Need help with a custom mesh!

[zaty1]

For the unattached objects, you can cheese the excess faces by deleting the ones samwiched between the objects, but that doesn't always work especially if one of them is larger in size than the other. It also takes up space on the texture, valuable space better used for something else. Attaching all the parts also cleans up the model, especially if there aren't seams on the faces that intersect since there is no visual cues to tell where to draw the seams when you do the texture.

 

It is good you got the one to lay out flat like it should. As far as selecting faces, should be easy to drag/select quantities of them. Also, you might be able to go back to the seams method and map out all the flat sides, or pieces, or however you want to do it. There might even be other options to use instead of flat or projection, like sphere/cylinder/or box.

 

I really think you are almost there - you got one down and know a bit more to the process. Just need to do the rest and then arrange for a good layout/wireframe and get texturing.

 

Think of eventually aiming to texture like a shrink wrap, thats all you need, and all you should aim for.

 

Lol, edited this post like 6 times.

[Anubis4545]

For the unattached objects, you can cheese the excess faces by deleting the ones samwiched between the objects, but that doesn't always work especially if one of them is larger in size than the other. It also takes up space on the texture, valuable space better used for something else. Attaching all the parts also cleans up the model, especially if there aren't seams on the faces that intersect since there is no visual cues to tell where to draw the seams when you do the texture.

 

It is good you got the one to lay out flat like it should. As far as selecting faces, should be easy to drag/select quantities of them. Also, you might be able to go back to the seams method and map out all the flat sides, or pieces, or however you want to do it. There might even be other options to use instead of flat or projection, like sphere/cylinder/or box.

 

I really think you are almost there - you got one down and know a bit more to the process. Just need to do the rest and then arrange for a good layout/wireframe and get texturing.

 

Think of eventually aiming to texture like a shrink wrap, thats all you need, and all you should aim for.

 

Lol, edited this post like 6 times.

 

Yeah, I think that you're help has gotten me there, just need to get it all laid out.

 

From what you said about the "sphere/cylinder/or box methods, there are acutally options like that, but they always gave a awkwardly shaped UV with a FLAT surface... You're mentioning of them gave me the idea that they would probaly ONLY work on a object shaped like a sphere, or cylinder! Simple, yet I missed it. If that works, then I will pop into a bubble of pixies and dance. :biggrin:

 

I will post back if it does.

 

THANKS again! :biggrin: :biggrin:

[TheChan]

Select each side separately and unwrap from view.

 

 

 

Also, why do you have so many polys? You could cut the polycount down considerably.

[Anubis4545]

Select each side separately and unwrap from view.

 

 

 

Also, why do you have so many polys? You could cut the polycount down considerably.

 

Hi,

 

So far I've been doing well with the Un-wrap from view method. Only really hitting issues on the cylinder shaped parts (which the Cylinder from view does nothing!) which seems to like to un-wrap in a strange way. I don't think I will ever understand how most of the great modders (or just 3D modelers) ever do this so easily.

 

About the Polygons, when I began on this, I really wasn't totally aware on how I should be taking in the amount of polygons into consideration. Unfortunately, I cannot change it much as far as I am aware. :unsure:

 

Thanks for your input! :biggrin:

[SickleYield]

Hallo! Myrmaad asked me to look in.

 

I'm going to suggest a couple of things. If you're concerned about trying this, I suggest saving as a separate file first. It's always best to plan your mesh with the UV map in mind, but that's hard to do when you're starting out.

 

First: Delete three of your outer "leg" supports. Looking at your model, you can probably select them with ctrl+L if you click on one vertex.

 

Select the remaining fourth one the same way and look at the UV screen. Notice that you now see only this part of the mesh there to edit. When you press u and unwrap, you get something totally different from if you do that with everything selected at once.

 

Treat your other pieces the same way. With any part that is completely identical to another part, like those knobs, delete all but one. You can look at them all at once again if you want to make sure everything fits onto one UV.

 

Now UV map different parts of the mesh individually. Parts that you really want separated should be separated with seams - that is, I would suggest putting the seams at the edges of those supports, not at every corner as currently, and/or around the edge of the four square, flat, large sides.

 

VERY IMPORTANT TIP: You an use alt+right click to select an edge loop. You'll see what I mean if you try this. This will make it easy for you to select a bunch of verts along an edge to make a seam. This works in the UV screen as well which is VERY useful.

 

Try to think about the parts of the mesh that will need to be separate meshes for your exported NIF because they'll need different materials - the record, for instance. You can separate those by selecting them and pressing the P key. Remember, you can export as many separated submeshes as part of the nif as you want as long as they are all selected when you start the export script.

 

I hope that's helpful. P, Ctrl+L and alt+right click were pretty huge for me when I learned them.

[Anubis4545]

Hallo! Myrmaad asked me to look in.

 

I'm going to suggest a couple of things. If you're concerned about trying this, I suggest saving as a separate file first. It's always best to plan your mesh with the UV map in mind, but that's hard to do when you're starting out.

 

First: Delete three of your outer "leg" supports. Looking at your model, you can probably select them with ctrl+L if you click on one vertex.

 

Select the remaining fourth one the same way and look at the UV screen. Notice that you now see only this part of the mesh there to edit. When you press u and unwrap, you get something totally different from if you do that with everything selected at once.

 

Treat your other pieces the same way. With any part that is completely identical to another part, like those knobs, delete all but one. You can look at them all at once again if you want to make sure everything fits onto one UV.

 

Now UV map different parts of the mesh individually. Parts that you really want separated should be separated with seams - that is, I would suggest putting the seams at the edges of those supports, not at every corner as currently, and/or around the edge of the four square, flat, large sides.

 

VERY IMPORTANT TIP: You an use alt+right click to select an edge loop. You'll see what I mean if you try this. This will make it easy for you to select a bunch of verts along an edge to make a seam. This works in the UV screen as well which is VERY useful.

 

Try to think about the parts of the mesh that will need to be separate meshes for your exported NIF because they'll need different materials - the record, for instance. You can separate those by selecting them and pressing the P key. Remember, you can export as many separated submeshes as part of the nif as you want as long as they are all selected when you start the export script.

 

I hope that's helpful. P, Ctrl+L and alt+right click were pretty huge for me when I learned them.

 

Hey, thanks a bunch for the great reply!

 

I tried out the hotkeys you mentioned...

 

About the "P" key and the submeshes. Do you mean that by making part of the mesh a submesh (as in those outer leg supports or columns) that it would give me the option in NifSkope t apply a whole different texture to just those supports? I've wanted to do that, but didn't know where to start. I did try using the "P" key to seperate them, but all I got was just a frozen Blender, and had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to close it. I will have to fiddle around with it more, becuase I am sure I did it wrong. :confused:

 

That Ctrl+L thing is very strange, and mostly likely useful. Only issue I (of course) had with it was when I tried to use it to select on one of the supports, it went crazy as began selecting parts of the base, and the turntable. I tried adjusting my view to see if that would contain it better, but it seems to be very difficult to control. Again, I will have to fiddle around with it, it seems like it could save ALOT of time though.

 

For the Alt+Right click... I wasn't able to get any result from that. Just either dragged out the vertice, or did nothing. =/

 

Sorry if talking to me is like talking to a brick wall, I just seem to be having the worst time with Blender (I tremble to think about what I am going to do once I get it into Nifskope, and have to mess around with that!) but, If I could ask you to maybe elaborate on some of the points the, becuase I just seem to be missing a step in all of this advice...

 

(If I do not reply past this, I will be gone for a few days, but please, continue to gve advice, I would deeply appreciate it!) :thanks:

[SickleYield]

No prob, let me try and do better.

 

Ctrl+L only works if the part you're trying to select isn't merged. That is, if the leg has any verts merged to the turntable, the turntable will also be selected.

 

P key will make a section into a separate mesh in blender. This will mean it will export as a separate submesh in the nif. If you want something to just be the same mesh in Blender (it then has to be on the same UV, btw), but separated for easier ctrl+L selection, press V or Y (you may need to experiment with what works best in the particular case).

 

I can't imagine why alt right click wouldn't work, though. Are you holding down alt as you right click? Just pressing it once won't do it. Also, you may have to try it a few times to get the exact vert loop you want (twitch the mouse in the direction you want, vertical or horizontal).

[Anubis4545]

No prob, let me try and do better.

 

Ctrl+L only works if the part you're trying to select isn't merged. That is, if the leg has any verts merged to the turntable, the turntable will also be selected.

 

P key will make a section into a separate mesh in blender. This will mean it will export as a separate submesh in the nif. If you want something to just be the same mesh in Blender (it then has to be on the same UV, btw), but separated for easier ctrl+L selection, press V or Y (you may need to experiment with what works best in the particular case).

 

I can't imagine why alt right click wouldn't work, though. Are you holding down alt as you right click? Just pressing it once won't do it. Also, you may have to try it a few times to get the exact vert loop you want (twitch the mouse in the direction you want, vertical or horizontal).

 

Thanks a whole lot for all of you're help, and everybody else!

 

This object just does not seem to want to work, or correctly UV, and unfortunately for now I am going to have to give it up again. I am just going to continue on with other parts of the mod, till I properly have enough time to crack down on this.

 

Someday I WILL finish it! : PPP ;]

 

BIG THANKS AGAIN to everyone, I really do appreciate the advice, and help, it will help me greatly with some of the other smaller and more simple objects I will have to make! :thanks: :biggrin: :thanks: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

Thanks! :]

[BulletSix]

sorry if i repeat something already said, i just skimmed through thr thread.

 

In my work with blender i learned a lot (starting from zero, so don`t expect i know a lot ;) ) some things may help you, too :)

 

- don`t use "unwrap (smart projections)". for me it didn`t prove useful, having way to much islands and stuff to clean up in the uv-map

- instead use seams (ctrl+E, mark as seam) and "unwrap" (the top point in the list if you press "u").

for example select the turntable-faces only (try first without the axis in the middle i suggest) and try to press "u"

 

As for setting the seams: try to imagine you want to use a piece of paper to fold your model (or part of it) and then think about, where you need to cut the paper to be able to fold your model. That is roughly where the seams should be. Then unwrap that part, and look at the uv-map where additional or less seams are reasonable.

 

For a start, try to unwrap a cylinder. The normal unwrap gives you rubbish, as do all "project from...". "unwrap (smart projections)" looks better at first, but its not really, believe me ;).

Then mark one edge along the line of the cylinder as seam and try a simple unwrap. It shoud result in one connected area in the uv-map.

 

feel free to contact me if should try to clarify my rambling further ;)