Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 1 14-03-2012 , 11:13 PM
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Separate Textures on Single Mesh

After hours of googling for information, I have succumbed to needing a helping hand!
Bear with me... Despite the information I was able to find, I am quite confused:

I have 4 different mesh objects, all UV unwrapped, with 4 separate baked textures, and 4 unique materials assigned. The goal is to combine them all into 1 mesh object while still being able to use my 4 texture maps on each previously single object. I understand it is possible to do this via Mesh>Combine + making sure you assign a new material to each object, which I did. I assigned 4 new materials, and even coloured them 4 unique colours. When combined, the colours/materials and UV maps appear to be preserved.

But here is my problem:
When I combine the 4 mesh objects, the 4 distinct UV maps become layered on top of each other in the UV texture editor. I can move them around by "Select Shell"... but where to move them to? Is the UV unwrap data preserved in each of the previously uncombined 4 meshes though they have now been combined? And is it the assigning of distinct materials that tell the objects to accept a distinct texture? If so, then it makes sense to me that I should be able to apply my 4 texture map files to all 4 of the mesh pieces separately even though they have been combined. However, I can't get it to work.

Wouldn't moving the shells around in the uv editor ruin the objects ability to be textured by the 4 textures I already created when I initially uv unwrapped them? Unwrapping again after merge would seem to be complete opposite my goal. I feel like I am missing a big chunk of knowledge in regards to how this works, and I can not seem to connect the dots -.-

I tried a few methods, including combining first and then selecting faces > assign new material, and the entire object keeps wanting to texture as a whole. I am unable to pinpoint if the problem is in my material application, the positioning of UV maps, or other.

Soo confused, please user added image

Here are photos of the UV texture editor, combined & spread out

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by foldedpaperbird; 14-03-2012 at 11:20 PM.
# 2 15-03-2012 , 07:29 AM
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Just use a different shader for each uv set............dave




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# 3 15-03-2012 , 10:18 AM
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Like Dave said, no need to move the UV shells if you have one material per shell. Each texture belongs to each material and will be projected according to the polys they're assigned to, no more no less.
You might get some artefacts though, the material linking in the hypergraph can get pretty messy after a combine sometimes..

# 4 15-03-2012 , 12:02 PM
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Just use a different shader for each uv set............dave

Thanks for the tip! But i'm still at square one.

A "shader" and "material" are the same thing right?
If so, I have assigned distinct materials to each of the 4 unique mesh objects prior to merging. I have given each material its own colour to help me recall which parts of the now-combined-mesh I want to be texturing separately later on. Is this what you mean? Or is it a more intricate process?

Here is what I have done exactly:
1. Create 4 distinct mesh objects
2. Uv unwrap
3. Assign blinn material to all
3. Bake textures (To use later)
4. Assign new unique materials/colour to all 4 objects
5. Mesh>Combine all 4 mesh objects (Uv map/materials remain intact)
5.5 (Even tried applying new material via face selection)
6. Delete History, freeze transformers, reset
7. Select newly combined single mesh object > export selection as collada

Are there some steps I have missed? ie: when I export should I somehow be selecting something from the hypershade window?


Last edited by foldedpaperbird; 15-03-2012 at 12:13 PM.
# 5 15-03-2012 , 12:09 PM
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Like Dave said, no need to move the UV shells if you have one material per shell. Each texture belongs to each material and will be projected according to the polys they're assigned to, no more no less.

Yoruneko-
Thanks for that, now I know I do not need to move the UV shells. That was twisting my brain!

So it seems then that the unique materials I assign are what is going to let me texture separate faces, and then those faces get textured in accordance to its UV mapping.

You might get some artefacts though, the material linking in the hypergraph can get pretty messy after a combine sometimes..

This must be key to where I am going wrong.

The only things in my hypershade window are the 4 materials I had assigned to the different faces.
I had read something about linking UVs to materials..something or other..is this what I need to be doing? How exactly is that done? I have right-clicked my material box in the hypershade window but can't located any "assign to UV" command..

I am sort of new at this... user added image


Last edited by foldedpaperbird; 15-03-2012 at 12:12 PM.
# 6 15-03-2012 , 12:20 PM
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P.S

Here is the model; it is extremely simple.
2 Spheres, a cube, and a cylinder.

I'd like to use separate textures on each of the spheres, the cube, and the cylinder.
This is a single mesh object with each coloured part uv unwrapped as pictured in OP.

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# 7 15-03-2012 , 12:46 PM
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You dont mind me asking why does it have to be combined...........dave




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# 8 15-03-2012 , 11:12 PM
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You dont mind me asking why does it have to be combined...........dave

Because the game I am exporting it onto works best that way.
..for this particular object.

# 9 15-03-2012 , 11:17 PM
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I would go to the game site and find out how they fix this .............dave




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# 10 15-03-2012 , 11:49 PM
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Yeah if you are exporting to a games engine, you need to find out its requirements for exported objects.

While you are editing them why not just group them together under a group node...this way while you do your stuff you can still select each piece individually and when ready to export to the game combine them....easy thinking really but find out about the game engine....

J

# 11 16-03-2012 , 12:40 AM
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Yeah if you are exporting to a games engine, you need to find out its requirements for exported objects.

While you are editing them why not just group them together under a group node...this way while you do your stuff you can still select each piece individually and when ready to export to the game combine them....easy thinking really but find out about the game engine....

J

Ah, thanks.. I will look up some tutorials on that. That would make things a lot easier.


I would go to the game site and find out how they fix this .............dave

Hmm well, the "game" is just a virtual world that takes .dae files. I have uploaded a ton of mesh already with no problem. There are no real requirements for uploading mesh there.

The more in-depth reason I have combined the object is because the game has scaling restrictions where I can not scale down the barbell as small as I want. So, by combining a large cube onto it I am now able to scale the barbell tiny. I need to apply a clear texture onto the box. I know this is possible by assigning different materials and then texturing each separately.

The reason I ask here instead of over @ game site is because many are novice there, very few mesh makers, and the ones that do play around with 3d modelling are mostly blender or max users.

I really think this is a little step in Maya I am missing. I am able to upload the mesh object but unable to apply unique textures.

I think I have to link something in hypershade window but I don't know what. ie: When I want to texture a mesh with blinn, I can not just hit "bake"...I must first shift grab object + blinn in hypershade and then bake. That took me awhile to figure out as well.


user added image


Last edited by foldedpaperbird; 16-03-2012 at 12:43 AM.
# 12 18-03-2012 , 11:48 PM
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Is your problem that you don't see the textures being mapped correctly? OR that you don't see them at all?
Don't worry about textures/UV linking it's for multiple Uv sets and you don't have those!

# 13 12-09-2013 , 02:54 AM
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Folded, if the game you mean is SL, sometimes it requires using an fbx converter to recognize separate materials on the model. If you combine your parts and export as .fbx, then use a converter to change it to .dae, then it should recognize the different material faces in SL.
My trouble at the moment is suddenly Maya decided to not be capable of assigning a different material to selected surfaces of an object, it all stays the same material. That's just been today though and it's driving me bonkers trying to figure out why.

# 14 14-11-2013 , 11:15 AM
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The only things in my hypershade window are the 4 materials I had assigned to the different faces.




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