120mm Ground mounted mortar

[DanBeasy]

I would like some feedback on this model, one of my first. And if anyone could explain how to bring blender made textures without uvmap into fallout 3?

[baduk]

Hi!

 

It looks really cool how u have it in your render.

 

Without uv map tho to have it colored in game you will want vertex coloring.

I have not messed with vertex coloring to know what types of objects it is used on in fo3.

My guess is that it works on conformulated headgear and static objects but not on skinned armors and stuff.

 

 

So it should work on your object but. It will look very clean and new ingame.

But i dont know what to do with your specular map and ambient occlusion and ramps and stuff.

I think it will end up being completely dependant on ingame lighting and stuff.

 

Uv mapping can be tricly to do but its totally worth it. Yhen you can add any kind of cool texture to it and normalmaps.

[LHammonds]

It looks good but you cannot really avoid creating UV maps. Sure, vertex coloring is an option but it rarely looks good in-game and even then, only in certain situations depending on the object.

 

With UV maps, also means creating a diffuse texture, specular and normal maps.

 

LHammonds

[DanBeasy]

Thanks for the help, I understand a little about the uvmapping but it seems I dont make very good uvmaps? Once I export it and and paint the uvmap in gimp or photoshop, I import it back and my textures are stretched or not sitting the right way that I would like on the model. Maybe I just need to keep looking for a good uvmapping tutorial?

[LHammonds]

Half the battle to doing UV maps right is creating them in a manner that is proportional. There is no better way to accomplish this than by initially using a UV Test Grid image that is built into Blender. When using an image, tell it to create a new image and enable the "UV Test Grid" button.

 

Once the "grid" is used on your model, you then use it to make sure your UV "islands" are sized correctly to match the rest of the model.

 

EDIT: Here is an example of how the UV Test Grid helped me refine the UV map until the squares seemed fairly proportional and yield a much better UV map than just looking at the UV's on a blank slate.

 

New Image in the UV Image Editor window pane.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/128909-1300761585.jpg

 

 

Create initial UV (I used "unwrap smart projections") and assign Test Grid to UV. The initial results are jagged (many seams) and fairly ugly.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/128909-1300761613.jpg

 

 

Select pieces and adjust UV's to look proportional...start with easiest part and match everything to that size. I started with the square base to give me an idea of size in the UV Image Editor as well as visual size of the grid boxes on the model.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/128909-1300761639.jpg

 

 

Continue adjusting all other pieces' UV maps and size them to match your initial reference piece...make the grid boxes the approximate same size.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/128909-1300761666.jpg

 

 

Once done getting your UV islands created, export your UV map so you can create the texture in your favorite image editor. (UVs --> Scripts --> Save UV Face Layout)

 

Once you have your texture, then go back in and point your texture to the external image and enjoy your textured model.

 

LHammonds

[DanBeasy]

I really appreciate the help, I am starting to understand the concept. Took me a little longer since I am using the beta version. I would switch back to the older one but I only started 3d modeling a month ago, and only really understand the beta. But here is what I'm looking at now. I am going to create more islands and really clean up my uvmapping. Is there anyway for a bigger workspace? To enlarge the area that the islands can sit? Or can they go outside of what looks to be a boundary box?

[ub3rman123]

They can go outside the box, but it'll just loop across the texture. It'll work best if your texture is seamless.

[LHammonds]

The "boundary box" gives you the outline for the dimensions of your image. For example, a 1024 x 1024 image will yield a perfectly square box and it represents that dimension. Now, if you create a new image that is 1024 x 128, you will see a flattened rectangle as the boundary box.

 

However, you "can" push the UVs outside that area and I usually do while creating them but you will need to get them all back in the box by the time you are done.

 

You can leave UVs outside the box but what it does is simply project the image as if it were were hundreds of them all stacked together. It is like going around the world one time or two times...still end up in the same spot but it is different in how you got there. Your UV will still be applied to the image but it will be much harder to tell exactly where it is and will become problematic when you export the UV template...which will force it on top of the other UVs. Not sure if I explained this very well but you can experiment to see what happens. Having UVs outside the box will still technically work even when exported to NIF but it will be irritating to map it after-the-fact.

 

LHammonds