971

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Ok, I have some tileable textures, from the vanilla game.

 

I am working on some modular interior pieces, so things like hallways, room parts, ....

Kind of like the vanilla parts, expect with a different "ceiling".

 

Here is a scrrenshot of all the parts that I have done the 3d models for:

 

Here is a more clos up view of one of the parts:

(Hallway with a small door opening on the left side)

[RoNin1971]

Alright, well....

I would suggest to apply a 'floor' texture to the bottom faces. Mapping them to fit the entire texture.

The edges/plints/doorpost are usually done by using part of a texture, applied to its own group of faces along the edge. with various levels of detail, the easiest being non at all, but using the floor or wall texture.

 

Same goes for the walls and ceiling.

 

Your meshes contain 0 details by the looks of it, so that should be easy.

 

Make sure to split the mesh by material if needed. (its how the nif shapes are build up, as they can only have one texture each)

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Yeah, using a seperate texture file just for the floor is how vanilla stuff is usually set up.

(That also makes it easier to set up material swaps for different floors, like ceramic tiles, wooden planks, whatever ...)

 

So that is the "floor plane".

 

What about the "walls"?

You mean I should give the "doo hole part" its own texture (like with the "floor")?

 

So kind of like this:

Everything in a different colour will get its own material / texture / uv map.

 

Then I could line the UV mapping of the wall part up the same way as the "floor part", so that it will look seamless.

 

I think I understand what you are saying ...

[RoNin1971]

hmmm, how do you get those pics in there?

It won't show if i drop it in the editor, where it does show, I don't get errors when posting, but.... no image ?

 

anyway, yes, although you might want to apply a separate texture for the ceiling, or be creative with the mapping.

Keep in mind that for everything to look ok, it all needs to be roughly the same size/texturespace. For example don't use a texture to cover the walls & ceiling completely, when you use a complete texture for the floor (which you should to fit in with the vanilla textures)

as the resolution would be off.

So, apply a texture, completely (at least in width) to each wall (left & right) and one to cover the ceiling (can be the same texture, for a seamless look)

Edited July 4, 2021 by RoNin1971

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Open the normal nexus mods page.

On the top there is a button called "Upload".

Select "Upload image".

 

Upload your image with that, set it to hidden so only you can see it.

When it is done uploading, right click on the image and go to "copy image url".

Then here on the forum there is a "image" button (left of the "format text as code" button).

There you can insert the "url" of your uploaded image.

 

And the image will show up here without needing an external file hosting service that might be gone after a few days ...

[RoNin1971]

Open the normal nexus mods page.

On the top there is a button called "Upload".

Select "Upload image".

 

Upload your image with that, set it to hidden so only you can see it.

When it is done uploading, right click on the image and go to "copy image url".

Then here on the forum there is a "image" button (left of the "format text as code" button).

There you can insert the "url" of your uploaded image.

 

And the image will show up here without needing an external file hosting service that might be gone after a few days ...

Thnx!

I was aware of the upload image route, just not the 'hide' part, which is just what I needed to know ;)

[RoNin1971]

Example of a wall texture mapping (using a weird vanilla vault texture, which is seamless, but the cut it in 2, and put the top at the bottom.)

So the UV map on top, which is above the texture, will actually show the bottom part of the texture.