Need help with a custom mesh!

[Anubis4545]

Hello,

 

So far, this is the third forum I am posting this problem too. From what I've read, this forum seems to be very helpful, and filled with nice members. I hope this is the right place to ask this.

 

My problem firstly is that I cannot get the UV map on my (fairly) complex mesh to work, or even save! I've followed a tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRcu7fbRBlA) and while it got me started, I ALWAYS hit the same vague problem.

I've done everything to the best of my ability, such as marking the seams of the object (which I don't even know if I did right), then clicking Un-wrap (smart projections), yet my object either comes out in a jumbled mess of incomprehensible triangles, with no coherent order, OR nothng is un-wrapped, and I am back were I started. Now something that struck me as odd, which was not in that tutorial video, was just simply selecting all of my object, will project a perfect UV map. That confused me a little, but I gave it a try nd saved it, and then exported my object into Nifskope. That was the furthest I've gotten. :confused:

Upon opening it in NifSkope, It appears just a plain white, un-textured objects, with no inkling of a UV map. Then I am left there lost to the world of frusterating 3D modeling.

 

Nowhere can I find a tutorial that covers UV mapping for a object that is more complex then a simple box, or triangle. I know this must be a very simple issue, thatI am cleary missing, but, even so I cannot seem to find any advice, or help with it. This simple matter has caused me to tear my hair out, and disfigure my face like a daffy, and crazy clown in frustration. :wallbash:

 

ANY help at all I would VERY, VERY greatly appreciate it. :thanks:

 

(Here is a image of the object I've made in Blender, hopefully from this you can grasp at what I am saying)

http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/An...21-02-00-40.jpg

[Quetzlsacatanango]

If you are getting it to nifskope and you just don't see any texture, check to see if the path is correct under bssshaderpplight... ->bsshadertextureset.

[Anubis4545]

If you are getting it to nifskope and you just don't see any texture, check to see if the path is correct under bssshaderpplight... ->bsshadertextureset.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

Hopefully this wont disappoint.

I can comprehend GECK, I can also make textures, and such. BUT, I can barely use Nifskope, the most I understand of it, is how to manually move around UV maps, and apply textures. Thats as far as I go with it. I am afraid to say, I have no idea what, or where the "bssshaderpplight... ->bsshadertextureset" is. I looked through the little information trees in Nifskope and saw no such thing. =/

 

If it will help, here are two more imags for you're viewing pleasure...

 

Object in Blender with messed up UV: http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/An...current=134.jpg

 

Object in NifSkope after export: http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/An...;current=13.jpg

 

I hope that helps... Sorry, if I am such a newbie. :unsure:

[Mardrigon]

A phonoGraph awesome IDEA looks good so far good luck with texturing it

 

Hope to get this added for my home lol

now just to raid a local record store

QUEST IDEA? is someone collecting records for their own collection or a new radio station

add some Boston, KISS and Metallica SWEET :thumbsup:

[Anubis4545]

A phonoGraph awesome IDEA looks good so far good luck with texturing it

 

Hope to get this added for my home lol

now just to raid a local record store

QUEST IDEA? is someone collecting records for their own collection or a new radio station

add some Boston, KISS and Metallica SWEET :thumbsup:

 

Thanks! Glad to know it looks good! :D :biggrin:

 

This Phonograph is only a small part of the mod I plan on making. After I get the Phonograph working properly, I plan on making records. Luckily becuase of my own collection, recording the songs won't be a problem. Though, I don't think there will be stuff close to KISS, and Metallica. : PPP ;]

 

Still need help, if anyone out there can give it!

[zaty1]

May or may not help, but looking at your pictures has me asking if your phonograph is all 1 mesh, 2 or 3 - and if it is hollow. That was one of my problems when I first got into making stuff. Making intricate details and layers and such, and then hiding 75% of the item inside something else made a mess. You could turn on wireframe to find out, or just know - just something to check. IF that is the case, I'd strongly recommend refining the model. The screenshot of nifskope seems to suggest there are many objects. I could be wrong though, I'm still rather new/learning myself. Then again, I'd imagine the phonograph is a static/item and not a weapon. The structure within the .nif could be drastically different.

 

I don't have any tutorials to link, I just made do understanding the general process and experimenting from there. Then again, that explains why I hand unwrap the stuff I make - but I do that for other reasons. Perhaps you could try that, OR, maybe you are missing a step. Try selecting say - 1 side of the phonograph - not counting the framing. Or maybe the top of the deck where the record lays. I'm not all familiar with blender so if you've already done this, I apologize for lack of usefulness. However, I feel you are there - just a single step is missing somewhere.

 

As far as the texture/uvwrap - I generally make mine, export it as a jpg or something, and then turn around and apply it to the model. THEN, I export it. Redundant, who knows - is what I do and hasn't given me trouble yet with displaying "A" texture in nifskope.

 

Let us know how it goes, or maybe zip the file to someone that has more knowledge that both of us to take a peek if we can't figure out a solution.

[Anubis4545]

May or may not help, but looking at your pictures has me asking if your phonograph is all 1 mesh, 2 or 3 - and if it is hollow. That was one of my problems when I first got into making stuff. Making intricate details and layers and such, and then hiding 75% of the item inside something else made a mess. You could turn on wireframe to find out, or just know - just something to check. IF that is the case, I'd strongly recommend refining the model. The screenshot of nifskope seems to suggest there are many objects. I could be wrong though, I'm still rather new/learning myself. Then again, I'd imagine the phonograph is a static/item and not a weapon. The structure within the .nif could be drastically different.

 

I don't have any tutorials to link, I just made do understanding the general process and experimenting from there. Then again, that explains why I hand unwrap the stuff I make - but I do that for other reasons. Perhaps you could try that, OR, maybe you are missing a step. Try selecting say - 1 side of the phonograph - not counting the framing. Or maybe the top of the deck where the record lays. I'm not all familiar with blender so if you've already done this, I apologize for lack of usefulness. However, I feel you are there - just a single step is missing somewhere.

 

As far as the texture/uvwrap - I generally make mine, export it as a jpg or something, and then turn around and apply it to the model. THEN, I export it. Redundant, who knows - is what I do and hasn't given me trouble yet with displaying "A" texture in nifskope.

 

Let us know how it goes, or maybe zip the file to someone that has more knowledge that both of us to take a peek if we can't figure out a solution.

 

Hi!

 

Thanks for the reply. Really, anything anyone can give is useful, and you're reply definitely is.

 

Actually, something I forgot to mention (Argh!) is the IN NifSkope, If I click one of the information trees on the Block list, and delete it, it does remove something, yet the phonograph will still be there, thus telling me that somehow my object is made up of a bunch of copies of itself! No idea how that came to be....

Also the object is "hollow". I guess you meant that being as looking inside of it, you'll just see through it, instead of seeing another surface.

 

About the Hand-unwrapping you mentioned... How would I do that? I've tried selecting pieces of it (say a side of the cabinet) yet clicking "Un-Wrap" still gives me a mass of vertices in the UV mapping window. :confused:

 

Last but now least... When you say "...export it as a jpg or something", do you mean you export the UV map itself? Or, just the texture you make over the UV map like in a tutorial I read...? This sounds like it may be the only step for me to take if I am to get this to work. Could you elaborate on how I would also go on to apply the .JPG to my model before export?

 

Sorry for all the annoying questions, I'd just like to really get this phonograph done.

 

Thanks again for the information! :thanks:

 

EDIT:

 

Well I selected the phonograph's turntable, and it firstly did not yield any results upon my attempt to un-wrap. Then afte re-selecting it, something that annoys me happens... Without even clickiing un-wrap, or anything but selecting my object, a PERFECT projection of what I want my UV to look like will appear on the UV map menu. Now... Apperantly (whatever it is) ths dream-like UV is not real, and vanishes as soon as I de-select the object.

Dreams aside... The second time I tried to un-wrap, it "worked" but only with the same jumbled-Pable-Picasso results I get from just selecting the entire thing. :yucky:

 

Here are pictures....

 

Here is what I get when Pablo Picasso assists in Un-wrapping the UV for the turntable: http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/An...20-59-39-93.jpg

 

(Just for reference) Here is the ghostly dream UV Map.... http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/An...21-14-38-03.jpg

[zaty1]

Do you actually see items disappearing off the model as you delete them in nifskope? Or, simply click on pieces of the model and see which item it highlights on the left side. You also should be able to look at the model in blender - and I am assuming here - pull up some kind of list to view all the objects composing your phonograph. To check for any of those potential duplicates you spoke of, not sure on that one.

 

As far as the "hollow" comment I am refering to combining surfaces and subtracting the parts that intersect. Example - you make a cube and a sphere, stick half the sphere into the cube. That half, that is in the cube - should ideally be removed - merging the cube and the half sphere together. Doubt I am explaining it properly, but it is similar to the boolean functions of add/remove/intersection and such. Hard to tell how the model is composed from nonwireframe pictures. It is also possible you constructed the model, and nothing intersects anywhere - however, they are still seperate objects/pieces of your model. Kind of like - making 2 cubes, and putting them side by side. Sure, they can appear as 1 model, and they are both hollow - however the 2 faces that are touching are totally useless to the creation of the model. They also contribute 4 corners/edges/vertices to anything that might autounwrap a model.

 

For unwrapping stuff by hand, I generally just select what I want to unwrap by face, and hit unwrap and cycle the options til my selection doesn't look distorted and move onto the next section. Blender may vary, and I am half tempted to install it to poke around now. Maybe there is a seperate button or something to hit to only unwrap the items that are selected - opposed to automatically doing the entire mesh.

 

You can't really apply the wireframe jpg to the model until after you have successfully unwrapped it. And that I assume would just be a function of assigning a material to the model, select the jpg and tada.

 

EDIT: Yes, that selection you made to churn out your first picture link of just the turntable. Are there any other options to change the orientation of the unwrap? Or even an easy way to just stitch together all the seams of the turntable. It would make a perfect circle/panel of that for you.

[Anubis4545]

Do you actually see items disappearing off the model as you delete them in nifskope? Or, simply click on pieces of the model and see which item it highlights on the left side. You also should be able to look at the model in blender - and I am assuming here - pull up some kind of list to view all the objects composing your phonograph. To check for any of those potential duplicates you spoke of, not sure on that one.

 

As far as the "hollow" comment I am refering to combining surfaces and subtracting the parts that intersect. Example - you make a cube and a sphere, stick half the sphere into the cube. That half, that is in the cube - should ideally be removed - merging the cube and the half sphere together. Doubt I am explaining it properly, but it is similar to the boolean functions of add/remove/intersection and such. Hard to tell how the model is composed from nonwireframe pictures. It is also possible you constructed the model, and nothing intersects anywhere - however, they are still seperate objects/pieces of your model. Kind of like - making 2 cubes, and putting them side by side. Sure, they can appear as 1 model, and they are both hollow - however the 2 faces that are touching are totally useless to the creation of the model. They also contribute 4 corners/edges/vertices to anything that might autounwrap a model.

 

For unwrapping stuff by hand, I generally just select what I want to unwrap by face, and hit unwrap and cycle the options til my selection doesn't look distorted and move onto the next section. Blender may vary, and I am half tempted to install it to poke around now. Maybe there is a seperate button or something to hit to only unwrap the items that are selected - opposed to automatically doing the entire mesh.

 

You can't really apply the wireframe jpg to the model until after you have successfully unwrapped it. And that I assume would just be a function of assigning a material to the model, select the jpg and tada.

 

Ah... Yes, I understand now what you meant with the "hollow" comment. Most of the object is unfortuntely not connected in some places, just made to look connected... That is mostly only on the Tone arm, and the Reproducer. Near the end of its "completetion" I learned how to merge vertices together, so SOME of it is connected. I really didn't think it mattered except for looks maybe. :confused:

 

One of the photos I linked above in my edit does have a wireframe view of the object, don't know if thats a very good view though. If you need any other pictures just ask.

 

Thanks again, this is a great help! :biggrin:

[Anubis4545]

Yes, that selection you made to churn out your first picture link of just the turntable. Are there any other options to change the orientation of the unwrap? Or even an easy way to just stitch together all the seams of the turntable. It would make a perfect circle/panel of that for you.

 

Actually I just used the option "Project from view" which I never bothered using becuase while giving me a relatively un-jumbled UV, it gave me one that was almost, err, 2D/3D view from above. BUT... Using this with only one flat surface (the top of the turntable, not the sides or the bottom of it) gives me a perfect circle of it.

 

Now, that I think by selecting only the flat edges of the phonograph (thinking of doing this to the tone arm, and such makes me cringe) I SHOULD be able to get good UV maps.

Sadly enough though... Now that I have one that looks like a normal UV, I really don't know what else to do. :S I've never got this far really... Hehe