How can i craete/apply a new unit texture?

[Moooul]

hi there,

once again i need help. i started searching for tutorials on this topic almost 3 month ago but didn't succeed at all :-(
i've read several tutorials on what u can do with textures and so on but as soon as i open one in photoshop i get an absolute confusing image. everything is strange to me so how the hell is such a thing created?

so could someone plz direct me to an absolute beginner's guide ....?

when i finally got my new texture how do i tell that texture how to fit the model? is it just using uvw maps ? or is there any other clue

that stuff isn't really that complex as i'm currently thinking, is it?

thx for replies

[Epistolary Richard]

In order to save space, the texture doesn't show the entire skin of the soldier, just certain elements which are then copied and mirrored in order to construst the entire skin. If, for example, you place a red dot on one side of the face, you'll find on the actual soldier he has a red dot on both sides of his face.

The tga itself doesn't contain any information on how it's applied, that stuff is contained in the model itself, so so long as your editing an existing texture it's pretty obvious how each bit is applied.

If you're creating a new texture from scratch, then you have to know which model you're making it for and then follow the same layout.

If you haven't already, have a look at:
Guide: adding new unit textures

Also, this tutorial goes into texture mapping within 3dsMax
How to Model New 3D Units

[Bwian]

Imagine it this way......

The texture you are looking at in photoshop is a sheet of paper, and the 3D model itself is sitting there in front of you, carved from a piece of flawless Greek marble....

You cut out pieces of the paper, and stick them on to the marble sculpture to give it colour. Since this is high-tech stuff...your paper is stretchy, and you can use the same piece more than once!

Thats what 'UV Mapping' is. It's assigning bits of the texture image to the 3D mesh to give it colour. As explained above...to save space, the same bits are used more than once to save space, and allow each piece to be bigger. This is the art of good texture mapping. Getting as much as possible into as little a space as possible.

Now...if you want to paint a new skin

1) Find out what skin the model is actually using
2) Re-paint it in Photoshop...BUT DO NOT CHANGE THE PLACES WHERE THE PARTS ARE LOCATED. You cannot change this is a paint program...you need the correct 3D modelling program to do this.

Use the old skin as a guide and you shouldn't go far wrong.

[Moooul]

well, thanks a lot for ur super undersandable explanation. anyway i'm still wondering what exactly is the purpose of the size-reduced texture parts? are they used at greater distances? do i have to change them too (copy/paste/scale..)?

[Epistolary Richard]

Ah, I think you're talking about the MipMaps. Yes, they are used at different distances, but you don't want to display them when you're editing the model. When you save it, ensure you generate the MipMaps as well - as it says in the guide I linked to above - they'll be automatically created from the larger version you edited.

[Moooul]

thanks to u one more time,
it seems to me i got it. i finished some kinda heavy armored hoplite but haven't tested it yet in game as i'm still not getting through those complex skinning guides... hm anyway i would like to post some image of my "work" but i'm not getting how to do so. what do i need to type in the "insert image" URI?

[Epistolary Richard]

You need to host the image somewhere on the net, such as imageshack, then you put the link to the image in [IMG] tags so, for example:
remove *
[*IMG]http://www.imageshack.us/yourpicurl[/IMG]

[Moooul]

well thx it seems that i got it properly :-) ... to be continued

anyway i still cant get the model into game im still stuck in skinning the new parts. those skinning tutorials are quite confusing ...