4 replies to this topic

[heywhatsup]

Hey, I am working on a project in maya. I have modeled a bunch of buildings, and am ready to start texturing, only I don't know where to start. What would your workflow be? What's the best way to unwrap buildings? Im confused about how I am going to have different materials for the glass and building. Can anyone point me to a tutorial related to what I am doing?
Thanks in advanced!

Oh, and my models:

[heywhatsup]

My image is getting cut-off in the post above, this one should work better:

[Stu]

with regards to how to actually do it i cant help you as im a max user, but maybe i can help a little with the workflow.

first off, are the building and glass on seperate layers/object, or is the whole building one object?

if it is one object (which i assume it is, otherwise you wouldnt be asking for help), you will either need to do one of three things...

1. detach all the glass faces from the building (same goes for any other areas with a different material to the main skin of the building), and then you can apply materials to them seperately.

2. you will need to apply sub-materials to the building, which involves selecting the glass faces and giving them a sub-object number (you will have to get someone familiar with maya to expand upon this - if its even possible in maya that is - as im speaking from experience in max).

3. in max you can apply a uvw unwrap to the building, which i wouldnt do myself as you would have to paint in any reflections on the map on photoshop, which will not always give you desireable results.

personally i prefer detach the faces so i have seperate objects, though.

but when or if you try any of those techniques out, remember to not overwrite the original file. so save the one you have now and then create copies named, for example, Buildings_UVUnwrap or Buildings_DetachedFaces, just so you can always go back to the original if you stuff it up.

just a few ideas for you there, sorry i couldnt be of a bit more help.

Edited by Stu, 26 July 2007 - 04:37 AM.

[heywhatsup]

Ah, thanks for the insight on that workflow. That all converts to maya pretty well. I'm going to get started this afternoon, and maybe post an update. Any other workflow ideas are welcome. Thanks!

-Peace

Edited by Arrrgh4Life, 26 July 2007 - 06:27 AM.

[.KernKraft.]

i havent read all what stu said in his post,

just like stu said

detach all the glass faces from the building (same goes for any other areas with a different material to the main skin of the building), and then you can apply materials to them seperately.

then selecht your building, you can do easy automatic unwrapping, make a snapshot of the uw map in the UV editor, then in photoshop apply teture and stuff, and also make the other layers, like bump, or displacement, then make a new shader in maya, add it to the color and the other layer to the other channels.

or u can do side by side planar unwrapping, but that takes a lil more time,

if u need any more info feel free to ask