Map 2 different textures along a straight line (top/bottom halves)?
 

I have modelled the hull of a spacecraft and want to be able to have the bottom half with one texture (eg black) and the top another (eg white).

Is there a way to select half the faces along a straight line so I can map two different textures?

I can map different textures but because I am doing it by simply drawing a selection around the half I want to map, the faces highlighted naturally don't form a straight line.

Do I have to physically split the model where I want it to? If so, how?

Or is there another way?
I basically want something similar to the space shuttle in terms of texture/colour.
Any help would be grand!

well splitting the model is easy, looks like its a nurbs model, so select an isoparm where you want to split the model then go to edit nurbs>detach surface (i think, havent got maya up atm)

the way i would do it, most efficient i find when doing any textures is using a texture map that you create in photoshop

ok, just another observation, i think the reason its not a straight line, or even a texture map wont give you a straight line is because of the positioning of your isoparms, if you take a look at a side view you can see theyre wavey, you need to fix that fix by snapping and moving CVs

Yep:) Good eye again Nem:)

Have you tried a stepped ramp mapped in the U or V direction?

Also, if you convert it to polys, just like Nem said with Nurbs, you can select one of the poly edges, and then go into the polygon menu under mapping, I think, and change the selection to "Contiguious" <--sp?

This will select a Contiguious edge loop that will allow you to expand your selection downwards, or upwards to select a particular side.

A 'stepped ramp' is a new term for me. don't know anything about it. Will consult the Maya docs on that one, unless there's an explanation provided somewhere here.
I'll try snapping CV's first and then a Contiguious edge loop from there and see if that does the trick.

FYI - it started out as a NURBS model, to model have of the ship using curves/loft. Then I converted it to poly.

In any case I'll give it a shot. Thanks for your help guys. will let you know how I went.

Great!

FYI: What I meant when I said "stepped" ramp, isn't the correct term for what I meant:)

A stepped ramp is a ramp that is striped like stripes on a shirt, I believe.
It normally goes from one color, then step's to the next color with a little, if any gradient color shift.

The ramp I was talking about was a simple ramp that goes from white to black with NO gradient. So, just a hard white, then a hard black, like a checkerboard:)

Good luck!

An offshoot question: when you guys explode the UVs (flatten them) to paint in photoshop, are there any tricks to making it easier to figure out visually what you're painting? What I mean is, if you flatten the UVs for a torso or arm, how can you tell exactly where to place highlights, shadows, and whatnot? Are there any guidelines?

Sure:)

One tip that I would suggest would be to first ask Craig or Mike Mckinly (mtmkinly) how they do this. They would know better than I:)

But, one tip I can tell you is to use the 3DPaint tool to paint simple guidlines on your geometry, then when you export that image and your uv snapshot to Photoshop, you have a visual reference as to where to place your details:)

I use Izzy's method as well...