Ok so I am very new to blender so please bear with me. First off im modeling/uv mapping in blender then exporting the files to collada .dae to import into shiva. Heres my problem, when I send those dae files for import the material settings arent being saved. On alot of projects id rather be using the material then textures, and on some projects im using the link append library which is giving me mostly a material and a reflection texture. I know when you use a texture you have to send it with the dae to import into shiva but its the material thats really bugging me. Is there a way to turn that material setting in blender to a jpeg or texture so its easier to send, or am I just missing something? Also can you bake a material onto your uv map instead of a texture? Im still learning how to uv map properly but im wondering if theres any good uv mapping tutorials out there that involve multiple textures being applied, that arent so dated. Im using blender 2.5x and half the uv tutorials have a completely diffrent ui and dont have half of the stuff they are talking about in the tutorial.
http://blendercookie.com have lots of tutorials for blender 2.5. Look under the texturing ones for those that include UV unwrapping.
thanks richard!! I whole new set of tutorials I didnt know about, big mahalos from hawaii!
Ok so the tutorial uv map you suggested wasnt anything new to me. Let me try to describe my problem in more detail. I make lets say a basic sword model which is gonna later be exported after texturing as a collada dae. When i append from a library from another blend file a texture I want to use, it puts the material as lets say chrome and sets the channel accordingly, then it pops up a reflect in the texture panel, and also a backround texture.
Now the problem is, when I export to dae and its looking all beautiful in blender I have to attach the texture that I used for the person im sending it to so they can plug it into shiva. The problem with the libraries of textures ive seen is one, the only file I can attach from that is a reffrence image of a chrome ball with a lame black backround. Second when you import the dae to shiva it dosent import with the saved settings of the material channel.
I have no problem with actual jpeg texture files where the material channel is just the default but my problem lies with the material channel.
My big problem is metal textures, all I can find is real pics that are jpegs with rust spots etc…, why isnt there jpegs in flat panel form of hi gloss metals etc…