How should I go about UV mapping this object?

[bananashavings]

2 hours ago, heliobyte said:

Yes, people really need to stop parenting details. If it doesn't need to move and if it isn't animated, it doesn't need to be a separate mesh parented to the main mesh. Parts like engines, solar arrays and so on are fine, but the rest can be joined to the main mesh.

Also, some modders needs to learn how to optimize colliders. Believe it or not, some of them actually duplicate the entire part (often times a high-poly mesh) and uses it as the collider. That is a big no-no in my book.

Finally, optimizing the UV map. I think people would be amazed with how much you cram into one 1024 UVmap if you know how to utilize the space available. I usually try to fit 3-4 parts worth of texture on one UV map. Unless it's a high def replica lifter with a bunch of logos, one can easily have 3-4 parts share 1 UV map.

Well, I finished UV mapping it and it honestly looks pretty terrible. Do you know if theres anywhere on this forum where I can request someone to do it? Thanks!

[heliobyte]

15 minutes ago, bananashavings said:

Well, I finished UV mapping it and it honestly looks pretty terrible. Do you know if theres anywhere on this forum where I can request someone to do it? Thanks!

I'm sure someone would be happy to do it for you. However I don't recommend going that route, as it's much better for you to learn by trial and error. UV-unwrapping is very easy, it just can be kind of frustrating to learn. When I started with 3D modeling, I literally just added a cylinder in Blender and started messing around with it by extruding, subdividing, re-sizing, applying different modifiers to it and so on. Of course using google and youtube to look up tutorials is also something that is recommended. I never went to school for 3D modeling, so I basically just "researched" my way to understanding it. If there is ever something you want to know, or are unsure of how to do, open google and type "how to...". There are answers for everything.

Edit: There seem to be quite a few unrwapping tutorials on youtube for Cinema4D (which I believe is your choice of 3D modeling software)

Edited April 16, 2016 by heliobyte

[bananashavings]

45 minutes ago, heliobyte said:

I'm sure someone would be happy to do it for you. However I don't recommend going that route, as it's much better for you to learn by trial and error. UV-unwrapping is very easy, it just can be kind of frustrating to learn. When I started with 3D modeling, I literally just added a cylinder in Blender and started messing around with it by extruding, subdividing, re-sizing, applying different modifiers to it and so on. Of course using google and youtube to look up tutorials is also something that is recommended. I never went to school for 3D modeling, so I basically just "researched" my way to understanding it. If there is ever something you want to know, or are unsure of how to do, open google and type "how to...". There are answers for everything.

I completely understand where your coming from, but this model has been giving me so much trouble. I'm not an artist in any way, and to be honest I'm surprised my model didn't turn out absolutely horribly. I know the generalities of UV mapping but it seems like this model hates me and doesnt want to get textured. Ill see if I can find somewhere to upload the model with the textures so you can see its horribleness. 

Edited April 16, 2016 by bananashavings

[heliobyte]

4 minutes ago, bananashavings said:

I completely understand where your coming from, but this model has been giving me so much trouble. I'm not an artist in any way, and to be honest I'm surprised my model didn't turn out absolutely horribly. I know the generalities of UV mapping but it seems like this model hates me and doesnt want to get textured. Ill see if I can find somewhere to upload the model with the textures so you can see its horribleness. 

I'll tell you what, if you can't figure it out by tomorrow I'll help you out. It's getting pretty late in this part of the world, so I won't be doing any UV-unwrapping tonight. In the mean time, feel free to upload what you've managed to do so far. Maybe someone else will help you out. If not I'll fix it for you tomorrow.

Edited April 16, 2016 by heliobyte

[bananashavings]

18 minutes ago, heliobyte said:

I'll tell you what, if you can't figure it out by tomorrow I'll help you out. It's getting pretty late in this part of the world, so I won't be doing any UV-unwrapping tonight. In the mean time, feel free to upload what you've managed to do so far. Maybe someone else will help you out. If not I'll fix it for you tomorrow.

Thanks for all the help you've given me so far. Its way above anything I could hope for. If you did help me out that would be amazing, but you dont have to if you dont want to. Anyways, if you want to see the worst possible thing ever, heres a link:  https://skfb.ly/NoDV

[InsaneDruid]

What parts have you trouble with? Probably the blades? The problem with the blades in you (updated? dae is that there is no established edge contour that separates the front and back of the blades (like an outline, that could used to form a seam to separate two uv isles). Instead the edge that forms the contour on the base of the blade warps to be on the top and bottom side of the blades, resulting in a bad separation of front and back side.

[bananashavings]

10 hours ago, InsaneDruid said:

What parts have you trouble with? Probably the blades? The problem with the blades in you (updated? dae is that there is no established edge contour that separates the front and back of the blades (like an outline, that could used to form a seam to separate two uv isles). Instead the edge that forms the contour on the base of the blade warps to be on the top and bottom side of the blades, resulting in a bad separation of front and back side.

Yeah I found the propeller blades online and Im not super happy with them. Im going to try and make my own in a little bit.

[bananashavings]

On 4/16/2016 at 3:03 PM, heliobyte said:

I'll tell you what, if you can't figure it out by tomorrow I'll help you out. It's getting pretty late in this part of the world, so I won't be doing any UV-unwrapping tonight. In the mean time, feel free to upload what you've managed to do so far. Maybe someone else will help you out. If not I'll fix it for you tomorrow.

Hey, so I got it looking a little better and also down to ~2,000 tris. I have a few pictures that I'll uplaod and at the end of the album there's a image with a drawing on it. I was wondering if you could try and see if you could get something similar on the model with a UV map, because I cannot do that for the life of me, it always seems to come out distorted. Heres a link to the .dae. Thanks if you chose to continue helping me!

 

[heliobyte]

Sorry for not responing yesterday, I was rather busy at work. However, I had a little bit of time this morning to mess around with your model, so I did a quick re-unwrap of the model and made you a UV map you can use for texturing. I also exported the new UV-unwrapped model as a .dae file in order for you to see how I unwrapped it and so that you can continue working on it. Note, I unwrapped the meshes in a hurry so the UVs are not up to my usual standard, but they should work just fine for your texturing needs.

I did make a simple base color texture for the model and applied it to the model, and the texture came out just fine. I'll add a dropbox link for a .rar file which includes the new .dae file, the UV map and a quick render of the model with the texture.

Side note: I did remove some loose verts floating around and other minor adjustments. I also did not join any of the meshes together, as I'm unsure of if you are going to animate it or not. Unfortunately I did not have time to maticulously optimize the UV map and the size of the UV map is 1024x1024. You can (and should) change the size and you can re-arrange the UV islands. If you don't know how to do that, I can do it once I have some spare time.

Anyways, here ya go --> linky

Edited April 19, 2016 by heliobyte

[bananashavings]

On 4/19/2016 at 2:02 AM, heliobyte said:

Sorry for not responing yesterday, I was rather busy at work. However, I had a little bit of time this morning to mess around with your model, so I did a quick re-unwrap of the model and made you a UV map you can use for texturing. I also exported the new UV-unwrapped model as a .dae file in order for you to see how I unwrapped it and so that you can continue working on it. Note, I unwrapped the meshes in a hurry so the UVs are not up to my usual standard, but they should work just fine for your texturing needs.

I did make a simple base color texture for the model and applied it to the model, and the texture came out just fine. I'll add a dropbox link for a .rar file which includes the new .dae file, the UV map and a quick render of the model with the texture.

Side note: I did remove some loose verts floating around and other minor adjustments. I also did not join any of the meshes together, as I'm unsure of if you are going to animate it or not. Unfortunately I did not have time to maticulously optimize the UV map and the size of the UV map is 1024x1024. You can (and should) change the size and you can re-arrange the UV islands. If you don't know how to do that, I can do it once I have some spare time.

Anyways, here ya go --> linky

I just checked it out and its amazing! Im not sure what I was doing wrong but when I unwrapped some certain things they were asymmetrical and deformed, but these look perfect. I also appreciate how you renamed some things in the hierarchy, looks much cleaner now. Thanks, and Ill respond when I'm done texturing for some final thoughts.

 

@heliobyte I just finished this up, any thought/suggestions? https://skfb.ly/NtD7

Edited April 21, 2016 by bananashavings