UV Map & texture applying

[riten 153]

Hello,

1. I've created UV Map in Object Builder for my aicraft.

2. I've exported UV Map and created texture on it via graphic program.

How to make Object Builder/arma recognise my UV Map textures? Seriouslly I'm sorry if there is answer somewhere on forum/google, but couldn't find anything that could help me.

[Macser 776]

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=4202

I'm sure there's others. This tutorial by soul assassin may be slightly older.But the process is still relevant.

 

One of the first results for a google search by the way. :)

[riten 153]

It's not really about UV mapping. So all I need to apply my UV Map is just select model and then just by pressing "E" (adding path to the UV Map texture & rvmat) applying it? Correct me if I'm wrong. Would it read it coretly this way? I mean if I put logo on my aicraft wing at UV Map, it will stay there if I load texture this way?

[Macser 776]

I wasn't being cranky. Just in case that's the impression you got. :)

 

But that tutorial is still relevant to what you're doing. The process has changed very little over the years. You said you have the model uv unwrapped. If that's the case then all you need to do is exactly what you just posted. Hit E to bring up the face properties and give the path to your base texture. The diffuse. Then add the Rvmat assigning any extra maps you might want to include. Like normals, specular or Ambient occlusion etc.

[riten 153]

I've tried to texture tail of my aircraft and here what I get:

my UV Map (I'm planning to do whole UV map manually, but it's probably bad idea) for tail:

and this is what I get when I texture it via face properties:

As you can see my texture is stretched and noone of the elements is on it's place.

My texture which I load for tail (just for test, some images on each part):

[da12thMonkey 1943]

I've tried to texture tail of my aircraft and here what I get:

my UV Map for tail:

Your UVs are spread over two tiles. Your texture file exists between the 0 and 1 coordinates of the UV space, then repeats on the next tile. So if you've got the UVs spread over 2 tiles you're effectively just overlapping the two of them within the same texture space.

Need to scale the UVs by 0.5 in the U axis so that they fit in to one square. In the UV transform window, set the "Center" to "other..." and set it to the [0,0] [u,V] coordinate (so that it uses the far left edge of the first UV tile as the centre of the U axis).

Then enter 0.5 in the U-axis scale, and 1 in the V axis scale (so that it remains the same size vertically, but half the size horizontally)

It'll look squashed in the plain square UV space. But when you apply your 2:1 ratio texture to it (either via the E key on the model, or Filter\Browse New Texture in the UV editor), the UV space will stretch to a rectangle to match the texture's aspect ratio and everything will line up.

[riten 153]

@da12thMonkey

 

Thanks for your time, it was really helpful! So let me show what I got this time:

 

Just to make sure - I need to match all elements in "one square" on my UV Map? I've seen that BI Devs adds 2 UV Maps for planes, so I should add 1 UV Map with top elements and 2nd Map with bottom? Would it read it corectly if I add more then 1 map or I need to set up something?

 

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Texturing results:

In 3d buldozer it looks fine:

 

In Object Builder it's stretched, how it will looks in game then? :)

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Just to make sure - I need to match all elements in "one square" on my UV Map?

When viewing a texture in the UV editor, it will fill one square then repeat over again in the next square.

So any parts of the model that use that one texture, need to be arranged in the UV space in such a way that their position is relative to the texture space, rather than the UV space.

You can have parts that are moved over in to the next tile but they will be positioned relative to the texture, not relative to other objects in the UV space.

This is the UVs for one of the models I've been working on (with a basic shading texture overlayed on the backgroun in the UV editor).

You can see that it uses two tiles. But the positions of UVs in the lower tile relate to duplicate faces that require the same texture as those in the top square, or they correspond to gaps in the layout in the top square.

 

They don't really need to be in the second UV tile but it helps me select the duplicated parts independently of the original ones in the main 0-1 UV space

 

If I move everything up by 1 unit in the V axis you see that it all fits in place. (There are a few gaps remaining for parts that I have in another variant of the same model)

 

I've seen that BI Devs adds 2 UV Maps for planes, so I should add 1 UV Map with top elements and 2nd Map with bottom? Would it read it corectly if I add more then 1 map or I need to set up something?

Most models in the game have several texture files. Each one has its own UV map.

You don't want to make too many separate textures though because the more files that the game has to load with a model, the bigger the impact on the game's performance.

Two or three texture files for the external parts of the aircraft is the norm. Then a couple of extra ones for the interior in the Pilot LOD.

[riten 153]

I think I have understood this by playing UV Map and texture size. Thanks for all tips.