juliusctw wrote:thank you vermeer, i will probably spent the next entire month studying art and all the links you have given me.
One tip, start from thos I labeled as basic...maybe is better...tho not in order.Your first step is uvmapping *not* texturing.
Before I start, i have several questions.
you mentioned that not all formats supports UV mapping, which format "does" support UV mapping, i would like to know specifically for obj , b3d, x?
Was mainly to point you out the fact not all formats support everything, as well as not all blender features can be exported.
In the case of OBJ, B3d, X, all support uv mapping. B3d is probably the most complete of these formats. My everlasting issue was no free tool exporting character animations in b3d...But Luke is solving that, as Blender is all power for character animation...
OBJ is great for statics, but imho...b3d is gonna be much a great deal. B3d support lightmaps, as well as multitexturing. Most of all because it supports multiples uv channels. Sadly, Blender only has one, but there are a pair or 3 free tools for generating lightmaps.
you have mentioned "smooth group", but i still don't know what that means.
Smoothing normals in my non deep knowledge on the internals, is a way in whcih light gets distributed in real time. It allwos that flattened surfaces look all smooth without increasing polycount. As the edges get smoothed, like blended visually. Art side, you can generate visual discontinuities in this smooth surface, whenever it's interesting: ie , the a real life sharpe edge, like edge of an axe, or a more clear case, if you want clothes sharp borders in some places. Or if want the mouth look like it has the tyipical crease.
All b3d, obj, x, support this.
just all not packages do. Blender will in a build that I think is already being done...
After reading your pm, you didn't seem to mention the technique I read from books,
1. export UV map to gimp
Oke, this is way after. This you start to do *once* you have uvmapped the model, usually you will do in Blender the UVs.
2. Color in a base color layer
3. Put in the brightness layer, (is that also called light map? )
No.You are texturing it. Lightmap is -usually- having another procedure. You will have texture map, you will have lightmap. Those are different bitmaps, and differnt workflows.
A model with its material can be uber complex.
But basicly , a game model should have:
- Not too much vertices to be used in real time 3d.
- Have smoothing groups (smoothing normals) applied.
- then have UVs (uv map, is NOT abitmap) for this model. Is an internal info that the mesh receives. The only bitmap to appear in this stage is that once you have made your UVs, you export the UV LAYOUT as a bmp or tga for REFERENCE, for painting your texture. Once it becomes a nice texture in Gimp, of course, you will apply it as the model texture, asigning it to the material difuse map. This works so in every package out there, tho the buttons or names vary.
-As I am telling you, you export from blender that UV template bitmap, and load in gimp. Then you do this procedure you describe of maing a layer with color, and above one with , surely you mean, lights and shadows but refering to starting to draw like in greyscale in mutlply layer mode or similar, so it will affect bellow color only layer as a drawing volumes generation so to make your drawn texture...
Or maybe what you have read somewhere, is that one can do a multiple layers gimp document, and paint there, so that they match, the base texture in one layer, and then based on that as reference, make a greyscale layer that would be specular maps, another greyscale one for generating standard bump maps...(not normal maps, tha'd be more complex)
But no. Forget about so much complexity. First concentrate on doing a simple texture for the model.A game model can do just with that if well done.
Only this: you export the uv template bitmap from blender, and paint over in Gimp(but i advice you use free photos first, just editing like a collage, is easier). I'd recomend, in a layer over it.
4. Put in the bump map layer
is this a valid approach?
Forget the bump for now. besides, using a bump with elegance is not easy at a first time
I keep hearing about LSCM for blender, but it seems that there are several other UV mapping approaches, such as painting directly on the mesh. How many ways are there in blender? Which one do you recommend?
well..the problem is you yet have some confussion in your mind about what uv mapping is , and what is actually painting-texturing. Are to sepearate procedures, done with different tools.
Deep paint3d 1.6 allowed to do the Uv maps in the same interface, but is sorta non practical imo.And anyway, was actually an uvmapping software embeded rawly into the painting application.
Dont confuse painting (which you can do in 2d (over the uv template) , or with 3d painting. In both cases, you are painting pixels in a bitmap, not generating uv coords, that step has to be done before. And in both cases, you actually paint over the 2d template. Just with 3d painting, you visuallypaint over the 3d model, tho you can go back and force to gimp to do 2d touches instead of 3d strokes.)
So, for the texturing, is easier 3d painting, but usually the tools are no way as accurate and good as in Gimp or Photoshop, for this of actual painting.I havent tested yet the new -texture- painting of Blender.Am afraid it'd be useful mainly for a mark up of where stuff goes so its easier later on in 2d paiting tool.
And lastly, I have finished my University Campus (3ds format),
3ds format often gives probs with smoothing info, I think as it does not support it well...it actually breakes the mesh wherever 2 uv coords are found in a single 3d mesh vertex. You could convert the 3ds files to OBJs or x, or b3d. But if those 3ds files already look good to you, ok then.Anyway, levels usually look more or less ok with that format.
I would like to put automatic light in there. I think i can do it in irrEdit.
Oh, ok. Yup, was forgetting that. Yup, definitely, go for it, is your best choice. You refer to lightmaps. And yes, funcionality already inside irredit.
One thing less to worry about
Indeed, you can import whatever the mesh from whatever, as Niko as put then levels stuff way much easier thanks to that.
My question is, how should the light be position? Is there a general technique? How many should I have? I don't know much about lighting techniques.
If you refer to lightmaps, you put how much lights you want and in the way you want, it'll calculate the lightmap depending on that. The lightmap is a greyscale map that makes the level look like lit and shadowed, giving ambience, volume, realism. A well lightmapped level is all in the game ambience and feel.So, position, lights, light colors, etc, is all up to your scene and wish.