A different texture mapping question . . .

[Dave Buckley]

just doing a bit of uvw unwrap. i've used it before but never really looked into properly. i'm really looking into texturing now and i want to get creative with it (building up own textures in photoshop, composites etc)

 

however let's say i'm modelling a room, the walls, ceiling and floor (i know i wouldn't really need UVW mapping for this shape) is one complete object. I flatten the UVW mapping ready to take the template into photoshop. The template is saved out at 1024x1024. i then want to apply an image i found on the web of a grungy wall. i only want to apply this to one face of my geometry. The grungy wall texture is 3000x3000. i opened it in photoshop, then dragged it onto a new layer over the top of my uvw template.

 

however when i rescale this image to fit the face in question it goes really blurred even though i'm reducing size.

 

so i try another method, before i drag the image into the UVW template, i resize it, good so far, it stays at a high resolution only smaller as i wanted. so now i drag it into the UVW template onto a new layer. looks great.

 

i save this new texture map and go back into max and apply it to the model with the UVW unwrap modifier.

 

the image i used fits exactly where i wanted it to, but's it's now really low resolution again??

 

am i completely missing something?? any ideas would be great?? like i say i'm only just looking into texturing this way so could be a simple thing.

 

i've always textures using methods that work, but not really maximising efficiency or giving me great control afterwards

[JonRashid]

If the room already had mapping coords you don't need the uvw modifier just apply the new material to your object. All the unwrap modifier does is allow you to know where all your walls and floors are on the single texture map

[Thablanch]

The template saved out is 1024x1024.. it is an aspect ratio thing, it just places the things.. you could use a 6000x6000 texture, you would have more definition, and you could keep your original map quality. The unwrap is reference only.

[mattclinch]

is it just the way your textures are displaying in the viewport?

[ctk111]

The template saved out is 1024x1024.. it is an aspect ratio thing, it just places the things.. you could use a 6000x6000 texture, you would have more definition, and you could keep your original map quality. The unwrap is reference only.

 

I'm running in to the same situation as well. So, does this mean if I save out the template at 1024 x 1024 I should bring it in to photoshop and increase the size of the template to whichever texture size I want? Then once I import it back in to max it will be placed in the correct spot?

[ctk111]

OK, I figured out where I was going wrong. You're limited to 2048 x 2048 in the bitmap options, but when you render the UV you can make the width and height anything you want. I thought I was limited to 2048. Also, when I rendered out the UV preview there were a number of lines that were not showing up. I tried moving the faces around, adjusting the scale, etc. and still lines were missing in the preview. Then I tried saving just to see how it would show up and magically all the lines were there.

[DanGrover]

It could be an anti-aliasing problem. I know that because the lines on the map are typically a single pixel thick, unless you're viewing the image 100% scale, you'll often miss lines because they simply aren't being rendered on your screen. There is no AA whatsoever in the Max unwrap render thingmajig (I believe) so if that's at 50% scale, every other pixel is simply not shown. If that's where your line is, you won't see it (unless you zoom to 100%)

 

It's also important to remember that the resolution, size, aspect ratio etc of that map you render out with the unwrap details on it is totally irrelevant to the actual unwrapping size, material etc. It's purely so you can use it as a reference.

 

Say you wanted to save some space on an unwrap, and you're unwrapping a bit of skirting board. You want some detail (perhaps a pattern or some dirt), but it's a long, thin thing. You don't want it taking up huge amounts of your map because it's only a small part of the room, yet because it's very long and thin, if your map ISN'T huge, then there will only be sufficient resolution for the vertical space, not horizontal - because if you unwrap it so that it's in proportion to the actual skirting board, by the time you've stretched it to fit into the unwrap area and put the 4 sides of the walls on top of each other, you're stuff because you'll have used up a chunk of your vertical space, even without the walls etc. On the other hand, if you shrink it so that you still have plenty of space left for the walls, you'll end up hardly having any pixels in horizontal space.

 

One solution to this is to squash it horizontally. Assuming it isnt the centre piece of your image, it shouldn't be too much of a problem - this way, it can have a smaller footprint on your UVW map, but still have the space you need. Of course, there's a trade off - you end up having less detail really, but it's exactly analogous with anamorphic widescreen. Once you take the UVW map into photoshop, you can extend the image horizontally until it's the same as the actual aspect ratio of the skirting board, map it as normal, then squash the image back down. On the UVW template, it'll look all squashed and rubbish, but then it's re-stretched on the model because of the unwrapping being sqaushed too. Back to the widescreen analogy, it's the same thing - it's filmed in widescreen, squashed down to standard NTSC or PAL resolution, and then when it's displayed, it's stretched horizontally so it's the same aspect ratio as what it was recorded at. The upshot in film of this is that you actually have more vertical data per TV inch than horizontal, and the same is true here - but I find using it in moderation allows you to get away with a lot and helps keep your UVWs efficient.

 

All this dialogue was merely to demonstrate that the actual makeup of what comes out of the Unwrap render window is irrelevant - it's purely for your reference. You can blow it up to 8k x 8k if you want, change it's aspect ratio etc. The actual object UVs won't change at all.