Skin Mapping/ UVWrapping

[KBell]

im working really hard on my first saber based of the Aliesha Darkstar saber and im completely done with the Modeling aspecs of it but im just hit a road block. The Skinmapping/UVWrapping. Now i know alot of people have asked this but i haven't really seen a formable answer to this puzzling aspect of Modeling a Saber. Im using G-Max and im using this Tutorial

http://www.btinternet.com/~howe_alison/brothers/tutorial/gmax_jkii_tutorial.htm

 

and im stuck on this exact part "Now, to make the net. You have to unfold your model and lay it flat across the page, so it can be easily skinned. To do this, you will have to 'break' the vertices apart. Wherever 2 lines join, there is a vertex. If more than one line join at the same vertex, it can be broken into a series of 2-line vertexes. To do this, select the vertex and click Unweld, the eight button from the left in the top part of the Edit UVW Map screen. This breaks this:" and they show you a picture of the Netting. Which is very confusing to me. If anyone could answer this question i would REALLY appriciate it.

[Gram_Reaper]

Baker im stuck there too. and my saber looks like a mother to lay flat across the page

[JRA_Wolf]

I don't know what FBF was smoking when he wrote that, because it's a terrible way to unwrap, especially when working with simple cylinders..instead, try my way:

 

This is generlly the way I unwrap a sber model...this simple tutorial will assume the saber has two parts. For the sake of time, simply a cylinder for the saber itself, and a small switch box. First, select the main saber. Apply a UVW map to it. Check the "Cylindrical" radio button. Press the fit button, to make sure it's all correct, and such. Now apply a UVW Unwrap to the stack. Edit the unwrap. You should now see what the cylinder would look like if you unwrapped it, so it was flat, which is what we just did by applying the cylindrical map. Select all of the verts in the unwrap window and scale them down, so there is room forthe switchbox in the map as well. Now do the exact same thing for the switch box. If the switchbox is a seperate object from the saber, collapse the edit stack, and find the button labeled "attach". Press the button, so it is highlighted, then click on the saber itself. Say yes to any dialog boxes. Collapse the edit stack if there is one, and finally press UVW Unwrap. Your saber is now unwrapped and ready for skinning. To get it into an image editor, press the "Print Scrn" button on your keyboard, go into the image editor and paste it as a new document. Crop the image, so that only the unwrap window is vissible, skin on top of the wireframe that you see, save the image and apply it to the mesh in max

 

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them

[KBell]

THANKYOU JRA_WOLF you have just made my signature

i knew that he made the tutorial too difficult. soo anyway, thanks sooo much for the help

[Lord -=[FBF]=-]

JRA_Wolf:

firstly: i dont smoke.

secondly: ur suggested method doesnt work for me, the skinmap retains the map for the mesh u select first and the other meshes' maps disappear. it might work for you, but not me, which is why i suggested the way that i know works.

 

BakerS8er:

the images following that extract arent showing you what to do, they are intended to demonstrate what Breaking vertices does, ie seperating one joined vertex into all the component vertices its made of. im sorry if that confused you. once the vertices are broken, you can seperate them to allow you to unfold the mesh. the idea behind this is just like making a net for a dice (im sure u've all done that in primary school), except you cant draw one and cut it out to make a cube in gmax, you have to move the vertices around until it makes the net. so, for example, you break a corner into its component vertices, then move them apart and reweld several until you have three corners, one for each face that meets at the corner of the cube (each face is split into 2 polygons). then, you do this for the others, then move these around until each of the faces is the same size and shape as the one on the 3d model, but put into 2d, just like in a net for a dice. you can ignore the W co-ordinate, which coresponds to Z, but focus on getting the shape in the U and V co-ordinates, which corespond to X and Y. that is basically what you are doing - turning a set of co-ordinates in 3 planes (XYZ) to a set in 2 planes (X and Y - or in this case U and V). what you end up with is a net which, if you printed off from your computer, you could cut and fold into your model. not that im sugesting you actually do this...

 

anyway, i hope that clears things up. is anyone else having trouble with my tutorial? any suggestions for aditions or clarifications? let me know (prefereable by email to mat_howe@hotmail.com - i have a habit of forgetting to check my PMs) and i'll happily update it.

[JRA_Wolf]

For seperate objects: Unwrap each mesh, then collapse them, and attach so everything is one mesh. Apply another UVW map to the entire object. All of the unwrapped skinmeshes will now be on one map.

 

For one single mesh: Use the Polygon mode under edit mesh to select faces you want to map, then apply a UVW map, then UVW Unwrap. Resize skinmesh and move as needed. Collapse and repeat until all faces are mapped.

[KBell]

ok i got totaly lost at where you first said "the idea behind this is just like making a net for a dice " and everything after that. i just dont get what your saying .could you try to put it in more simpler terms.Its not your fault your confusing me Lord, its mine