Texturing Sad Mike

Texturing Sad Mike is split in two parts. Both parts are about texturing SadMike's head but each part will deal with this problem in a different way. In part one we will see how to apply textures using the texporter plugin, and in part two we will use the "Unwrap UVW" modifier.

The completed model on the left is where we stopped last time. (see here for this modelling tutorial) I did some modifications, nothing big, I just added some new edges to make a smoother model. So now it is time to put some textures on it.

The Image above shows just an Editable Mesh without any modifiers.

Now apply a Mesh Smooth modifier. You can change the number of Iterations to 2. You can also change this any time later so set Iterations to 1 for now. The Computer will work faster that way.

The next step is to apply a UVW Mapping modifier.

You can use either the Cylindrical or Spherical mapping type. Here, I used Cylindrical, because I wanted to concentrate on the face's texture.

When you apply the Modifier you will see that the gizmo is aligned in a wrong way. We will have to rotate it twice to place it in the right position.

At first we will rotate it by -90° (watch the minus) around the Y-axis, to place it in up/down position.

Now we rotate it by -90° around the Z-axis, so that the green line of the gizmo is at the back of SadMike's head.
This is the place where the texture is going to be split and then unwraped into 2D by MAX. This green line should always be hidden from the camera!

After all the rotating just hit the "Fit"-button in the UVW Mapping modifier. Now the head is completely in the gizmo cage.

Next step is to use Texporter. If you install it and you do not see it in the Utilities panel, click the "More..."-button and find it in the list.

Texporter is a very useful easy-to-use-very plugin.

It allows you to specify the image's size. This is the size of the image that Texporter will print the unwraped mesh into.

After unwrapping you can save the image and open it in your favourite 2D Software. There you paint the texture over the image and later assign it to your model. I used 2000x1200 pixels, here. Now, click "Pick Object" and select SadMike's head.

Texporter will start calulating. When it's done an image of thet unwraped model appears. Save this image and use the painting software (I use Photoshop myself) to paint the texture over this image.

Textporter will mark overlapping faces red. See that red smile? That can be a problem.

To solve it try to rotate the mapping gizmo in the UVW Mapping modifier,like on the image on the left.

You will end up with a different unwrapped image. Maybe it is a a little better than the previous one but there is still a red smile... You can perhaps try some different type of mapping - spherical for example.

But in the end the smile will remain. Luckily those faces will be covered by the chin and cannot be seen by the camera. Now all you have to do is to paint a decent texture over the image you exported and use it in your material's diffuse map slot. Bump and specular map should be created from this diffuse map by first converting it to grayscale mode and than adjusting the white and black parts of the image.

 
Proceed to page two, to learn texturing SadMike in a more complex way!

This is where we start into the second part of this tutorial.

Part 2 illustrates amore complex way of applying textures - but at the end it is more rewarding.

To begin all we need is just an Editable Mesh. No other modifiers applied. Go into the Polygon Sub-Object mode and select the polygons (faces) of the neck. Set their material ID to 2.

Now material # 2 is assigned to the neck.

In the same way, select the rest of the head and assign material #1. Now the head has material material #1 assigned and the neck has material #2 painted on.
 
You can do this in another way. In Polygons mode make sure that Ignore Backfacing is unchecked and in any viewport select the whole head. Set the Material ID to 1. Now just select the faces of the neck and set the Material ID to 2. This way might be faster. Do it the way what works best for you.

Now select all faces of the head that have Material ID1 assigned. Use the "Select By ID" button for that.

When they are selected apply a UVW Mapping modifier and use Spherical type. Find where that green line - your job is to place it vertically along the back of the head.

Rotate the gizmo by -90° around the Y-axis.

Now rotate the gizmo -90° along it's Z-axis. Finally the green line of the mapping gizmo is situated at the back of Mike's head.

Your next step is to apply and use the Mesh select modifier. In Polygon mode, select by Material ID, all faces that have the ID2 (namely the neck).

Once all faces are selected apply a UVW Mapping modifier. As you can see the placement of the gizmo is again wrong. Rotate it twice to get it into the right position.

Rotate once around Y-axis and once around the Z-axis by -90° each.

Now just slightly adjust the angle to fit the neck's direction.

In the lover left corner you can see what the Modifier Stack looks like. This is everything we have applied.

Proceed to page 3 to finish Mike off.
 

Now...collapse everything, and we - once again - have just a single Editable Mesh.

Apply an Unwrap UVW modifier, click on the "Edit..." button and the "Edit UVW's"-window is opened.

As always this group of lines is most confusing. See the black lined border? It represents the size of the texture map.

Be sure that the final map is exactly of that size. Only then it will fit correctly.

At the bottom of the window there's a drop down menu - select "2". You will be presented the unwrapped mesh of SadMike's neck (Material ID2).

Now in the same menu, select number "1", and only the mesh with Material ID1 (Sad's head) is displayed.

 
After adjusting, moving, scaling.... this is what you should have in the "Edit UVW's"-window.

Use the tools at the top left corner of the window. Bringing it to shape can take quite some time and is sometimes tricky to do. You will however be rewarded with a perfectly fitting texture map for your models!

Before applying the Unwrap-modifier you can create a Multi-Sub-Object material with two materials that have checker maps in diffuse map slots. Checker maps tilling should be U-10 and V-10, so you get something like a chess board material. Apply this material on the head and see were the the textures stretch. Moving vertices in the UVW's window you should be able to correct those parts. When you are finally satisfied with the unwraped mesh use this image as a guide to paint a texture over it. Again, I use Photoshop. (Click the image to see full resolution image)

After the Unwrap modifier apply a Mesh Smooth modifier with Iterations set to 2.

After the texture is painted over that unwrapped image of the mesh, assign it to the Diffuse map slot. Bump and Specular maps are made of the same map used in the diffuse slot, by first converting it to grayscale mode and then adjusting the white and black areas of the image till you strike a satisfying result.

Below is the map I put on this model. I used a digital camera to take photos of human skin. Then cut the parts of those photos and combine them into one. The central part of the image is created from combining 3 or 4 photos of a human head taken from the side. Everything around that is done with the Pattern Stamp tool (Photoshop). See, it is not so good a map but...take a look at the image below - the work is completed!

 
Taking in account that this is an alien head it might be better to paint a somewhat more greyish map. But for now it is going to stay like this.



Rendering was done in Brazil r/s. There is only one omni light in the scene. Skylight is turned on and the image has a blue environment color.

Feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Nikola Drincic 2003 - All rights reserved.

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