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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-27-2015 08:13 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I started work on the first of a number of module building pieces for use in UE4.


After putting this mesh into a project, I suddenly realized that I have absolutely zero idea how to maintain a consistent texel density and texture alignment between modules. I really miss Radiant-style per-face texturing.
Are there any methods to getting the textures aligned and seamless when two objects are snapped together in the game?
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obsidian
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PostPosted: 10-27-2015 08:19 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Can't you just planar or box map the UVW mapping?



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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-27-2015 08:33 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I could but then I get some funky seams/texture misalignment on the beveled edges of the mesh which most people may not notice but bothers the hell out of me.
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Hipshot
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PostPosted: 10-27-2015 11:53 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Silicone_Milk wrote:
I started work on the first of a number of module building pieces for use in UE4.

After putting this mesh into a project, I suddenly realized that I have absolutely zero idea how to maintain a consistent texel density and texture alignment between modules. I really miss Radiant-style per-face texturing.
Are there any methods to getting the textures aligned and seamless when two objects are snapped together in the game?


Oh how I hate irregular texture densities, the Unreal games are filled with them and it looks really bad, like the artists don't care much, cause they know their art director don't know anything about it.

Anyway, a good idea is to use a checkermap or such, like this. I use a pretty advanced one and I even use that sometimes in radiant, as editor image, not to get the density the "same" but to easier align certain textures.



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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-28-2015 12:12 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


obsidian wrote:
Can't you just planar or box map the UVW mapping?

Another issue I'm having, which is probably just my lack of modeling experience, is that a box unwrap (cube projection) gives me varying texel densities. This can be resolved by scaling UV islands but something about the process feels incredibly wrong. I wonder if there's a script for Blender to apply, scale, rotate individual UV islands to apply textures per-face like one would in Radiant.

Hipshot wrote:
Oh how I hate irregular texture densities, the Unreal games are filled with them and it looks really bad, like the artists don't care much, cause they know their art director don't know anything about it.

Anyway, a good idea is to use a checkermap or such, like this. I use a pretty advanced one and I even use that sometimes in radiant, as editor image, not to get the density the "same" but to easier align certain textures.

I'm using the color grid Blender has to check out how badly things are getting stretched.

As I keep mentioning, I miss doing things the way texturing was done with Quake 3. "Texel density" and such wasn't something I was even concerned or even knew about and everything just worked and looked great.
I found an unofficial pixel-per-unit guide for UE4 with suggested texture sizes given some mesh dimensions. This should help a bit.

My biggest issue now is getting two different meshes, side by side, to have perfectly aligned textures (no seams where they meet). I suppose this could be done using world space lookup in the material being applied to the mesh; the most experience I have with material editing is about an hour last night dicking around with the nodes though.
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D-Meat
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PostPosted: 10-28-2015 07:24 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Yeah, keeping a consistent texel size gets difficult when you start traditionnal UV mapping. Working with the checkers is the solution.

Also, if you're making a set of 3D objects, I think you don't need the faces on the side of you object. they'll be hidden by a column or something else, I think.

Now is time for the guy from stone country to make an artistic remark : stone arches don't look like that ! examples :
Image
Image

Since you're using UE4, maybe sculpting a high poly arch and then baking the normalmaps and using ambient occlusion and displacement bake to make the diffuse (or whatever it is in PBR) would look neat !



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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-29-2015 12:43 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


It'll be ok for the sides to exist on the mesh. It's only a few triangles and it's more pleasing to me to see a water-tight mesh volume rather than a bunch of floating planes.

Yeah, I know the arches don't actually look like that. I just tossed a default UE4 material on the mesh to get an idea of how it would look. Thanks for the image though, I'll probably use that for my next asset.
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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-29-2015 12:27 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I found that if I generate UV coordinates from object data (linked empty object to control scale/rotation/translation) that I have some pretty consistent results between multiple objects.

I need to figure out how to save those generated coordinates out since it's only working in the rendered view but when I open the UV layout window I still have my old UVs.

Thanks AndyW, I have a handful of 'medieval cottage' reference images that have those wooden support lattices and have been trying to decide if they should be a simple texture detail or if I should model out lattice pieces to connect together and stone panels to place in between.
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D-Meat
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PostPosted: 10-29-2015 08:20 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


You're having a cube projection ? in edit mode, 3D view, press 'u' to get the unwrap menu, and try "cube projection", see if you have the same result !
(I just tried on the monkey, seemed quite consistent)



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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 02:10 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


D-Meat wrote:
You're having a cube projection ? in edit mode, 3D view, press 'u' to get the unwrap menu, and try "cube projection", see if you have the same result !
(I just tried on the monkey, seemed quite consistent)


It's a cube projection but a little different. If I just use the standard cube projection uv layout for the two objects then the texture is scaled differently on each object. With generated coordinates from object data + cube projection it gives me a uniform scaling across all of the objects and perfect alignment.

I've decided to bite the bullet and do manual unwrapping + seam marking since I'll need to make a secondary UV channel for lightmaps anyways.

There's a bit of stretching where I've welded some UV points to prevent overlap but it's acceptable I suppose. I created a cut on the inner arch faces to hide the seam behind the wood frame.


For some unknown reason I have a face on the mesh completely missing but I can't create a new face and it shows up fine when imported in UE4. It doesn't exist in Blender though. Weird.
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AEon
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 04:38 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Since this is a larger issue, and highly of interest to others... putting all this UV mapping etc. into a separate thread might be a good idea, IMO.
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obsidian
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 06:50 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Done.



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D-Meat
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 06:59 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Silicone_Milk wrote:
For some unknown reason I have a face on the mesh completely missing but I can't create a new face and it shows up fine when imported in UE4. It doesn't exist in Blender though. Weird.


Maybe you have a face with inverted normals ... but I don't know why UE would render it correctly in that case :) Good luck !

Thanks for moving the messages to a new topic :)



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Theftbot
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 11:12 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


for Unity but uv info is universal
UVProject setup
https://youtu.be/B5FX8pvJa_c
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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 01:00 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


D-Meat wrote:
Maybe you have a face with inverted normals ... but I don't know why UE would render it correctly in that case :) Good luck !

Thanks for moving the messages to a new topic :)

I thought it was a normals issue at first as well but there's just nothing there. No inverted face, no vertices or edges; there's nothing. It's very strange.

Theftbot wrote:
for Unity but uv info is universal
UVProject setup
https://youtu.be/B5FX8pvJa_c

That actually looks like exactly what I've been searching for, Theftbot. Thanks for those links. It looks like I have more things to try out tonight.
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Gustavo6046
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PostPosted: 10-30-2015 04:46 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


How to make a UV map in Blender anyway? (trying to skin models for Quake 3 / Unreal Tournament 1999)



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PostPosted: 11-01-2015 01:56 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


There are several ways to make UV map unwrap. For character models, I can't tell you, but for a model of a car, for example, you can use ortho projection top, side or front, which you can position where you need. That way there is possible to make texture(s) for every part of your model. I'm not sure about player models as it's more complex and needs accurate unwraping (see how is unwrapped John Carmack's hand for example). I think head is a form of a sphere, so there should be best spherical unwrap...



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Silicone_Milk
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PostPosted: 11-02-2015 02:04 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The UV Project modifier is working pretty well and is almost exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks again :up:
More window meshes!


Gustavo6046 wrote:
How to make a UV map in Blender anyway? (trying to skin models for Quake 3 / Unreal Tournament 1999)

There are different projection methods to create UV coordinates for your model. You can also select edges, mark them as seams, and then run an unwrap which will try to peel the model into a flat surface making cuts where you've marked the seams at.
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Gustavo6046
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PostPosted: 11-02-2015 02:21 PM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


What I want to do is a nice cubic projection for my simple flash grenade launcher model for Q3, and also put it in Unreal Tournament as well.
And no, Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament are NO rivals. ;)



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