I add a UV texture to my character object in texture properties
I select a group of vertices on the shoulder
I unwrap these faces into the image/uv editor window
I click new to create a new image, give it a UV test grid and create it, and it applies to the selected mesh from the shoulder as you’d expect.
But when I try the exact same thing with the hand, or any part of the hand, it doesn’t work at all.
The fix I have found so far is to go through those steps, then invert selection and hide the rest of the mesh, then select the remaining hand mesh, then when I switch to object mode and then back to edit mode, it will appear with the correct image associated with it… Another way that seems to work is with the pin icon ‘display image regardless of selection’ but I’m not certain if it’s what I should use.
If I delete the rest of the body and just leave the hand, it works. So I’m thinking maybe the rest of the mesh is somehow stopping me. In that case though I’d still expect that to be the case when I try the shoulder, but it isn’t
Are you using separate materials to use different images for the unwrapping? Or one only? I don’t see any images packed, and I don’t see any loaded as texture slots in the material. If you are meaning to use only one image texture on this material, but use parts of it across the mesh, then unwrap the first portion, place it, then pin it and then select the next portion, unwrap, and then place and pin, repeat. If you are looking to use a different image per part, then you need to use different materials or different uv ayers, or a combo of the two.
This blend file was really just a test, which is why no images are loaded in or anything. I was simplifying it down as much as I could to identify where the problem was.
I was planning to use multiple images across my own mesh, with multiple materials. UV layers are something I’m going to have to read up on because I don’t quite understand how to use them, but it works to just add one for the one unwrap I’m trying to do in this instance
My point is that I can unwrap faces on the shoulder area and create a new image to associate them with and it works fine. But if I tried to do the same thing on the hand part of the mesh, using the exact same steps (without doing the shoulder, just doing the hand by itself), it lets me create the new image but for some reason the image won’t associate with the unwrapped hand.
It should be easy. Add the principal material with the settings you need, and add an image texture slot. Go about selecting the first vert group, then hit assign in the material tab. Select your next group, add a new material with the ‘plus’ sign, and then choose the same as first - then press the number next to the name of the material to make it a single user copy, and rename it for the part of the mesh you are using it for. Repeat for each group, then it should be easy to do the UV image mapping.
I made a 30 second video to show my problem, if you have time
I think the title is probably misleading, I’m not great with the terminology with materials.
I know how to apply my textures to a mesh well enough, my problem is that for some reason it isn’t letting me associate a flattened, unwrapped UV mesh with a new image when I create one… I am able to do this on one part of the mesh, shown in the first half of the video, but if I tried the exact same method on a different part of the mesh, it won’t work, as shown in the 2nd half.
I can create the new image with a UV grid, but it isn’t appearing behind the unwrapped hand, where as it did appear behind the unwrapped shoulder…
Another weird fix I found is to go through all the steps, and when it doesn’t associate the mesh to the new uv grid image, extrude the wholehand, then undo, and it magically works…
you try to create multiple uv-wraps, but
it looks like you dont create new ones.
from this point of view it is normal, that you never get
the view of the previous genereted uv-wraps-image-combinations.
First, you should name your different uv-wraps, they
should appear in the list
and dont go for unwrap of only a part of the faces
until you know what you are doing,
unwrap all faces, select the unwanted faces and move them out
of the limits of the image. This only works if the image
is later NOT used with options “extend” or “repeat”
(image has to be used as “clip”).
The video cuts half way through, showing a whole new scene, I only try to add one UV wrap, it works for the shoulder but not the hand. Am I supposed to use different UV unwrap for every piece of the mesh if I did texture them separately? Or use different materials with their own textures? I don’t think I’ve found two books or tutorials that go about this in the same way…
If you wanted to take that mesh, and add a uv image onto the hand, and then a different one to the foot, what would you need to do?
i think you dont get it, because you can use both ways!
One is to use 1 uv-unwrap with overlapping faces and then
use multiple materials to limit (set faces with assign) what
selected faces should get this material with its texture-image
and uv-unwrap set for its mapping (in the texture-map-options!).
The other is to use 1 material and multiple uv-unwraps with NOT
overlapping faces, each uv-unwrap set for another texture-image
and the texture-image has to be set as clipped.
If you go to export your modells for other programs (like game-engines)
you may need to bake the textures into one image and use only one uv-unwrap.
edit: i missed the way to use the uv-project-modifier, but i think this would make the whole thing more complicated to understand.
So, the main advice would be, go for a simple solution and dont get confused by too many ways of usage. One image is more simple than to use multiple images, same for uv-unwraps and materials and combinations of materials with uv-textures.