headus 3D tools

[grnbriar]

I was quickly able to get uvs for my game models with pro, but before I buy it I need to know how to create a SINGLE set of uvs where parts overlap. I will be texturing by materials, as there are a lot of alternate textures for each section of the models to mix and match, so each section - head, torso, legs, hands and feet will use a separate texture. To not waste most of my texture memory and to let me use lower res textures, I need each section (obj material) to fill the uv space. NOTE - this only creates one uv per face point, I just use the same uvs more than once in the entire model.

I see extra spaces marked in uv space, but pack always scales everything down into one uv space. Is the only option to avoid all pack functions and just place them all manually so sections that will be used for the same texture do not overlap?
Since many models use a separate higher res image for faces, I'm guessing there is a process for this, but I'm just not finding it in the pro demo.

Also, is selection by material coming soon? As that is the first step I have to do, break the model by material and then break each of those up into a uv space.

Hope to buy as soon as you are back next Monday as I'll need a dongle.

Thanks,
David

[TwoSheds]

You can do that easily enough by unwrapping and resizing all your parts to fill a whole square and then shift+ MMB dragging them to wherever you want them in the 0-1 UV space.
Just unwrap, then resize with shift+RMB-drag and then shift+ MMB-drag thenm to where you want them.

[grnbriar]

So I have to just stack them all on top of each other in one uv space block?

I was hoping for a way to see each set separately to make sure I can pack them close but not overlapped. I have 5 overlapping sets on each model. Hard to see all at once in one uv space.

In my custom editor I can show each set one at a time by showing only surfaces using a given texture. Trying to avoid many round trips back and forth to get a decent layout. I need some way to see each set one at a time, or side by side or whatever as I build them.

[TwoSheds]

I have to admit, I might not completely understand what you're going for, but if I understand, you could use the "New Box" tool in the Pack menu to group your sets together.
And in the Move/Scale/Rotate menu you could click the "Local" button to keep them from being scaled back down to the relative size of your model.
If you're just using the demo though, I don't know. Some features of the Pro version aren't available in the demo, but I'm not sure what.

Also, you could place the UV islands in regions outside of 0-1 and get them to the scale and location relative to each other that you want, and then in the Move/Scale/Rotate menu >Move tab, use the input fields to move them all over in U and V to the location of 0-1.

[headus]

Maybe you're talking about tiles? In the Pack tool you can set the tiling U and V, so change the first (U) value to "5", then repack. All the shells will then pack into a series of 5 tiles from left to right.

If you want to make sure that all the shells for hands end up in one tile, then use "New Box" to put all those shells into a box, and that will keep them together during any repacking.

Selection by material group was added in the latest release (i.e. v2.06.02).

Phil

[grnbriar]

Do tiles each have u and v values 0.0 to 1.0? (which is what I need)
or are they compressed into on 0 to 1 uv space?

If I select by material, put each in a box (5) tile u 5, I would expect to get 5 layouts, each showing one material, each 0 to 1 u and v. No materials overlap, so each face would only get one set of uv values.

I then texture the model with 5 materials with different texture maps, using only 1 set of uvs.

Is that the correct understanding?
It sould like it will do perfectly what I need, I just had to understand how. I was not at all clear on tiling in the app.

David

[headus]