Weapon modelling help?

[AdotLOM]

Hello, I am currently in the process of making a custom weapon for New Vegas - but I am currently having issues with making the UV maps for the object (they're very messy, almost definitely my own fault)

 

I was wondering if anyone could tinker around with it to make it work.

I am new to 3DS Max, and I would be very grateful of any help, and of course, you'll get credited if I manage to finish everything else too.

[Moraelin]

Well, what do you mean by UV maps? Do you mean the normals themselves (which Max or Blender will generate for you anyway), or just how shiny each piece is?

 

The latter is probably easiest solved by using an envmap texture. It's basically a greyscale of how shiny each piece of the weapon should be. E.g., the barrel might reflect a lot of light on the exterior, but not much on the inside, and any "holes" that are only in the texture, not at all. Just activate the SF_Environment_Map in the Shader Flas in the BSShaderPPLightingProperty in NifSkope, and put your envmap texture in IIRC the last entry in the textures node under it. It should be easier than fussing with the alpha of the UV Map, since it's really just editing a grey scale image in whatever editor you use.

 

Laziest version, you can even just use a grey-scale conversion of the main texture, since, well, probably the parts which shouldn't reflect much light are already darker on the weapon, and the ones which do, might already have been painted lighter.

 

But really, exactly what IS the problem? I can take more guesses here, but chances are they'll be wrong.

[AdotLOM]

The problem is that when I try to attach polygons together, it messes up (with one of the pieces at least).

I don't really know how to describe it, but there is a piece that has chamfers on it, and I chose to iron the main side on the UV map. Then I try to add the chamfers, and it distorts the shape of the side

[Moraelin]

Ugh, looks like I should try posting when I'm sober ;) Dunno how I managed to read UV map as normal map, but somehow I did.

 

Hmm... I'm a blender user myself, not a 3DSMax user. I assume you've tried Millenia's tutorials? Really good stuff.

[mindboggles]

The problem is that when I try to attach polygons together, it messes up (with one of the pieces at least).

I don't really know how to describe it, but there is a piece that has chamfers on it, and I chose to iron the main side on the UV map. Then I try to add the chamfers, and it distorts the shape of the side

So your saying your UV map gets messed up by applying modifiers to your mesh? It's normal for mesh modifications to make an impact on the UV map (sometimes a complete train wreck). There are times when it's good to do a preliminary UV map of a mesh especially if you plan on having multiple copies of it in the scene, other times if your going to need to make many alterations to it wait until your finished.

 

3DS Max has a very though set of tools when it comes to UV mapping that can take much of the pain out of the process. It's a pity I just switched to Firefox or I could link you to Millenia's (spelling) youtube tutorial, try having a look at some of his mod pages, he does provide a link to the series he did where he does cover UV mapping very well. One thing but you don't actually need to get the plugins he uses as default is pretty good.

[AdotLOM]

I've looked at his tutorials, and they're stellar. But this is the model I'm trying to map, the chamfers make it a b&@*$ to do;

 

http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/images/130/7718481-1437680161.jpg

[ApocNizmith]

Well you need to have multiple materials when merging polys. So each material has a subset of textures. Some weapons will have up to 6 textures + normals, glows and specular. This is a image of the one I am currently working on:
http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m618/TribeVengeance/c0017e80be2529340067975b6bbc5be6.png

It contains 4 different Materials that have been textured each, there is only 3 textures in all, but each material has a subset. It will keep your UV maps from being all over the place. If you would like I will be more then happy to set a better UV map for it, but new maps require new texture layouts. Let me know I am more than willing to help.

[AdotLOM]

Well, if you're happy about it, then sure. I need all the help I can get. How should I send the file?

[ApocNizmith]

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