Gray (untexture) lines on my model

[LukeofAppalachia 1]

So I have been making alot of ground with my Robed Unit so far, but just as soon as I thought I had a masterpiece, I found these ugly gray lines on my model, that only showed up to a minor extent in Blender... does anyone have any advice for filling in the gaps with my color? I looked at the UV map and it seems like I've filled in all the needed places, so I'm not sure what to do...any input is welcome. Thanks.

[PuFu 4600]

please post a pic of the uv and one for the rvmat

[max power 21]

Looks like it's a mip mapping problem. You have to 'pad' your 'cells'. You have to texture outside of the UVs a certain ways and choose a background colour that's like your texture colour, so when the texture gets reduced in the engine, the outside of your texture doesn't bleed in. When a texture gets scaled down, 1 pixel becomes a blend of 4, so the pixels on the edge of your texture will be a 50% mix of what's inside and outside of your texture islands.

[blarg 1]

It does look like a mip mapping issue but it's hard to tell without seeing the UV layout. I see white'ish lines all over the robe, but I can't imagine that's how you uv'd the robe.

Good job though, the characters coming along. :)

Edited October 13, 2012 by blarg

[LukeofAppalachia 1]

Thanks for the replies guys...okay, so here is a picture of my UV map (UV Lines excluded...I'll see if I can put a pic up with them also). I know it looks like a bit of a mess, but I made it using Blender's "Smart UV Unwrap" tool and then did most of the texturing in the 3D model window, so the slight disorganization was not an issue...until maybe now.

My map does have a gray background, and I could see this as being a big part of the problem...but what do I do? Just paint and paint until the whole UV image is covered in non-gray color? I could do that...but it might be time consuming and frustrating...is there a more practical option?

UV Image:

UV Image w/ Lines:

Oh, and I haven't made the rvmap yet...:eek: I figured I would make that once I finished with the texturing. Could a lack of an .rvmap be the issue?

[max power 21]

No, the problem is with the texture seams showing your background colour. What program are you using for making your texture?

[PuFu 4600]

Thanks for the replies guys...okay, so here is a picture of my UV map (UV Lines excluded...I'll see if I can put a pic up with them also). I know it looks like a bit of a mess, but I made it using Blender's "Smart UV Unwrap" tool and then did most of the texturing in the 3D model window, so the slight disorganization was not an issue...until maybe now.

My map does have a gray background, and I could see this as being a big part of the problem...but what do I do? Just paint and paint until the whole UV image is covered in non-gray color? I could do that...but it might be time consuming and frustrating...is there a more practical option?

UV Image: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/1gs3n.jpg

UV Image w/ Lines: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/kqqkv.jpg

Oh, and I haven't made the rvmap yet...:eek: I figured I would make that once I finished with the texturing. Could a lack of an .rvmap be the issue?

1. The UVs are really bad for character. What you should aim for is sort of UV: http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/multiple_uv_tiles/figure01.jpg

2. Secondly, use a background color that is closer to the diffuse color you want to use.

3. Don't fill the uv islands precisely. Make sure they bleed a bit outside.

[LukeofAppalachia 1]

Heh....yeah PuFu, the UV layout was a major problem...I went back into Blender and just selected the faces of each component of the outfit and did a "Smart Unwrap" for each, giving me a much cleaner and logical Layout. Now it's much easier to work with the model, not to mention it seems to have solved my "gray lines" issue, because I now can just flood each section with a color without it being close to the other sections. Oh, and Max Power, I have been using a combination of Blender's Image Editor and GIMP. Blender is an absolute joy for me as it allows me to do pretty much everything before I have to dive into the abysmal Oxygen program. I'll post some more pics once I get the UV image how I want it, as it's a bit too simple at the moment, though I do believe I can bid farewell to my "gray line" issue. Thank you all so much for the help, I am still new to modding, but I can finally see myself completing a full-fledged, "armaholic-worthy" addon in the future now.

[blarg 1]

Hey Luke, as Pufu said the UV's could be better but its all part of learning how to unwrap things, especially characters, they are the toughest with all of their usual organic parts. One program you might want to check out, is RoadKill UV. I use it constantly to get my starting uv's then I bring it back into Max/Maya and clean and move everything. And, its free. Read the little manual that comes with it because there are some organic and non-organic 'switches' that you can toggle depending on whether you are making a static hard edged object or something more organic like a character.

My process is usually:

Model: Base model made in max/maya, use RoadKill to make base uv's, reimport into max/maya to clean up uv's. Then you are ready to paint.

Painting(texture): (your uv's have to be good first) Base paint in either BodyPaint3d or slapping on reference images with Zbrush's 'Spotlight' function (omgs, is it awesome), then I bring the texture into photoshop to clean it up and paint more, then back into Zbrush or BodyPaint3d.

[max power 21]

I was just going to say that in gimp you should use layers. It will give you a more flexible file. For instance, you would paint your leather texture on one layer, and have you background on another layer. If you ever had a problem like this in the future, you would just take a brush and sample your leather jacket colour and paint a swathe in behind it. Instead of frustrating hours, like you say, to fix this, it would be fixed in seconds.

[LukeofAppalachia 1]

Well I'm not done, but I'm pretty happy with them. It will take awhile until I can find just the right texture I want, but for now...I'm pretty happy with my Robed Soldiers...here they are y'all; thanks again for the help. Once it's nice and polished and I get some "wound" images and rvmaps I may just see about putting it up for download.

[max power 21]

Oh, they're robed! I thought they were in leather because they appear slightly shiny.

[LukeofAppalachia 1]

Yeah, haha, I guess the specular map needs more work. Anyways, if I may take the liberty to ask, can you point me in the right direction for working on wound textures? I wanted to just use the ones associated with the "soldier.pbo" that I have been modifying to begin with, but they don't seem to appear right. The head and hand wound work alright because those were based on proxies, but the one that should appear on the body don't work. I have applied the image in blender and they appear in the right place there, but they don't show up in-game. I believe the rvmaps and the config file are set up correctly...it shouldn't have anything to do with my UVmap being different from the original right? It shows up fine in blender, so that shouldn't be the case...hmmm....I'm not sure. I'm just so close...haha, I'm trying not to get impatient with it, but I want to get it fully functional as soon as I can.

[max power 21]

I haven't done a character, so I'm not sure. I would just google search the forum for 'wound textures'.