hi
since the uv editor in blender is mh let me say not very precise in moving vertexes i was exploring the uv button in the material window.
somehow it looks like that it only applys the uv to each face.
is that right? since i think that there must be a different way to use it!
eicke
The button you are referring to is the one telling blender that you want to use UV-coordinates for the mapping of that particular texture. That is UV-coordinates as opposed to global or object relative coordinates, for instance.
Now, if there are no such coordinates set yet, or if all faces are mapped ‘standard 1/1’ it will look like this maps each face individually.
mh ok
but how coul i than apply a texture to few faces without having the texture applied onto each face?
eicke
UV Mapping will allow you to do this. You simply have to select the mesh and press F to go into face selection mode, and then change one of the view windows to a UV editor view. You then load the image you want to use as a texture, select all of the faces you want to use (which can be tricky and irritating in my experience thus far), and the press the “U” button and select “From Window”. You then have to fiddle with the vertices in the UV editor you opened. The easy way to apply more than one material to an object is covered here:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~laakkon1/bp/tut/tips.htm
Amongst other places. Click the tutorial thread and look through the list for another one.
well i now the wy with the uv editor but the unwrapper is pretty incorrect and scaling a ring (working on an iris) even distores the ring. so i have to set each vertex by my own to the correct place.
in most apps you can just select a mapping mode or uv while uv than applys for the hole object.
with using the uv editor i never have to click on the green uv button. i still do not know what the point behind it is.
eicke
OK, the green UV button is there to apply the image you have to the face normals after you have UV Mapped them. Thisis button is typically used more when you have exported the model to an external unwrapper, saved the UV’s and then reimport to Blender. Then all you need to do is hit the UV button and voila, your image is applied using the UV coordinates that you set in the external program.
Now for Blender, the unwrapper needs a serious overhaul. It does not have all the options, nor the cleanliness of unwrapping as other apps do. You will need to tweak the verts in the image window to suit your requirements. Also, Blender does not currently support Sub-D’s in UV mapping, (well not very well anyway), as it reverts back to the poriginal mesh. For more control over the application of the image to the UV coords, you will need to convert the sub-d cage to a mesh with CTRL+C. This will prevent the nasty stretching that appears in most images when using the standard mesh.
Now, after you have applied the image to your mesh using the UV in Blender, you have 2 choices:
You can hit the UV button, or…
you can hit the TEX FACE button in the material window.
Both seem to do the same job within Blender.
As I said before, the only application that UV button seems to have, is applying an image map to the mesh based on UV coords from an external unwrapper.
Hope that clarifies some things for you.
BgDM
BgDM: right for the most part, but you’re quite wrong when you say that the only application of the UV mapping mode is when unwrapping in an external program. It can and should be used to also apply more than one different texture to an object using the same UV coordinates. That way, you can have both a bump map, a specularity map and a color map assigned with the same UVs. Something you cannot do otherwise.
Martin
drooooools BUMP SPEC AND COLOR! OOOOOH! I’m going to have to figure out how to do that!
Easy
Since it uses the same UV coords, you can reuse your color map to derive the other textures from it. Then, apply them to the material like standard image textures, but use the UV mapping mode (the green button everyone is talking about) instead.
Martin
Wow…that is more useful than he stated then isn’t it? Thanks very much for the tip…I’ve got a lot of work to do before I can really concentrate on texturing anything though. And I’m waiting for that unwrapper script you’re going to release tomorrow as well 
OOPS!! Forgot about that aspect. Haven’t had to UV map anything for a while.
Thanks for adding that theeth!
BgDM
so wheni understand it correct
i export the model unwrap texture safe it and import it into blender.
then i hit the green button and the hole painted map is streched over
the object.
mh but would not the export/import change the modeled geometry?
i see that vrml only uses triangle polygones and i model only with 4 point polygones!
by the way which app should i use for unwrapping? i am manly on os x so most python scripts fail when a gui is involved!
eicke
Boy it sounds like you’re in a bad situation with python not being compatible Mac OS. That doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t know any other apps out there and I agree, the UV system in blender is a bit tricky.