RGiles reported some times ago that UVmapper Pro has great problems in dealing with non-square images.
I can suggest a workaround:
1) save the template in 512x512, then resize it with your paint program and lastly create a 256x512 texture that fits the resized template;
2) load the 256x512 texture into UVmapper Pro; if the image looks stretched, and this disturbs your work, you can resize the window, until in the Status Bar you can read an Aspect Ratio of 1.00 (note: the Aspect Ratio is shown only when you have loaded a texture and a model);
3) adjust the object parts over the texture.

As for your second question, as far as I know, UVmapper Pro can't stretch a selection in only one direction. I do that manually.

Thanks, I thought I was just being stupid and couldn't find the option in the menus. I don't know why it bothers letting you save the template in a different proportion to the way it saved your map! If it lets you use your own texture checker, then I can make myself one where the squares are twice the width, so I can still get the proportions correct.

Sorry, our messages overlapped. I've edited my previous message a little.

I've been considering buying UVMapper Pro, but if handling non-square maps is so complicated with it, I don't think I'm going to spend money on that. UV mapping is painful enough already :gonemad: . At least I can still do that with the Classic version, even though the lack of an Undo function is a problem.

Me again, cos tho I clicked thanks the other day when I read this tutorial, I didn't realise then how much it would help me - and I just had to come back and say THANK YOU sooo much for this mini-tutorial... it was wonderfully set out and easy to understand - and it really made everything go CLICK in me brains - it did, it did!! :D

Yes I'm strange, cos I think UV Mapping has become one of my fave things to do at the moment, lolol! I really enjoy that part of making a mesh now, since I read this information.

So, thank you again so much for your hard work.... I've read just about every word you've ever written on these forums in trying to figure this whole object creation etc etc stuff all out I'm very grateful!

wow ty so much. you made it very easy for me to understand
ty for doing this

anita

I found some excellent video tutorials by Trp.Jed using LithUnwrap if anyone is interested.

The files are fairly large [33MB and 120MB] so a fast connection is needed.

They can be found here:

http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/s...&threadid=31869

Hi

Is it possible to just do a UV remapping? What I mean is using SimPE - export the GMDC, do the UV remap & then just import it back in? I think this should work but I am having problems with it. The UV mapping is correct & it does show up in the game but the problem I am having is that the car moves along the street bit the driver & windshileds are moveing slightly slower than the car - it's weird.

Perhaps i am just not checking the right options when I do the Export/Import. I don't know.

If I use the MeshTool the car stays as only one piece but then it reverts back to the previous UV mapping - it just totally ignores what chanhges I made.

Any ideas would be appreciated - I'm not really looking for someone to look at this - mostly I'm just asking for suggestions

Thanks!

Moraguu

I've done what you ask about very often (exporting the mesh as .obj, fixing the UVmap and reimporting via the MeshTool), and I never had problems. As for SimPE, there are no specific options for Exporting the mesh. The same applies to the MeshTool: I never change any option, just import the mesh into the GMDC in "Advanced View".

If you use SimPE to re-import the mesh, than you can't use the .obj format: you have to export and import in Milkshape 3D Ascii (.txt), or extracht the entire GMDC and import it in Milkshape with the proper GMDC plugin. In both cases, you are bound to use Milkshape, that doesn't allow you to remake the UVmap...
I suggest to use the MeshTool.

Anyway, the problem you describe (some parts that "move slower" thatn the main body) is new to me: if the joint assignments get somehow corrupted, the parts won't move at all...

Thanks Numenor I'l work on it some more today. LOL - it was pretty funny seeing the car move like that!

I'm using Ultimate Unwrap for the UV mapping - I really like it so far. I'll report back & let you know what happenes.

Thank you!

Morague

Nevermind. I have learned something important - when meshing seperate pieces, don't have them intersect. Making it flush instead fixed it and so it wasn't a mapping problem at all, but a mesh one. :santa:

Hi everyone,

I'm having a problem for uv-mapping a plane (err... well that's the name I found in Milkshape, after the "box" button.) because when I click "edit > new uv map > box" in UVMapper I can see a face but I don't know if it's the front or the back (I think that's the front) and I'd like to know if I can separate both front and back (NB : "split front/back" is still checked).

Does anyone know ?

ben,
a plane mesh usually only has one side, the 'back' side has no face and will be transparent
that's why uv-mapper refuses to map it. If you want a double sided plane, make another one and 'stick' it to the back of the one you have

Ahh... OK thanks Lethe ! Once again you can help me !

So an object's shadow is a plane too, isn't it ? But how can I be sure that the face that will be uv-mapped is the good one ?

I'll try it then. I want to make a "poster"

if you have two faces,
use the 'plane' button in UV-mapper instead of box
depending on whether or not you want a different backside of the poster,
split front and back
if you don't, they'll both be mapped to the same spot, so front and back will have the exact same image
if you split them, just colour both rectangles differently and test ingame which is the front

if you only have one face, it's automatically the good one

Numenor: Thanks This helped me finish an object that wasnt lookign right.

Coloring individual vertex groups:

If your object is complex, make more and many groups in your 3 D program. It won't hurt and provides enormously much more flexible UV-Mapping possibilities. They will get regrouped when you import back in to eliminate the material groups anyway. but to UV-Mapper, if you keep the MTL file (or whatever file your 3D program generates for material groups), they will always be re-mappable as individual components

When you first open your object in UV-Mapper, choose from the menu options Edit >>> Color >>> Material - each individual group will be a different color and much easier to see against the others.

When you have done that, drag the cursor around everything and use the '/' key on the numeric keypad to shrink the whole object down to a tiny box, maybe 20x20 pixels or 10 by 10, and move it to a corner of the screen. your mesh is still with you, it is out of the way leaving you nearly the whole screen to work with and each part is still selectable when required.

When you 'select by material', put the cursor over the tiny box, and it will change to the cross..slide it to the centre of the screen and then tap the numeric keypad asterisk '*' until it is larger - and there will be only that part of the mesh you selected by color! Finer adjustments smaller or larger can be made with the '+' and '-' keys. You can of course also hand drag, but using those keys will preserve whatever perspective UV-Mapper has applied. Selecting 'scale' when mapping sometimes preserves the correct perspective, and sometimes not.

Using these methods you can re-map individual components of your mesh, change their relationship to each other for UV-mapping purposes and so on.

Making your square, square and your circle, circular

UV-Mapper Classic doesn't have a grid which hinders re-shaping a distorted object or portion of an object. What I have done, to ensure my basic shapes are correct, is create a series of small 256*256 BMP's of several basic shapes (circle, square, triangle etc) black against white. I import this into UV-Mapper as a background 'CTRL-B' and shape my part to the shape of the background image (the background image itself can be rotated or flipped as well). Once I have the right shape, it can be resized using the '+' and '-' keys and retain it's perspective. It may be the shape looks squashed or stretched, but by matching your object shape to the background shape you can be 100% sure, it will come out the correct shape when textured.

Rotation:

UV-Mapper Classic DOES allow rotation of an object although I have seen it mentioned elsewhere that it doesn't. To rotate a part, select it by material, select 'rotate' from the menu, enter the required degrees against the axis required, and then making sure the part of your object you want to rotate is still selected, re-map it. If you have done it right, the selected portion of your mesh will now be rotated. WARNING: Before mapping the next selection, go back to 'rotate' and enter '0' where you had previously entered a rotation value or your new selection will also rotate.

This means you can of course, have a completely different UV-Map for each individual component on the same page.

UV-Mapper Classic is much more flexible than its simple interface might suggest. I hope these additional hints help as well

Darylmarkloc - Thanks a million for the additional info! I wasn't sure if all those feature were active in the Classic version, too (I mainly use the Pro).
I'm going to add a link to your post in the main page.

Great thread Has reveiled some things for me, thanks for a partial enlightenment!

Have a few questions regarding the mapping and painting process...

After flattening the mapping and arranging the UV's, what format do I have to save the file as? I am using 3dsmax8, can it be done with this app alone and without mapper classic? Texture baking?

When painting the textures in graphics program, do you have to cover only the designated squares (object mapped pieces) and leave the rest white or untouched? If not (which I'm thinking) then how do I say add a design to one part of many of the same piece of mapped geometry and know where exactly it will end up being rendered finally?

Please help!!

You need to only texture the mapped parts, although it's probably a good idea to have a safe marginal so that when the texture image gets resized for the smaller "mip maps", you won't get any odd streaks. I personally usually paste the texture to fill the whole image even if not all of it gets used.

You can have the uv-map image as a separate layer over your texture that you're working on that you can toggle to be visible and invisible to get an idea where each part of your texture will end up at.

Yes! Was hoping someone was going to confirm that

One quick last question, what format does the UV map have to be exported as from max, is it dds? (Just got the plug in and utilities from link here.)

Cheers

I have a rather silly question here- when you map a UV model, if you stretch/shrink shapes, and you apply a texture to them that is in proportion, will it stretch in game?

When you stretch a mesh, without changing anything in the UVmapping and in the texture, in game the texture will look stretched.

Thanks for explaining UV mapping! This helps me alot!

Can someone please tell me about this? I'm reasonably proficient in Max, and my thing (tutorial table) is perfectly mapped there. I'm just trying to put a different texture on the legs and the top part.

I'm obviously doing something wrong, since it's losing its mapping coordinates along the way. I haven't been able to find out what by looking through the forum...