Next Steps Mapping

Completed the modelling.

I then merge everything into one to make it be easier to work with. At this point I set all the surfaces to the same colour, different colour bases will show shaded hues under the mapping further down stream, in other tools.

Believe it or not, then I begin to break it down again, not by model structure but by surface normals for mapping. What I am looking for here is tow things; as flat of surface as I can find and where I want to add detail by using graphics. For instance if you know an area will have fine lettering you want a larger surface. Rather flat area of basic colour, like a diffuser, you can make it small.

Then I map the surfaces into three 1024 by 1024 files. I use BMP format because that is what is supported in the target game. In each graphic I have a small default colour, generally a flat black. I select everything and stuff it into the little colour square. This insures if I miss anything, it will be mapped to the ingame graphics and not have an extra, AC3D default material in the final package.

Working object by object I begin to map a surface to a location on the graphic. I map some pieces, then export the UV Map, place it in the graphic, use it as a guide for the next mapping and for the final graphic detail. You can see in the sample the surfaces. There not a one to one match with an objects and I have added on layer of detail garphic, the yellow side to show what I mean. This makes it easier to "paint" the details on the car.

I always use three BMP's. I call Primary, Secondary and Gass. I have shown the ones for the GT-R here for reference. This is a function of the restriction in the target game. Must be BMP's, square, no larger than 1024 pixels and if they are to be transparent, like the glass all on a single BMP. Seems restrictive, but thats not the worst. To export it into the format for SCGT, it is a problem for sure. More on that another day, for now I am just going to go step by step. Funny I know I have written about mapping before but each time I do it, because I start and stop, I relearn and learn new things a lot of the time. Maybe one day I will stop re-inventing the wheel.

Last step is, you guessed it merging it back into three objects, coresponding to to the object on a single map. At the end there are three objects, each with a single map.

You see, I just thought, I didn't resize, I will have to keep the porportions the same, or the graphics are skewed, aaaaaaaaahhhhhggggggg.