Editing existing mesh (new uv map or reuse? two uv maps possible?)

[leot486]

So for the longest time I've been wanting a more true to real Steyr AUG A3, we have two good AUG mods but they're only A1 or A2 style receivers(and the airsoft A3 receiver).

Using the model from robersonb1 I took his a2 model and loaded it up in blender and chopped the top section of the rifle to get close to the proper design. Aside from the issue it seems that the animation is on a seperate model, including things like the sling swivels which would need to be realigned(could use help with this too), my main issue is creating the UV map so I can apply the texture. Would it be easier to make a whole new UV map? or should I try to work with the existing one and some how modify the added in faces to fit?

the left image is a cut of everything but the upper part of the upper receiver, some of the parts I edited on the lower half of the upper ended up stretched to the bottom left corner of the grid, so I moved them over with the rest of that portion of the mesh UV map.

the right image is what I'm working with now, the area highlighted in orange that is under everything is what I've edited and added to the mesh, when I unwrapped that section that's how it came out. Obviously it needs to be condensed to it's own section to get properly textured, but I'm not sure of the easy way to go about doing this if there is one. One thing I was thinking was having a second UV map just for that portion, which although possible in blender, I'm not sure I'd be able to use two UV maps on the same mesh as a nif? I can't find anything on doing so but if anyone knows of a way that could be an "easy out" for this.

thanks for any input you all can share, and if you're willing to help but something isn't clear please ask and I'll try my best to clarify.

[leot486]

Here's a picture of the current model, if anyone was curious.

[DeathMotif]

My money is on you having to do a new UV map. It is very difficult to get two different meshes to use the same UV map unless their vertices line up well together. It has been my experience that editing a UV map is more time consuming than just creating a new one from scratch.

[leot486]

Any advice on going about that? First time I've ever done something like this. Modifying the upper mesh took me most of a day. Was hoping to use the old UV map since it's mostly the same, and a new one would call for a new texture and I have no idea how to make a texture from scratch.

I tried blenders smart UV unwrap but it condenses a bunch of the pieces into tiny parts at the top and I can't even tell what piece is what.

[HardcoreHobbyist]

If i were to try to do what you are thinking here are 4 steps to help you get to where you want to go.

 

1 Enable Stretch and area. This will highlight the meshes. From what I've read the closer to blue the better but there might be times you want some features larger than others for detail. Play around with it for best results but with this enabled you will be able to tell if the scale of your new mesh is close to the scale of the old one.

 

2 There are times i may use the different methods to unwrap items but Smart UV Project is usually the best. The settings you see in the window are what i use. This does mean you will have to manually put it all back together but it minimizes warping or condensing of mesh parts.

 

3 Average Island scale, use it once you have all of your islands set up how you want it. See in the first image how some of the islands are green, some are orange? The scales are off but once you select average island scale everything should be scaled pretty decently like in the image below:

 

 

If you are happy with the results click Pack Islands next to Average Island Scale and you will get something like this: (please note this is a giant mess but i am trying to illustrate functionality at the moment)

 

 

4 Blender Addons, there are several for UV editing. I have grown accustomed to TexTools but I have read how others swear by all sorts of different addons. It will take time to sort out which you might like best but it could greatly improve your workflow and results.

Hope this helps.

[leot486]

Thank you untolds definitely a step in the right direction. Guess I have no choice but to make the UV map from scratch. Only question for me then is....

How do I tell what parts of the UV map are what on the mesh? anyway to highlight just parts of the UV map and have that show on the mesh so I know what I'm looking at?

Also, obviously after doing this I'll have to make a texture from scratch... turning out to be a lot more work then I wanted to do... any guides or resources recommended on going about doing this?

[HardcoreHobbyist]

Honestly, yes making it from scratch is your best bet. UV unwrapping for me was part science, part magic, part engineering and part artistry. It takes practice, patience and a bunch of trial and error. Your results may vary lol.

 

To see what you are working on you should have both the 3d view and the uv view up at the same time. There are a couple of ways to do it but my preferred method (for now) is to change the default view to the uv editing preset view:

 

 

The faces i have selected on the left (uv edit view) have been highlighted in orange on the right (3d view). This should allow you to see what it part of the mesh you are working on.

For tuts, any blender related question has probably been asked multiple times before on the blender stack exchange. It isn't Fallout 4specific but it will help you with functionality questions.

[Perraine]

You can "pin" pre-existing UV map parts so that they can't move during successive UV unwraps --> "Pin" the old parts then do a new UV unrap.

 

Alternatively, You can highlight only the modified parts in the 3D view window and click unwrap, as that will unwrap only those areas and not the whole mesh.

 

You can hit the "L" key in the UV Edit window once you've selected a single vertex/edge/face to select all "connected" vertices - can be handy for separating overlapping parts.

 

You can also "synchronise" the UV map window with the 3D view by clicking on the little white box thingy with the 4 yellow dots on the corners (= "Keep UV and edit mode mesh selection in sync" ) that way you can see exactly what part you are dealing with when you highlight any vertex/edge/face in the UV editor window.

 

You can "transfer" or move UV co-ordinates from one texture to another (there is a video tutorial up on Youtube on how to do it. )

 

"Smart UV" should really only be used for very basic things like walls or floors, where one simple texture covers the whole mesh, otherwise you end up with a very complicated, and very difficult to texture mesh. (Unless you have a program such as Substance Painter where it doesn't really matter all that much)

 

If you want to create a whole new texture, you can either use the "paint" function in Blender (it's pretty basic) or you can "export" the UV layout as a texture file and use any 2D paint program such as Photoshop/Gimp/Paint.net.