Texturing with power-of-two images?
by Justin "Nitrogen" Larson · in Artist Corner · 04/14/2011 (2:02 pm) · 5 replies
I'm trying to prototype some interior objects, but I haven't had the best experience with Constructor, to be honest. I blame this more on me being a former Radiant user more than on anything Constructor does poorly. It just doesn't 'click' with me the way Radiant did. Either way, it also sounds like DIF is hardly the format of choice these days, so I figured it might be best to use a normal modeling program to do my game art.
What I'm stuck right now is with the texturing. I just want to have (for example) the same few wall or floor textures and apply them to several objects, instead of having each object having it's own "custom" images that can only be used with that object. I know we can do it with Blender materials, and just load up the same texture image for each object, but that's only good for in Blender itself, is it not? I highly doubt that the materials are going to carry over when I export the model and load it into Torque.
Summary: How would I go about applying a good old square/rectangular power-of-two texture image to a Blender model, like one would normally do in Constructor or Radiant?
What I'm stuck right now is with the texturing. I just want to have (for example) the same few wall or floor textures and apply them to several objects, instead of having each object having it's own "custom" images that can only be used with that object. I know we can do it with Blender materials, and just load up the same texture image for each object, but that's only good for in Blender itself, is it not? I highly doubt that the materials are going to carry over when I export the model and load it into Torque.
Summary: How would I go about applying a good old square/rectangular power-of-two texture image to a Blender model, like one would normally do in Constructor or Radiant?
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#2
I don't have a finished model to provide my own, precisely because of the problem I'm having. I took this from T3D 1.1's BoomBot and scaled it down. It's a character, while I'm trying to model building/interior objects, but I think it helps illustrate what I mean.
From one of the desert structures.
The texture from the BoomBot is a great looking UV map, but not what I'm going for. Every mesh would have to have it's own set of images just for itself, while I was hoping to have a common set of textures for multiple meshes. From my experience making maps for other games, the fewer images I can have loaded into memory, the better the performance will be, so the plan was to have a common texture set as opposed to a separate image set for each object.
The second texture would work better towards this goal, as it's not in a shape that prevents me from reusing it on another mesh - it uses square textures and arranges them over the mesh that way. In fact, I could drop that very happily into Constructor or Radiant and use it as-is on an object completely different from the desert structures in Torque. I'm trying to figure out how to do this in Blender (Or another 3D program). Being in DTS format, though, I can't open it and see how it was unwrapped to make this possible, which is why I'm asking.
04/14/2011 (3:03 pm)
I'm familiar with UV mapping. Generally, though, the result ends up looking something like this:I don't have a finished model to provide my own, precisely because of the problem I'm having. I took this from T3D 1.1's BoomBot and scaled it down. It's a character, while I'm trying to model building/interior objects, but I think it helps illustrate what I mean.
From one of the desert structures.
The texture from the BoomBot is a great looking UV map, but not what I'm going for. Every mesh would have to have it's own set of images just for itself, while I was hoping to have a common set of textures for multiple meshes. From my experience making maps for other games, the fewer images I can have loaded into memory, the better the performance will be, so the plan was to have a common texture set as opposed to a separate image set for each object.
The second texture would work better towards this goal, as it's not in a shape that prevents me from reusing it on another mesh - it uses square textures and arranges them over the mesh that way. In fact, I could drop that very happily into Constructor or Radiant and use it as-is on an object completely different from the desert structures in Torque. I'm trying to figure out how to do this in Blender (Or another 3D program). Being in DTS format, though, I can't open it and see how it was unwrapped to make this possible, which is why I'm asking.
#3
This floor (collada, made in 3ds Max) is using planar mapping and a 512*512 tessellating texture: LINKY
In contrast, the tracks share a single texture file, which saves texture memory also.
04/14/2011 (6:32 pm)
It's entirely possible to construct your levels/rooms just like you would a BSP map, and never having to worry about fancy unwrap jobs. Depending on your modeling app of choice, look to use planar mapping on your visible faces. This as you say, has the advantage of allowing a plethora of 3D models to share materials.This floor (collada, made in 3ds Max) is using planar mapping and a 512*512 tessellating texture: LINKY
In contrast, the tracks share a single texture file, which saves texture memory also.
#4
The downside is it's free just for no-commercial purpose, commercial use ask you to have PRO license which cost euro 388 - $ 495
P.S. @ GG: Could we get euro symbol support in the posting feature???
04/15/2011 (4:04 am)
Justin, I always think/say that the easiest solution as BSP editors replacement is Sketchup, great tool really intuitive, let's say powerful near as a 3d modelling package and easy as a BSP editor (even easier I think)... The downside is it's free just for no-commercial purpose, commercial use ask you to have PRO license which cost euro 388 - $ 495
P.S. @ GG: Could we get euro symbol support in the posting feature???
#5
So you have a texture alot like the one above that is tileable on hand and square.
1. Start blender up
2. Add a mesh plane, enter edit mode, the face should be selected,hit the "U" hotkey and select unwrap
3. Add a material, add a texture, select image file, browse to your image file, make sure to select UV mapping, change your 3D window to show textures (add a light if its black because your in GSL mode)
4. Select grid snapping and hit the magnet icon.
5. Hit "Shift D" hotkey to duplicate the face ( you should still be in edit mode)
6. Move the face in any axis till it lines up with out overlapping the other face( you should still be in edit mode)
7. Rinse and repeat till you have a wall, or floor or hallway.
8. When your happy with a section select all, hit "W" hotkey and select remove double (while in edit mode)
Now you should have continious topology with a tiling texture very quickly.
Like I said you probaly have this under control by now but maybe someone else will see it and gain some insight from it. You can modify a face to have a door or window quickly too and remap it if it distorts the texture on it but I wont go into all that.
08/20/2011 (6:25 pm)
Hey Justin, seeing how the last post was 4 months ago you might have this topic nailed, but I thought I would drop by and just drop a tip on how I approach this in Blender. So you have a texture alot like the one above that is tileable on hand and square.
1. Start blender up
2. Add a mesh plane, enter edit mode, the face should be selected,hit the "U" hotkey and select unwrap
3. Add a material, add a texture, select image file, browse to your image file, make sure to select UV mapping, change your 3D window to show textures (add a light if its black because your in GSL mode)
4. Select grid snapping and hit the magnet icon.
5. Hit "Shift D" hotkey to duplicate the face ( you should still be in edit mode)
6. Move the face in any axis till it lines up with out overlapping the other face( you should still be in edit mode)
7. Rinse and repeat till you have a wall, or floor or hallway.
8. When your happy with a section select all, hit "W" hotkey and select remove double (while in edit mode)
Now you should have continious topology with a tiling texture very quickly.
Like I said you probaly have this under control by now but maybe someone else will see it and gain some insight from it. You can modify a face to have a door or window quickly too and remap it if it distorts the texture on it but I wont go into all that.
Torque 3D Owner Matt Huston
Atomic Banzai Games