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Help & Tutorials => Model Tutorials => Topic started by: Velen on July 05, 2013, 02:18:40 PM



Title: Model UV Principles - a guide to make texturing Custom Models easier for us all.
Post by: Velen on July 05, 2013, 02:18:40 PM
This is really just a shout-out to the guys who make custom models here on KC:MM for hacks of all kinds. It's related to the UV Maps if the title didn't tell you that already. So here goes...

1. Go for as big as you can, without breaking the file-size limit.

- In other words, unless you're worried about file-size, go for making your textures 1024 x 1024 if possible. Always. it affords the best texture quality.

2. Mirror all UVs unless intentionally asymmetrical.

- Basically, unless the character's design demands that the textures be asymmetrical (C.Falcon being a perfect example). Always mirror the UVs down the middle so both sides look the same. It saves time and space on your texture for more details to be added, and doing so in a shorter amount of time.

3. If you have lots of the same something, combine them.

- This mainly goes for things like that have multiples of the same part. Like the joints on a robot's hand or legs. Like #2, doing so saves you time and space on the texture, allowing you to make the parts bigger on the texture, and be able to add more detail, it also allows you to do it faster since their's one of it. Combining #2 and #3 will allow you to "optimize" textures for high-res detail and shading.

4. Unless it has few parts, make multiple textures.

- This one is a bit trickier to explain, but basically, it goes like this, and it relates to #2 and #3 in that it's for optimizing for lots of detail. To put it in few words: If your model has a lots of different parts, break them up into separate textures. Never try to stuff everything into a single texture unless breaking it up would just complicate the texturing process too much.

5. Always keep the UV parts organized.

- In other words, don't do what some textures do and place parts randomly on the texture. It makes it hard for others to edit it if everything is so jumbled up that they can't tell what parts belong to what part of the model.

6. Always make room for Alpha layers.

-This one is extremely simple to explain: Without Alpha Layers, you can't really have transparency, and some models need it.

I hope this was helpful to some of you in some way.


Title: Re: Model UV Principles - a guide to make texturing Custom Models easier for us all.
Post by: GentlemanPotato on July 06, 2013, 06:30:40 AM
Nice guide. UVs are very important to consider when making models. Also a really good program for unwrapping models is Headus UVLayout. (http://www.uvlayout.com/)