5 - Advanced Mapping a Low Resolution Character mesh

[moonsense715]

Author: MadTone

Skill level: 5

 

 

A brief summary of the steps

• Editable Mesh - Select sets of polygons andassign an ID number to each set.
• Apply a Mesh Select modifier, use it at Sub-Object level to select Polygons by their ID number. Do not turn Sub-Object off.
• Apply a UVW Map modifier to the set of Polygons - Planar Map only.
• Repeat steps 2 and 3 (apply new Mesh Select, do not try to use the previous one).
• Apply a Mesh Select modifier. Do not turn Sub-Object on.
• Apply Unwrap UVW modifier.
• Edit (in UVW Unwrap) select one set of face ID`s at a time and layout the poly`s so that they are separate from each other.
• Show all ID`s
• Take a screengrab of the UVW Unwrap Edit window.
• Paint on the screengrab and save as a .jpg, .tif, or .tga.
• From the Asset Manager, drag and drop the saved painting to the mesh model.

Assigning the Polygon ID numbers

 

Imagine that your mesh was layed out flat, that`s what the UVW Unwrap modifier

does. This tutorial will illustrate how to texture the head mesh shown in the

following picture :

 

1. Select the front of the head at Sub-Object Polygon level. Press F2 to shade the selected

faces in red.

 

2. Type in number 1 in the Material ID and press enter. Doing this will assign

the number 1 to the selected polygons.

 

3. Select another set of polygons.

 

4. Continue selecting polygons and assigning ID numbers.

 

Color Coding the Model

 

Apply a Multi-Sub Object material to the mesh so that you

can see if all of the ID numbers are assigned correctly. This material is not

used with the final texture, so this is just a temporary material to check where

the ID`s are. Make sure that you turn Sub-Object off from the Modify command

panel before you do this.

• Turn Sub-Object off in the Modify command panel.
• Open the Material Editor.
• Click the Standard button and choose Multi/Sub-Object from the list.
• Choose Keep or Discard the original material. It doesn`t matter which, you haven`t changed it.
• Drag and drop the Sample Sphere on to the mesh.
• Change the color panels at the right of the Multi/Sub-Object material. You should see parts of the mesh changing color.
• Look at your model. If any of the colors are in the wrong place, go back to Editable Mesh Sub-Object level and assign those ID`s to the correct numbers.

Tip:

In Editable Mesh at the Polygon level, click a Polygon and the ID number of

that polygon will show up in the Material ID panel.

 

 

Mapping

 

Mapping a mesh `pins` vertices of the mesh to positions on

a picture. This is similar to a dressmaker laying out a pattern onto fabric. In

this sequence, you select parts of the mesh and apply mapping to each of the

parts.

 

Do the following for each set of ID numbers that you

assigned to the model.

• Turn off Sub-Object for the Editable Mesh.
• Apply the Mesh Select Modifier.
• Turn on Sub-Object and choose Polygon level.
• Click the Select by ID button, polygons with the number that is in the ID panel will become selected.
• Don`t turn Sub-Object off.
• Apply a UVW Map modifier. Use Planar, you may need to rotate and re-size the UVW Map Gizmo.

Examples:

 

 

UVW Unwrap

• Apply a Mesh Select modifier but don`t turn Sub-Object level on. Do this to return the selection level back to Object level. (if you look at the last UVW Map in the white panel it has a star next to the name. The star shows that the modifier has been applied to a sub part of the mesh.&
• Apply the Unwrap UVW Modifier.
• Click the Edit button, then open the Face ID drop down list at the bottom of the dialog.
• Choose just one number to display the faces with that ID number. The name Faces might be confusing, these are actually the Polygon ID numbers that you assigned at the beginning of this tutorial. So what you are doing is displaying only one set of ID numbers at a time.

  

• This screenshot of Polygon ID numbers shows a problem with some extra

  vertices at the right of the picture. These are faces that weren`t assigned the

  correct number. You will need to find out which number the extra vertices should

  be assigned to, re-assign them and re-map them. Then, you must re-map Polygons

  number 1 to fix the map.

  

• The above picture is what Polygon ID`s number 1 (on our model) looks

  like.

  Scale and Arrange the Sets of faces

  

Screengrab the UVW-Map and Assign the Skin

 

The next step is do a screengrab and to paint on the grab. Make this dialog

as big as possible. Make a screengrab of this dialog by pressing the PrtScn

button on your keyboard. Alternatively, go to www.techsmith.com

and download the evaluation version of Snagit, a really good screen/window

dialog capture program.

 

You should be able to see which set of polygons are where on your model. If

you can, then you can paint on the polygons.

• Crop the picture so that the dark gray rectangle is the edge of the

  painting.

  

• Save the picture in your favorite format. Good formats

  include .jpg, .tif, and .tga.

  

• The next step is simple but important.

  Open the Asset Manager and find the picture that you painted. Click and

  drag the picture onto the model. The result should show the picture fits

  perfectly according to the mapping and Polygon ID`s that you set.

  

Finally

 

It is recommended, but not essential that you collapse

your object back to an Editable Mesh. It is recommended because most game

engines require the UVW Mapping to be built in to the object. Not many game

engines will understand the Mesh Select and UVW Mapping if you leave it on an

object. The object will retain the mapping that you applied.

 

To collapse the object click Edit Stack in the

Modify command panel, then choose the Collapse All option.