headus 3D tools

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

I need to unwrap a model to get the texture off of it to be used as a skin.
I have a template for the skin, but how can I unwrap the model in the same way as the template that I am using?

I have done several tests and have come pretty close to cutting the model in the same places, but I can't get it to completely flatten and shape the same as the template, and I also need to keep the texture on the flattened uv map.

Is this possible?
thanks

headus · Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject:

Sorry, I don't really know what you mean by "template".

It sounds to me like you're trying to flatten the mesh out to match some texture that's already been painted, but wouldn't that have been painted to match UVs that already exist?

Phil

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

what I mean is, this game has a UV template that you can use to create skins and clothes etc by painting on them, then when you load the painted template back into the game, it wraps it around the mesh for you. So what I am trying to do is unwrap a 3D model that I have created so that the texture/skin on my model will fit the template to load into the game so that the character in the game will use the skin/texture of the model I made.

Does that make more sense?

headus · Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, perfect sense!

OK, the problem you're going to face is that UVLayout wants to flatten things out to minimize distortion, so trying to get an exact shape requires more work.

The first thing you'll want to do is to load the pre-painted texture in via the Display Trace button so you can actually see what you're trying to match in the UV view.

Next step would be to cut up the mesh into the pieces required, and flatten those out however UVLayout wants. Then move the various shells into place and start massaging the boundary to match the texture underneath. The "UVLayout-Tweaking-UVs" movies would be the one to watch for that.

Once you have the boundary shape right, use Shift P on any boundary point to pin them all. You can then reflatten that shell (with the F key) to even out the interior points. Sometimes it helps to scale the shell up a bit first, flatten, then shrink back down. Or just use the smoothing brush (i.e. 6 key) to even out the interior UVs.

Phil

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

and this will also unwrap the texture/skin as well so that it fits the template instead of having to paint/cut/paste etc over the UV template of the game?
Or do I need to go about it differently to unwrap the skin/texture itself to fit the UV template..

headus · Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:39 pm Post subject:

I guessing here, but I'd think you only need to save the flattened mesh from UVLayout as an OBJ, then load that into the game and the texture/skin will be applied correctly.

Phil

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

Ok thanks Phil.
Will give it a shot and let you know how it turns out.

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

Hmm, I have gotten the mesh pretty close to what I want, at least close enough to test.
But I haven't found a way to save it so that I can see the uvlayout or the texture.
If I open the saved obj in, say 3D max for example, all it shows is the model mesh.
I need the unwrapped texture in jpg, gif or some other image format so that it looks similar to this.

headus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject:

Currently UVLayout only outputs geometry and UVs, not texture.

Do you have a mesh and texture already, but are wanting to adjust the UVs *and* the texture to match some other UVs???

Sorry, I don't think I'm being much help, but maybe if you could give me a little more information I'll finally see the "overall picture".

Phil

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

Yes, I have the UVlayout, as you can see in the other post, and I have a mesh/model with the texture I want to use. I need to unwrap the texture so that it fits over the UVlayout.
I found a prog that will unfold the texture, but not to the specific pattern that I need it for loading into the game (it unfolds itself, I cannot cut it to unfold in a certain way).

It is a little difficult to explain exactly what I mean, but here is the texture unfolded in the prog I mentioned. I need to unfold it so that it resembles the picture above

headus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:25 pm Post subject:

OK, I understand now!

The bad news is that there isn't any way yet to re-paint the texture map within UVLayout. The slightly better news is that it can be done within CySlice (another one of our products) and I'd be happy to run your files though it if you want.

Email me the original OBJ and map, and the OBJ with edited UVs, and I should be able to send back the re-painted map.

Phil

casman · Posts: 12 Joined: 13 Jan 2009

Ok, I will when I get the chance to tomorrow.
Would you happen to have a demo of CySlice, or some way I can look it over or read about it?

headus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:00 pm Post subject:

You can read a little bit about CySlice here ...

http://www.headus.com.au/cyslice/

The texture resampling isn't even mentioned in the feature list; its only a very small part of the total package. At US$4000 or more per license, its pretty much an application exclusively used by high-end visual effects companies.

But the good news is that I fully intend to migrate some of the functionality of CySlice down into UVLayout, including the texture map repainting. In fact the observant ones amongst you may have noticed that when you run UVLayout, there will also be a "cyslice" process running. UVLayout is just a different GUI wrapper around the CySlice application.

Phil

SLI_Fallen · Posts: 66 Joined: 19 Dec 2008

This may or may not help, but Photoshop CS4 Extended Edition (PS4 EE) allows you to import 3D models in OBJ and paint on them directly as well as using the normal photoshop tools. (You can paint on the flattened 2D layers as well and then go back to 3D mode to preview the changes)

You could import the obj model you carve up in UVLayout (with as close as you can get UV's layed out to your texture template) and then use photoshop to carve up the 2D texture and fit it to the model. Put the existing texture in a photoshop layer and then on the on the main layer set the opacity down and you can use the "original" texture layer as a reference. (you can preview all this happening in the 3D mode in PS4 EE. and then just blend/paint them back together.

it's not exact, but if you can get the UV's "close enough" then you can use photoshop to cut-paste-blend the texture to fit. Just an idea.

Note that ONLY the extended edition of PS4 will work. That is to say the "regular" versions of Photoshop do not support 3D painting. PS3 extended had the 3D paint feature too but it was much more limited than the current PS4 EE version is.

headus · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the info!

I had heard about Photoshop's 3d paint, and in fact have used UVLayout to process a head scan for someone to load into PS. Its been suggested to me that a UVLayout to PS plugin would be a good idea, but I'm not sure that PS supports geometry reads/writes yet in its plugin interface.

Phil