Missing something obvious re: uvmaps

[Achilles]

I have my female padawan robe model all adjusted and am ready to start editing the uvmap.

 

I have the unwrap uvw modifier added to my stack (between my mesh and the skin modifier...skin modifier on top). I click on it, select the faces I want to map, make my edits, etc. So long as I have the skin or unwrap uvw modifier selected, everything looks perfect in the viewport.

 

However, once I click on the mesh (how it will actually look in the game) there's all kinds of funky stitching...that isn't stitching. The mesh is showing the texture applied to the old (default) uvmap.

 

I thought perhaps the seemingly easy way wasn't going to work and that I was going to have to make my own uvmap from scratch. So as a test, I deleted the unwrap uvw modifier, added the uvw mapping modifier and a new unwrap uvw modifier (like I would when skinning a new lightsaber hilt).

 

Open up the uvw editor and am not too happy about what I see, but whatever. Scale and move everything out. Pick part of the uvmap to test, get everything lined up, and hop back over to viewport to see. Sure enough everything is line up nice and pretty. However once I go back to my mesh, the texture is still being applied to the default uvmap...you know...the one I deleted. Not to mention that on the current map, everything except a small part of the map has been scaled and moved out of the center tile. *bewildered*

 

So there it is. I'm out of my element and have no idea what's causing this. I checked the modeling and skinning forum and read svösh's posts on uvmap. I even went back to read part of T7nowhere's saber tutorial. I checked the max help files, but could only find high-level information about what a uvmap is. I would look to google for help, but aside from tutorials (which I already have) I don't really know what I'd be googling for...

 

If someone has an answer or could at least point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.

 

TIA

 

*vows to stop modding at 2am*

[oldflash]

somethink like this I was get when I use not uniform scale on mapping (uvw) or when I forget something selected after sublevel edit (vertex, edge, face or polys). However, select faces which you want to map, hit make planar then use uniform scale and move-it to set new position on texture.

Suggestion: If you try to remap original model best if you reset xform, convert that mesh to editable mesh, remove aurora trimesh or skin or other attribute, remap and save uvw map then reload original model and apply new uvw map (which you save early).

[Kha]

So long as I have the skin or unwrap uvw modifier selected, everything looks perfect in the viewport.

However, once I click on the mesh (how it will actually look in the game) there's all kinds of funky stitching...that isn't stitching. The mesh is showing the texture applied to the old (default) uvmap.

 

When you say you click on the mesh means you click on the Editable Mesh modifier? Because there is a "button" under the modifier list called "Show End Result on/off toggle", and in the Editable Mesh modifier it is always disabled by default (it appears half white and half grey) if you activate it (all white), the model will show with all modifiers applied.

 

Sometimes when I need to remodel something after my uvmap is done, my uvmap get messed, it calls back the old uvmap layout and I lose the work done on the uvmap, I don't know why this happens but to avoid that I Collapse the Unwrap UVW modifier before do any remodeling. I've noticed that this doesn't happen often if I apply a new material to the model with the map on it... or perhaps I'm more carefull now...

 

Hope it helps somehow.

Kha

[Achilles]

@Oldflash: Yeah, I wasn't clear, sorry. When I was remapping I was selecting the faces, planar map, etc. I shouldn't have assumed everyone would know that I was doing that. I give your suggestion a try tonight and see if it works.

 

@Kha: Ah, so that's what that button does . I used it and sure enough the editable mesh modifer now looks like it should. However the model still looks like hell in game. Replacer gives me an error when I try to save the .mdx, so I wonder if that's the source of the problem and not the model itself. I may put some time into figuring that one out first.

 

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully I get this nailed down soon.

[T7nowhere]

You need to know that when using the replacer app you can't change the UV poly groups, you can edit them only. The UV poly groups must mirror the detached polys on the mesh. If you changed the poly groupings you will get errors when trying to save the mdx.

[Achilles]

...and it says that in the readme (kinda). I didn't put 2 and 2 together to figure out that's what that meant. Just so I'm clear, that means I cannot use planar map? I can only move verts inside the edit uvmap window? Thank you for the information.

[T7nowhere]

you should be able to use Plannar except you will have to use it on the entire poly group. The main thing to be carefull of is not to detach any verts in the uv editor.