Texturing

[quipui]

Hey, I have been working on modding for KSP, specifically making engines for RSS, and I run into a bit of a problem. Stock and KW, etc. parts don't show the edges as clearly as mine. If you look closely on a stock part you can see the ridges and vertices on the parts, but on mine they are clearly visible. Also, I haven't had any problems making nice models in Blender, but texturing them is really hard. I want to make KW style engines ( I know its a bit of a long shot, but I want to try) but the models on them are so complex that I have trouble texturing them. Is there free software that helps locate UV Unwrap points and such that would speed along the process?

Thanks

[CaptainKipard]

Hey, I have been working on modding for KSP, specifically making engines for RSS, and I run into a bit of a problem. Stock and KW, etc. parts don't show the edges as clearly as mine. If you look closely on a stock part you can see the ridges and vertices on the parts, but on mine they are clearly visible.

What does all this mean?

Also, I haven't had any problems making nice models in Blender, but texturing them is really hard. I want to make KW style engines ( I know its a bit of a long shot, but I want to try) but the models on them are so complex that I have trouble texturing them. Is there free software that helps locate UV Unwrap points and such that would speed along the process?

No you need to practice unwrapping manually. There's not a single automatic method that I've seen that give good results.

[NathanKell]

Yay, engines for RSS! And welcome to the forums!

As Cpt. Kipard says, your best bet would be to follow some tutorials on unwrapping game models. There are plenty of tools and plugins available to help, but they can't just do it automatically.

As this is about Modeling and Texturing, so moved!

[quipui]

What does all this mean?

This is what it means. (sorry if the image is too big)

[Recognize-Me-]

While in Blender click Smooth then add an Edge Split Modifier

[CaptainKipard]

While in Blender click Smooth then add an Edge Split Modifier

And select the edges you want to be sharp and mark as sharp.

[quipui]

Thanks! Ill post a pic of the finished product to see if i did stuff right.

[sumghai]

Personally, I don't recommend using the Split Edge modifier - as the name suggests, it splits corners into two sets of overlapping vertices, making it inconvenient to resize/manipulate meshes later.

Instead, what I would do is to set the mesh shading to Smooth in Blender, and in Unity's mesh import settings, manually adjust the smoothing angle. This will give you the same results without the inconveniences of Split Edge.

[quipui]

Ok well here is my finished product. Looks good except that I forgot to mesh the inside of the gas generator exhaust pipe (which makes it look invisible from some angles), but everything that I was actually trying to fix worked well.

Also, thanks sumghai, I'll have to try that.

[Van Disaster]

According to the Blender docs you can select edges and mark them as Flat, which presumably will make them hard. I've not been importing models into Unity long but I've noticed already that for certain models importing Max smoothing groups works best, and for others the end result looks better if I let Unity calculate everything.

[CaptainKipard]

Personally, I don't recommend using the Split Edge modifier - as the name suggests, it splits corners into two sets of overlapping vertices, making it inconvenient to resize/manipulate meshes later.

Instead, what I would do is to set the mesh shading to Smooth in Blender, and in Unity's mesh import settings, manually adjust the smoothing angle. This will give you the same results without the inconveniences of Split Edge.

Can you do that per-edge?

[sumghai]

Can you do that per-edge?

Admittedly, not really - what I tend to do is to choose a smoothing angle value that looks the best for my model, and accept compromises in certain areas of the mesh.

I suppose the reason I haven't had major issues with my approach is because I most of my parts use MODEL{} nodes to rapidly make variants using a library of interchangeable .mu files, each with different levels of detail / smoothing angle.

[quipui]

Personally, I don't recommend using the Split Edge modifier - as the name suggests, it splits corners into two sets of overlapping vertices, making it inconvenient to resize/manipulate meshes later.

Instead, what I would do is to set the mesh shading to Smooth in Blender, and in Unity's mesh import settings, manually adjust the smoothing angle. This will give you the same results without the inconveniences of Split Edge.

By the way, I just import the straight .blend file into unity, which makes the problem of "re-editability" inconsequential. I could just go to modifiers later and remove the edge split, fiddle with the mesh, then put the edge split back on.

[michaelhester07]

I've been letting unity calculate the normal angles for me when I import the model.

[martinezfg11]

Admittedly, not really - what I tend to do is to choose a smoothing angle value that looks the best for my model, and accept compromises in certain areas of the mesh.

I suppose the reason I haven't had major issues with my approach is because I most of my parts use MODEL{} nodes to rapidly make variants using a library of interchangeable .mu files, each with different levels of detail / smoothing angle.

Can you explain your last sentence a bit further?

[sumghai]

I suppose the reason I haven't had major issues with my approach is because I most of my parts use MODEL{} nodes to rapidly make variants using a library of interchangeable .mu files, each with different levels of detail / smoothing angle.

Can you explain your last sentence a bit further?

Traditionally, parts in KSP are defined as one model.mu file to one part.CFG.

From KSP 0.20 onwards, however, add-on authors now have the option of combining or "welding" more than one model.mu when defining the part. For example:

PART {
	name = FusTekKarmonyHabModule
	module = Part
	author = sumghai

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyMissionModule
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
		texture = fustek_station_icon_stor_texture, FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/fustek_station_icon_hab_texture
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonySidePanelsHab
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = 1.26393, 1.1, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, -90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = 1.26393, 0, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, -90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = 1.26393, -1.1, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, -90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = -1.26393, 1.1, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, 90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = -1.26393, 0, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, 90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyViewport
		position = -1.26393, -1.1, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, 90
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	// Top (Forward) Hatch
	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyHatch
		position = 0.0, 1.84375, 0.0
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

	// Bottom (Aft) Hatch
	MODEL
	{
   		model = FusTek/Station Parts/Parts/modelKarmonyHatch
		position = 0.0, -1.84375, 0.0
		rotation = 0.0, 0.0, 180
   		scale = 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
	}

//rest of my CFG...

}

Using this method, I was able to reuse a small set of submodels to make multiple variations on the same station module, instead of making a unique model for each module.

[martinezfg11]

Really, that is genius.. Thank you for that.

[HeckuvaTester]

snip

That's a great idea. However, was getting the exact placement of the viewports and such just a process of elimination?

[Van Disaster]

That's a great idea. However, was getting the exact placement of the viewports and such just a process of elimination?

You can do that in the modelling package, just write down the coords of the part origins for later.