Texturing Tutor

Anything to do with Drakan level editing and modifications, post it here! Also this is the place to tell us about your new levels and get player feedback.
Post Reply
User avatar
shoprat
Dragon
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:52 pm
Location: USA

Texturing Tutor

Post by shoprat »

The post can be seen with the example pictures by using the internet archive website : The Wayback Machine. Copy and paste the entire two link text into the address bar of your browser.


http://web.archive.org/web/200009151043 ... turing.htm


One of the main reasons the Modeler exists is because of deficiencies most 3D modeling packages have in their ability to precisely control texture mapping. Using the Modeler not only gives you control of the texture mapping coordinates but you have the advantage of seeing the models rendered the same way they will appear in the game. This will help you greatly to reduce texture seems and stretching. The Surreal Modeler is a safe and effective way to texture your models and 9 out of 10 artist approve the results they get when compared to other texturing alternatives.

MAPPING____

Use Selected Polygons – To editing texture coordinates you must select polygons that use the same texture on the model and use this command to load the coordinates into the Texture Mapping Window.
Apply Mapping on Change – This is checked by default. It allows the changes you make in the Texture Mapping window to update on the model in real time.
Apply Mapping Now – Only used if the Apply Mapping on Change command is turned off.
Use Current Texture – If you select a texture in the texture window and use this command the polygons selected on the model will change to use the texture selected.

EDIT____

Undo –
Flip – This will flip the texture coordinates on the selected polygons. Choose between horizontal or vertical.
Rotate – Rotates the texture coordinates on the selected polygons. Choose between right and left.
Halve – Choose between Width, Height or Both to shrink the texture coordinates by half.
Double – Opposite of Half. This command is proportionate to the amount the texture is tiled.
Fit to Polygon –

Align Vertices A –
Select All –

VIEW____

Zoom –
Colors – Changes the color of the texture coordinates selected and unselected.
Show Border – Checked by default, the boarder will help you select texture coordinates, especially when fencing an area close to the edge of the texture.
Tiling Properties – Selecting this option will bring up a tiling dialogue box that will allow you to input the amount the texture is tiled in the U and V range.



EASY AS 1, 2, 3, ok maybe 6

Lets go over the basic procedures to texturing in the Modeler. Download the [Tutorial.zip] file and follow along as we go through these easy steps to texturing.

Step 1____Applying the First Coat

Unzip the Tutorial.zip file that should contain Cube.max, Cube.reo and CheckerBoard.bmp. If you have 3D Studio MAX you can load the Cube.max file and practice applying mapping and exporting it. However, in this tutorial we are going to concentrate on the Modeler and assume you know how apply texture maps in MAX.

Load the REO file into the Modeler. If you press return (short cut for rendering an object) you’ll get a dialogue box telling you the object can’t render because there are faces that contain invalid material. To quickly assign a texture to all the faces make sure your in polygon mode and select all (ctrl a). Select the checkerboard texture in the texture window and click on the "assign to selected polygons button" located at the far left on the texture windows main menu. Activate the main window and press enter. You should see you model appear solid gray. Congratulations! You have now applied a texture map to all the faces on the model.

Step 2____Putting On The Ritz

No we need to get the texture mapped on the model correctly. First lets quad the polygons to help us select and texture them easier. Under Edit/Polygon/Make Quads enter 2 as your angle threshold click select then apply. Now all polygons with an angle threshold of 2 or lower have been made into quads and by the looks of it, most of the model is now quaded (new word). Great!

Select the both polygons opposite of the arch, make sure you have the checkerboard texture selected and rotate the model so the selected faces are facing you. To select more than one face at a time press the ctrl key when selecting. Select the texturing tool (t) and make sure From Existing Vertex is selected. Follow the directions given in the Texture Mapping window, by picking first the upper left point, then the lower right and finally the lower left. You must select a vertex in this mode when assigning a mapping point. Your model should now look like this; the vertices are numbered in the order they were mapped.

Select the polygons on the ends of arch and repeat the previous texturing steps. Your model should now look like this; the vertices are numbered in the order they were mapped.

Now let’s texture the inside of the cubes arch. Rotate the Cube so you’re looking up at the arch. Select the polygons on the inside of the arch and again repeat the previous steps.

The last step is to texture the top and bottom faces. Select top and bottom faces and rotate the cube so you’re your looking down on the top and texture.

At this point if your Cube.reo doesn’t match the one above go back and repeat the above steps, paying special attention to the order in which the vertices where mapped.

Now the entire cube has mapping coordinates and for the most part it looks good. In the next section we will tile the texture in the arch so it matches the texture on the outside of the cube.

Step 3____Tiling

In this section we will using a technique called tiling to align the texture in the arch to match the outside. Tiling allows you repeat a tile any number of times across a polygon, or group of polygons in this case.

Select the polygons on the inside of the arch. In the Texture Mapping window go to Use Selected Polygons under the Mapping menu. Your texture will appear with lines across it. Those lines represent the texture coordinates on you mapped in the previous excursive. Under the View menu go to Tiling Properties. A dialogue box will appear in which you can type in the amount the texture will tile. Type 2 in the V Range and press ok. Now you will notice the texture has repeated itself twice vertically in the Texture map window, however your texture coordinates remain the same. Now we need to adjust the mapping so it matches the outside. Select Double Height under the Edit menu. This will stretch your mapping coordinates to cover the entire texture. Now we need to do a some manual labor. Select and move the lines in the Texture Mapping window up and down until you get the inside of the arch to align with the outside. Use the arrow keys to help position the mapping coordinates. Note: If your having problems aligning the texture try moving the lower section of the arch first then the top. What you’re looking for is an even grid pattern that matches the outside. Not all the squares are going to match so don’t worry to much about that. Your Cube should look like the one below.

Ok, that's it. You've got the basics of texturing down. Now try the Bounding Tutorial. Can you say fun?
MAKING POLYGONS TWO SIDED

Select the polygon/s you want selected either by using the select tool or if an entire texture map is to be two sided then select all polys that use this material under the Edit menu. Next go to Edit/Polygons/Properties and select 2 sided. Or press Alt+Enter to bring up the dialogue box. The modeler assigns faces as 2 sided, not textures. If a texture in MAX is marked two sided the modeler will read that information when you import.
ALPHA MAPS

Alpha maps are not shown in the modeler. They are viewed in game only. To automatically load an alpha with a texture name it the same with "_A" as the suffix. Ex. Texture1.bmp is the texture, and Texture1_A.bmp is the alpha map. By naming the alpha map the same as the texture you will eliminate the need to load and assign your alpha maps to textures in the Level Editor. When making an alpha map, make sure the file is saved as a grayscale image. Non-grayscale images will produce incorrect alpha maps.

Post Reply