[Vehicle] Fiat CV-35 - input, etc

[Roughbeak]

How do you manually unwrap it?

Just take the time to select each polygon by using either "planar" or "box" mapping, and then you would fit it into the uv box.

What do you mean by deleting? Do you mean just removing entirely, or just not texturing? I'm not sure how the gun mantlet and cradle are animated (and whether intersecting surfaces are permitted).

For parts that you will not see, always delete them, the link below comes to mind when you are optimizing building statics:

http://i.imgur.com/GGv5J1v.jpg


As you see there, delete the walls (sides) and top of it because your other wall will cover it (you need to weld the wall vertices if you take this approach though) and the roof will cover the top. However, optimizing is a bit different on anything, so always try to be clever and practice makes perfect.


Regards

[Krätzer]

Maybe this helps, out of my devblog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmcNKBxvzA&feature=youtu.be

[NotOnymous]

How do you manually unwrap it?

Just take the time to select each polygon by using either "planar" or "box" mapping, and then you would fit it into the uv box.

What do you mean by deleting? Do you mean just removing entirely, or just not texturing? I'm not sure how the gun mantlet and cradle are animated (and whether intersecting surfaces are permitted).

For parts that you will not see, always delete them, the link below comes to mind when you are optimizing building statics:

http://i.imgur.com/GGv5J1v.jpg


As you see there, delete the walls (sides) and top of it because your other wall will cover it (you need to weld the wall vertices if you take this approach though) and the roof will cover the top. However, optimizing is a bit different on anything, so always try to be clever and practice makes perfect.


Regards

I'm actually going to simplify/change the model a bit more. The idea of having to select/stitch/weld a few hundred polygons by hand is not appealing (and not being assured of success in that endeavor means I simply cannot do that). (On top of that, some of the polygons don't seem to want to match up on all/any edges, which is slightly confusing, as well.)

On the topic of UV maps and manual selection: I've made (proper) UV maps for some (individual) parts now (nothing fancy), but I still can't figure out how to do that for multiple parts (individually) and have it end up all on one image (that is, doing one part/set at a time, and then combining it all together at the end). Is such a method possible, or do I have to deal with all polys all at once?

(BTW: I'm starting from an editable poly and adding an 'Unwrap UVW' modifier.)


Is there an easier way? The tutorials (videos) I've seen generally have the polys behaving well, and aren't completely fragmented.


As for deleting: the gun cradle that I modified - is that a surface that would be completely removed? (not just not textured)

How does that work in exporting the model? (will there be a gap?)


Anyway, thanks again for your patience

[NotOnymous]

Maybe this helps, out of my devblog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmcNKBxvzA&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for the link.

I'm using 3ds max 2013, so the interface is quite different, but I think the general process is/will be similar.

Is there a tutorial somewhere that would teach me the same process you use in the video? There are few things that you're doing in the video that I'm not familiar with.

[Roughbeak]

Well, do the best you can with unwrapping it, first times are not easy. Each time you do it, it certainly gets better. Just anything that is on the outside will have to be seen, and inside stuff should be deleted (don't delete the inside of the gun barrel though lol).

Just a heads up, that the developers use the "3ds Max 9" (not 2009, just plain "9") version, which is the latest support for exporting to BF2/FH2. Not that the 2013 version is wrong, it's great, but you might come into problems when you export it.
However, don't worry about this for now, really, I'm sure some of us can help you out for exporting it when the time comes.

I think Kraetzer might use "textools" (or something like that), that is why the unwrap editor looks a bit different.




Regards

[Matthew_Baker]

I'll throw this in as a very good UVing tutorial. As a matter of fact, this whole series is good. Watch the vids and you'll get a great idea of 3D workflow
http://blip.tv/cgtuts/next-gen-weapon-creation-day-3-uvs-and-texture-bake-2477867

btw, dont worry about the baking portion. you don't need to learn that yet I'd say

[Roughbeak]

I'll throw this in as a very good UVing tutorial. As a matter of fact, this whole series is good. Watch the vids and you'll get a great idea of 3D workflow
http://blip.tv/cgtuts/next-gen-weapon-creation-day-3-uvs-and-texture-bake-2477867

btw, dont worry about the baking portion. you don't need to learn that yet I'd say

Yes, adding to this, the series here is good also: (this link is part 8, and that is when uvw unwrapping starts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHWaVuZZouA

[NotOnymous]

(don't delete the inside of the gun barrel though lol).

I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean by this.

I'll throw this in as a very good UVing tutorial. As a matter of fact, this whole series is good. Watch the vids and you'll get a great idea of 3D workflow
http://blip.tv/cgtuts/next-gen-weapon-creation-day-3-uvs-and-texture-bake-2477867

btw, dont worry about the baking portion. you don't need to learn that yet I'd say

Thanks for the link.

Should I base my UV map on a high poly model or a low poly model (or does it matter in this case)? I'll have a modified version of the tank done soon that I intend to do the UV mapping for (lower poly, easier to UV map, and potentially more accurate). I'll post a few renders (and related) in a day or two. If all goes well, I hope to be done the texture by the end of this week.

Yes, adding to this, the series here is good also: (this link is part 8, and that is when uvw unwrapping starts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHWaVuZZouA

That's a really good tutorial, and it helped me understand a number of points of confusion that I've been having with 3Ds Max and the unwrapping process.

(I had a fairly good idea of how UV maps work in the abstract, but the process in 3Ds was somewhat strange/unclear.)

[Roughbeak]

Hey

I just meant don't delete inside of the gun, such as the barrel:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/2625047587_60a864a358.jpg

[Matthew_Baker]

Should I base my UV map on a high poly model or a low poly model (or does it matter in this case)? I'll have a modified version of the tank done soon that I intend to do the UV mapping for (lower poly, easier to UV map, and potentially more accurate). I'll post a few renders (and related) in a day or two. If all goes well, I hope to be done the texture by the end of this week.

General 3D game art workflow usually goes like this:

The low-poly and high-poly model are made (the low poly you have)- the low poly model is what goes in-game and what the player sees.

The high poly model is generally only used for 'baking' (the process of superimposing an image onto the low poly model) The high poly model usually has A LOT more details in it; nuts, bolts etc that can go on the normal map of the low poly model. In BF2's case, the high poly is really only used to make a normal map and possibly even a high poly AO if anything.

most of the time tho, in BF2s case, you can make all of the details of the normal map in Photoshop.

as for the question; yea the low poly model is what you UV map from and what you put the texture on.     

[NotOnymous]

Should I base my UV map on a high poly model or a low poly model (or does it matter in this case)? I'll have a modified version of the tank done soon that I intend to do the UV mapping for (lower poly, easier to UV map, and potentially more accurate). I'll post a few renders (and related) in a day or two. If all goes well, I hope to be done the texture by the end of this week.

General 3D game art workflow usually goes like this:

The low-poly and high-poly model are made (the low poly you have)- the low poly model is what goes in-game and what the player sees.

The high poly model is generally only used for 'baking' (the process of superimposing an image onto the low poly model) The high poly model usually has A LOT more details in it; nuts, bolts etc that can go on the normal map of the low poly model. In BF2's case, the high poly is really only used to make a normal map and possibly even a high poly AO if anything.

most of the time tho, in BF2s case, you can make all of the details of the normal map in Photoshop.

as for the question; yea the low poly model is what you UV map from and what you put the texture on.     

Excellent. Thanks for the description of the process.


Out of curiosity, are there any FH2 models that used the baking process?

[Ts4EVER]

I think most player models and vehicles at least are made like that. But I'm no modeller.

[Ivancic1941]

Is there any pictures how it looks now?

[Matthew_Baker]

Out of curiosity, are there any FH2 models that used the baking process?

I would say most if not all vehicles and player models like TS said. Also almost every hand weapon with the exception of maybe some small ones like knives etc...  Statics don't generally use a high-poly but it benefits most up close hand weapons you see in game.

It's really all preference if you wanna do it or not. If there's some details you want in the normal map that you can make easier in a high poly model than in photoshop or vice versa.

In your particular case I wouldn't do it for this vehicle. Most of the stuff can be done in PS and if you've never baked before then doing a vehicle for the first time would be quite a daunting task.

[NotOnymous]

Okay, so here's the CV-35 as it currently is:






I added a few details over the original model.

I've been busy trimming off unnecessary polys for the past week (perhaps to eagerly ).

Anyhow, as always, I remembered a few overlooked spots with higher-than-needed poly counts, but I can probably ignore those (e.g. 50 polys vs 15).

The model above is 5321 polys (no wheels or tracks).

I'm working on the suspension and wheels at the moment (tweaks plus lowering poly count). I'm guessing the final model will be about 5750 polys if everything goes as planned (which it never does  ).


I've put the spare wheels on the tank itself, but I'm assuming those will be added later, right?


If someone could look over the model and make a final verdict for historical accuracy, that'd be helpful.*


If everything looks okay, I'll start the actual texturing process this weekend.



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* The CV-35 Challenge:

Find two separate CV-35s that are [nearly] identical.