Multiple textures in a single mesh

[lupicatalum]

I have looked at several vanilla meshes in blender and don't understand how they are done. Single texture meshes are simple enough but I am at a point where I need to apply two or Three to a single mesh. If anyone could walk me through it or point me in the right direction, I'd be forever grateful.

[IkeCoast]

There are two ways to achieve this:

 

A) one single .dds texture file. You create a diffuse map with all the pieces for the whole object contained in it, and then, in Blender, you UV-unwrap the mesh "cutting off" each piece with a closed unwrap seam that completely circles each piece. Then you place each "loose piece" of the UV map in the correct spots of the diffuse map. Good for small to medium sized objects.

 

B) several .dds files, for each piece of the whole object. You need to assign a different material with a different texture source in Blender, contrary to the single material with a single texture source of the previous method. No matter if the blend mesh is a single mesh or multiple meshes, each piece MUST have an unique material assigned, and UV-unwrapped separately. Good for large objects with HD textures. EDIT: I mean, each piece needs to have a material linked to a texture file assigned. If two pieces share the same texture file, then they share also the same material.

 

Cheers!

Edited April 8, 2015 by IkeCoast