How to find texture surface ends

[LordRevan999]

I am doing some retexturing of a face texture the thing is I need to find where there are surface ends so I can separate them to work on them separately.I tried doing it without finding and separating surface ends but that is not working in photoshop can any one help me.

[Inyri]

Only way I really know of is to open them in gmax or a similar 3d model editor and grab the UVW maps and lay them over/under your texture.

[Prime]

If I understand what you're asking, you can add a new layer to the texture and draw on brightly coloured lines (any colours that you can clearly see on the texture) so that you can determine where the texture mapping ends. Just keep adding lines until you narrow down to the area that you are interested in. It is a bit of a pain, but it works.

[Inyri]

The problem with KotOR's textures is that they're a little sloppy near the edges, as most game textures are now. Someone could spend hours trying to figure out where the edges are, or they could spend 10 minutes and grab the UVs. Naturally your choice, Lord Revan999, but I'd go with the simpler method rather than 'guess'n'check'. Plus if you load the model into gmax or 3ds max you can see the texture on the model while you're editing it and see how it looks.

[LordRevan999]

Hey,Prime your idea might work but how do I add lines I am not asking that I don't know where to add lines but I don't know surface ends and I can barely see them so how can I add lines can you explain me.

 

And InyriForge if I had 3d max or gmax then I would not be here asking how to find surface ends and please don't say I should buy it I can't even find a single 3d max program cd in my country.

[Inyri]

gmax is free for download. Click me.

[LordRevan999]

Now I have opened gmax what should I do and how do I import the texture please help me.And Thank you InyriForge for giving me link to gmax.

[Inyri]

First you need to import the model (you'll need to export the MDX and MDL of the model you want to view, then use MDLOps to convert it to an ascii MDL -- I believe MDLOps has documentation on how to do this -- if not, check the material here in Holowan Labs). You can then use NWMax (again check the resources here) to import the model. Once imported, choose the mesh and apply a "Unwrap UVW" modifier, at which point you can view the 'object edges' as you call them.

[LordRevan999]

No,I cant uvm wrap it can you give me some details

[Inyri]

Hopefully this will help. I even went into gmax for you to make sure it was the same as in 3ds max.

 

Click for a larger image.

 

[LordRevan999]

Hey,InyriForge thanks it's helpful but my last question is that is there a way to see these edges in photoshop for easy texturing

[Inyri]

There's a plugin called Texporter that may or may not work for gmax -- I don't use gmax, so I can't be sure if it works or not (google it to find it). If it doesn't work, just use print screen to copy the Unwrap UVW window and paste it into photoshop. Crop and you're done.