So often I invest quite an amount of time, after creating a uvmap, in adding labels in paint.net so I can quickly identify which islands represent which parts of the mesh. This is quite time consuming and tedious because I do not have 3 monitors, but only two, and therefore have to constantly switch back and forth and memorize the connections.
Is there something to help me be more productive in this particular phase? I was imagining something like the uvmap will be labelled using vertex groups or something like.
Thanks for taking your time to read this and of course for any advice.
Cyba_Mephisto
At this point I mostly care about optimizing the whole uv and texturing process. Which edges to select as seams? How to quickly identify uv islands on the mesh? What are the guidelines here?
I know I can select the individual islands in blender, but what I want is this:
-Have as few islands as possible
-Have the uv map as less confusing as humanly possible.
I have like 10-20 models I need to texture as effectively (in terms of speed) as possible.
Could use baking to have a preview image of what the things are and/or bake components. Vertex/texture painting is also available that can be used for dirtmaps, color coding or just marking.
1: You can paint on the texture, within the UV Editor. Select Paint instead of View, and draw whatever you like.
2: I’m no expert, but seams are best placed wherever a discontinuity in the texture is less likely to be seen. e.g.: In a humanoid model, you’d put seams on the inside of the legs.
Apart from that, I think you could do some preliminary painting in Blender, then export that texture to your favorite paint program, then import it again.
Okay, so after a few days of experimenting, this is what works for me at the moment (idk if this works best, but I’m making progress in a timeframe I’m happy with):
-Separate stuff into multiple objects: The less mesh I have, the less uv islands I will have! (Also having these components works well with the specific project I am working on, more details below)
-Choosing the seams wisely: I don’t know how to best describe that one. I just try to make as less cuts as possible, and try to keep the islands as identifiable as possible (So that by the shape I can easily make out the entire object and which part of the mesh this is)
Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m making different in that regard, but it works better all of a sudden. Although I’m sure I chose the seams well before.
-Umwrapping-technique-madness: I usually go for the options in that order -> simple umwrap, smart uv project, project from view (I’m trying to use this as rarely as possible because it definitely requires me to do multiple umwraps and keeping track of the faces).
Something else, I’m unsure if I should open up yet another topic for this:
I’m having issues with baking ao. Specifically, its consistency. I have a few objects that are basically clones/replacements of each other (it’s for a model wrecking system). So each clone has a slightly different mesh. Following issues:
-Due to stuff being lowpoly (and having to be as lowpoly as possible in game), I see color steps in the ao map. If I pick smoothing, even though I have an even mesh with faces, I see the individual edges as if the mesh were uneven.
-AO seems to look different. Basemodel and wrecked clone have slightly different base-shades of grey (ha…ha…). That’s a nono for me ofc.
-During rendering each piece, I have to do them one by one (meaning I have to constantly be there and start rendering the next object).
-I also have to move stuff out of the way (literally moving), because objects naturally overlap (since they’re individual components and their damaged counterparts that I will dynamically replace in-game which requires them being in the same position).