Nuka's Blender help topic

[Anariaq]

Here\'s a quick one for you. I am new to Blender 2.63 and somewhat experienced with 2.49.

In 2.63 when I create a cylinder the top (and bottom) face is one single face where in the older versions it would be a series of triangles. How do I triangulate the face? Is there a setting where I can force blender to create a cylinder with the older format?

I\'d rather avoid having to delete the face, extrude the edges and merge them in the center every time.

The way that can be done is when you add a cylinder, in the object tools there you can set it to use triangle fan or ngon, ngon is the new bmesh system introduced in blender 2.63, I\'m also new to this. So I do not have a full in depth knowledge of it yet. The one you will use is the triangle fan. hope it helped.

[Absolution]

Thanks for the tip! Here\'s another one.

What do I need to import existing DAE files into blender. When I try it gives me an error 'error parsing collada data. see console for details.'

I have a few parts I am trying to open and it seems like only one in ten works right.

[Tiberion]

DAE files are complex text files, so you can edit them with a proper text editor (notepad will work if you must use it, but something like textpad or notepad++ is better)

Just load it up and search for the <diffuse> and </diffuse> tags, they\'ll have some texture information between them with a file path or something.

Just delete the diffuse tags and everything between them and resave the file, and it\'ll load.

[Absolution]

DAE files are complex text files, so you can edit them with a proper text editor (notepad will work if you must use it, but something like textpad or notepad++ is better)

Just load it up and search for the <diffuse> and </diffuse> tags, they\'ll have some texture information between them with a file path or something.

Just delete the diffuse tags and everything between them and resave the file, and it\'ll load.

Aha, that appears to have done the trick. Thanks! Consequently you\'ve helped, indirectly, answer a dozen other questions I\'ve had but now that I can see what others have done I can figure them out for myself.

Hopefully I\'ll be able to pay it forward and share my work with the community soon.

[Anariaq]

Thanks again Tiberion

[Absolution]

So far so good with this thread so here is another:

Any tips for UV Unwrapping a spherical/conical shape (specifically in blender, of course)? When done correctly I am expecting to see a 'C' shaped UV map or maybe a simple full circle with all of the faces visible.

I am trying to unwrap a half sphere and the only thing that got me a decent unwrap was a 'projection from view'. The problem with that is the faces on the extreme edges of my half sphere are edge on to the view resulting in a stretched image.

I can piecemeal something together by mapping section by section but that\'s more time consuming than I\'d prefer. It\'s not a complex texture and it does not deserve that kind of attention.

[Anariaq]

So far so good with this thread so here is another:

Any tips for UV Unwrapping a spherical/conical shape (specifically in blender, of course)? When done correctly I am expecting to see a 'C' shaped UV map or maybe a simple full circle with all of the faces visible.

I am trying to unwrap a half sphere and the only thing that got me a decent unwrap was a 'projection from view'. The problem with that is the faces on the extreme edges of my half sphere are edge on to the view resulting in a stretched image.

I can piecemeal something together by mapping section by section but that\'s more time consuming than I\'d prefer. It\'s not a complex texture and it does not deserve that kind of attention.

The way I usually do the UV mapping of a sphere or half sphere, is to use the mark seam option. Though the UV will look like the a flower. And the biggest problem with that is there will be gaps in the texture you are making, that you have to take to account for. Though I don\'t have a problem with that. Because all texture work I do is inside blender it self. Only use GIMP to touch up the texture.

To mark seams for UV mapping is CTRL+e when you have selected the edges that need it.

then after that you can just select UV unwrap as usual.

The flower shape as I said is the result. And to minimize stretch you can see the stretch in the UV by selecting the stretch option in the Display ( at the left of the picture )

And if you are going to more detail, and still have a little stretch problem. You can always add more seams ( Though can be more problematic when actually making the textures )

Hope that helped a little. The problem with spheres and other organic shaped objects. Is that it is not possible to remove all stretching. In the end, this is where we are trying to take a 3d model and make a 2d version of it.

EDIT:

Another way to add seams to a UV sphere. And good advice is to use the average island scale option and pack island when you are doing the UV stuff. The average island scale option. Is to make sure that every island is the same size in proportion to the texture ( it is to prevent that one part covers the more area that the other and will affect the quality of the one that is smaller that the other )

And never had any luck with the minimize stretch option above the average island scale. So I don\'t use it.

EDIT 2:

Dammit, always come up with ideas now

This one is now the best solution for you.

Go into perspective view and make sure that you are looking at it from behind. And then select the projected from view. will give a good unwrap with a little stretching to it. Better than doing it from orto view.

EDIT 3:

Well tried to do a projected from view with orto view and then use the minimize stretch. It actually work here. Gives same effect as the perspective view unwrap So ignore my comment on that it is kinda useless

[Absolution]

All three of those options appear valid to me for my particular use. I will play around with them to determine the optimal. Thanks!

In the end I was only planning on a very basic, single colored, maybe shadowed, type texture due to the inherent issues with unwrapping such a shape. However, I think I can work with the 'flower' to make the texture a little more interesting. I\'m not very artistic but I think I can manage something tolerable.

[requimrar]

Man at all the advanced stuff. I\'m just wondering, is it possible to force blender to generate the UVs with solid lines? The transparent, gradient-filled lines are pissing me off when I simply want to paintbucket it. Otherwise is there a workaround, in blender or otherwise, which will let me paintbucket in peace?

[Anariaq]

Man at all the advanced stuff. I\'m just wondering, is it possible to force blender to generate the UVs with solid lines? The transparent, gradient-filled lines are pissing me off when I simply want to paintbucket it. Otherwise is there a workaround, in blender or otherwise, which will let me paintbucket in peace?

If you are using the UV layout, that gives a half transparent picture? The only thing I can think of, is that if you use GIMP. You can use another layer beneath it, that is white. Then merge those 2 layers. Making it possible to use the paintbucket.

[requimrar]

I mean the lines in the UV map have gradients, and some pixels are translucent/transparent.

Here:

EDIT: You\'re going to have to zoom in to see what I\'m talking about. Zoom a lot...

[Anariaq]

I mean the lines in the UV map have gradients, and some pixels are translucent/transparent.

Here:

EDIT: You\'re going to have to zoom in to see what I\'m talking about. Zoom a lot...

Yes got it.

Have experimented with how to fix that problem. Though What ever I have done, nothing seems to make something useful for GIMP. So far the only solution is to get Inkscape. You can export the UV layout to .svg format. Where Inkscape can open. And because it is a scalable vector system, it will not give any form of half transparent pixels. This is the only solution I can make work.

inkspace link

http://inkscape.org/

[requimrar]

Ah. Great. I\'ll go try it, thanks. BTW, do you know if unity can import those svg files? or do i have to export to bitmap\' (which iirc also doesnt support partial transparency)?

[Anariaq]

Ah. Great. I\'ll go try it, thanks. BTW, do you know if unity can import those svg files? or do i have to export to bitmap\' (which iirc also doesnt support partial transparency)?

Don\'t think unity supports svg files. You have to save it as PNG. the standard texture file for KSP. Just to be safe with it.

[requimrar]

Great. Another question: I noticed that my parts\' shadows are all wonky; it appears as though the light is coming from an angle, instead of from the top like they do with the stock parts (the fuel tank at least).

I deleted the lamp and camera objects in blender, as well as in unity.

[Anariaq]

Great. Another question: I noticed that my parts\' shadows are all wonky; it appears as though the light is coming from an angle, instead of from the top like they do with the stock parts (the fuel tank at least).

I deleted the lamp and camera objects in blender, as well as in unity.

Maybe it could be that the normals is pointing the wrong direction? The easiest way to fix that, is to go into edit mode. and CTRL+n. That should make all normals point outward.

[requimrar]

Maybe it could be that the normals is pointing the wrong direction? The easiest way to fix that, is to go into edit mode. and CTRL+n. That should make all normals point outward.

I\'m going to try that, but just in case, this is my problem:

As should be evident, the shadow on my tank is at an angle; the shadow on the stock tanks are horizontal.

??

[Anariaq]

I\'m going to try that, but just in case, this is my problem:

As should be evident, the shadow on my tank is at an angle; the shadow on the stock tanks are horizontal.

??

That is the weirdest thing I seen, I have no idea what is wrong. Can see that normals is pointing the right way. and the model seems to be right too. But the effect is weird. If you are using unity to make the model. I can not help much, I have not got any time checking it out yet.

[requimrar]

That is the weirdest thing I seen, I have no idea what is wrong. Can see that normals is pointing the right way. and the model seems to be right too. But the effect is weird. If you are using unity to make the model. I can not help much, I have not got any time checking it out yet.

Damn, then I guess I\'m going to have to make a topic theb... thanks anyway.

[LaydeeDem]

Do you know how to create a face where one wasn\'t? Right now I just do 'extrude' and then 'remove doubles', but it leaves multiple faces instead of just one. Nothing to serious, but it\'s bugging me like hell.

[Anariaq]

Do you know how to create a face where one wasn\'t? Right now I just do 'extrude' and then 'remove doubles', but it leaves multiple faces instead of just one. Nothing to serious, but it\'s bugging me like hell.

understandably and really easy. select the area needing the face and then press ' f ' it will fill the area. With the new bmesh system, you can even select more that 4 vertices to fill up an area.

[Absolution]

understandably and really easy. select the area needing the face and then press ' f ' it will fill the area. With the new bmesh system, you can even select more that 4 vertices to fill up an area.

Presumably one would still have to triangulate that face before exporting to KSP?

Also a question of my own: Can you group a selection of faces while in the editor? I have some small geometry on my part that is time consuming to select every time. I have to find each face individually and it\'s tricky with so many other nearby faces.

[DYJ]

No need to triangulate in blender, the exporter will do that for you automagically anyway.

To create a vertexgroup enter edit mode, select the vertices you want grouped,click object data (The icon that looks like a triangle in the right hand side menu under the tree), click the plus sign in the vertex groups tab, and hit assign.

[Absolution]

This one is making me scratch my head. I\'m unwrapping a cone. I\'ve marked all the seams such that I expect to see 4 independent quarter sections of the lateral faces and two separate end faces. All but two of my sections are successfully separated as I expected. However, two faces remain linked at a single vertex despite a seam line cutting right through it.

Is there a way to break up the two 'islands' in the UV editor to separate them without having to re-unwrap the faces independently?

*edit*

Alternatively is there a way to make two UV 'islands' scale equally to each other? I am trying to make two sections of my cone line up such that I can make one texture that will accurately repeat itself on both faces so they need to be lined up and scaled to the same size (give or take).

[Anariaq]

This one is making me scratch my head. I\'m unwrapping a cone. I\'ve marked all the seams such that I expect to see 4 independent quarter sections of the lateral faces and two separate end faces. All but two of my sections are successfully separated as I expected. However, two faces remain linked at a single vertex despite a seam line cutting right through it.

Is there a way to break up the two 'islands' in the UV editor to separate them without having to re-unwrap the faces independently?

*edit*

Alternatively is there a way to make two UV 'islands' scale equally to each other? I am trying to make two sections of my cone line up such that I can make one texture that will accurately repeat itself on both faces so they need to be lined up and scaled to the same size (give or take).

The easiest way to separate the 2 islands, is only select the face you want to move ( in 3d view edit ) then in the UV window, there will only be the one face, you can now move it to another place. Then reselect all faces again. And now you should be able to have the 2 islands.

The way I do to make them scale at same size, I start with using the 'Average island scale' in the UV menu. Then from there I always scale all parts at the same time, to make sure that they all keep the same scale. Maybe there is another way. But currently that is the way I do it.