Accessing UV Maps in Blender

[Gadget Girl]

Okay so Miss B has already given me some wonderful help to get me started in Blender.

So this started over here where I'm trying to make my first piece of clothing. I created it in Marvelous Designer, which did do UV mapping for me. In fact if I take a screen shot of the UV map in MD and add it as a texture to my shaders, things mostly display correctly, except that I loose some resolution, and things are slightly misaligned.

In Blender however, I'm loosing the UV is close, but not quite right. I assume this has to do with how I'm importing it. To bring in my geometry I've been going to File -> Import -> .obj and then choosing all three of the files MD gives me.

So the three bottom files, ignoring the two .jpg which are the actual texture files. What I get is this:

Which is sort of the inverse of what I want. The black and green stripes are the main texture that should be on all the areas except the long thin pieces that are my trim. They should have a different texture.

So what am I doing wrong?

Also, once I do get it to display correctly, how do I export just the image of the UV map so I can work on it in a photoshop like program?

 

[Miss B]

OK, I'm going to answer your last question first. To export a UV Map, select your entire Mesh and go to the UVs menu, and select the first option, "Export UV Layout". When you get to the export screen, at the bottom left of the Tools Palette on the left, you'll see several options you need to adjust.

First I click the All UVs and Modified options.

Next you choose the format you want. By default it's set to PNG, but I've never been happy with the PNG images when I import them into Photoshop. The other 2 choices are EPS or SVG. Since SVG is vector, and unless you're using an app such as Adobe Illustrator (which I haven't used in years), I suggest using EPS, which Photoshop can read and open. If you're using Gimp or another 2D graphics app, check to see if it can read EPS files first to be sure it'll work.

Next is file size. Blender defaults to 1024x1024. I generally prefer to work with larger UV Maps, so I change that to 2048x2048, but an even 2000x2000 is fine.

Then, by default, Blender chooses the "fill" option at 0.25, which is not good. You need to change that to 1.00, which is equal to 100%, otherwise it's going to be so light you'll hardly be able to see it.

Lastly, choose a place to save it. I generally save my file as a .Blend file, so I put the UV Layout in the same location.
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Now as to your problem importing the textures into Blender, I've never done that. Unless you plan to render your scene in Blender, it's not necessary. Follow the steps I listed above, and then open the exported UV Layout in your 2D graphics app of choice, and THAT's where you would add your textures in the proper places on the map.

Hope that helps.

 

[Gadget Girl]

Hope that helps.

So what I've figured out so far is an easy way to do most of what I want. Basically all I need to do is open the file in Blender, select the object and go into the UV editor then export the UV Layout. That gets me most of the way I want to be. Texturing in another program isn't much of an issue, I just need to figure out/remember a good way to get rid of the polygon lines in the layout so they don't end up on my texture. Also, I now know in future not to bother texturing in MD beyond just assigning a color to keep track of things and creating material groups, cause that's all going to go away.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Gadget Girl]

Okay, just remembered how to create the 'empty' space I needed. I knew I'd done it before, just couldn't remember how. Which means I'm well on my way to having the textures I want.

 

[Miss B]

I'm not sure what you mean by "empty" space, and as far as the mesh lines, they won't show once you add a texture on a layer on top of the UV Map in whatever 2D software you use. I always put the UV Map on the first layer, and then build up the textures for each part on separate layers over it, so the mesh lines won't show.

Oh, by "empty" space, do you mean spaces around each of the pieces in the layout? If so, just select the whole mesh and resize it down in the UV Editor window so it's not near the outer edges of the layout area. To resize, select the Mesh, and then use Ctrl+S and move your cursor in towards the center of the Editor window. Do it slowly and carefully so you only resize it a little. You can also move each of the pieces around until you get them facing the way you want. Ctrl+R for rotating, and Ctrl+G for grab/move. Those actions are the same as in the Edit window.

 

[Miss B]

Okay so Miss B has already given me some wonderful help to get me started in Blender.

You can view the mini-tutorial I set up for viewing the 3D View window, and the UVImage Editor, simultaneously with the following link:

Setting up Blender for UV Mapping

 

[Gadget Girl]

I'm not sure what you mean by "empty" space, and as far as the mesh lines, they won't show once you add a texture on a layer on top of the UV Map in whatever 2D software you use. I always put the UV Map on the first layer, and then build up the textures for each part on separate layers over it, so the mesh lines won't show.

I'm not sure why, but I like to make a 'cut out' like this:

I just had to remember how to do it, which is fairly easy in the program I use. I make a layer with a solid color, then use the magic wand to select the shapes in the layer with the UV, switch to the other layer, and delete.

 

[Miss B]

What do you use that for, if you don't mind my asking?

It looks like you're trying to create a mask.

 

[Pendraia]

I do that sometimes...but I tend to use a mid grey. It just makes selecting the different parts of the template easier Miss B.
Also if you are like me and add some pixels to the template so you don't get missing bits on the seams it makes it very easy.

Edited to add you see it a lot when people make skins for games. That's what I was doing when I first started to use it.

Also I sometimes do it in reverse as then I can use the midgrey to make bumps or displacement as I work.

 

[Miss B]

I do that sometimes...but I tend to use a mid grey. It just makes selecting the different parts of the template easier Miss B.

Ahhh, OK. What I usually do is separate the white background from the actual map pieces so I can have them on separate layers in Photoshop. Then I select each piece of the map and add around 20-25 pixels to the selection and save the selection. That way, when I have all the pieces selected and saved, I can place my textures as I want them, load a specific selection, inversion the selection, and finally delete all that isn't necessary. I also place each textured piece on a separate layer.

I find this a good method if I want to do several different texture sets for the same set. That way I don't have to recreate the selections again and again.

 

[Pendraia]

Yes...that works also. I use layers for everything and then have folders to keep things together as groups when doing textures. I don't do much these days but some of my files used to be huge by the time I finished.