Ryu's Armory - My Warband Models and maybe some more

[Ryu]

@Senni: Well it kinda depends on the 3d program you use. But for example roadkill UV plugin for Maya was working just like Blender's UV unwrap tools if i remember correctly, so i guess its not that different.

For tutorials i can suggest you great tudors; cgcookie (or blendercookie) http://cgcookie.com/
Here are some UV tutorials, can really help who really want to learn about it .

http://vimeo.com/19049104 -Introduction to UV Unwrapping- (This one probably can help alot if you want to understand UVs and unwraping)
http://vimeo.com/10477401 -UV Unwrapping a Building- (i think that one has more than 1 tutorial, make a little search to find others)
http://vimeo.com/9866038 -UV Unwraping a full body-

Those all can help for at least understanding how UV works and how to unwrap properly. Did i tell you that Blender is great! You should try it hehehe .

@xFirestormx: I totally agree, Maya's or Blender's UI seems more user friendly to me .

[Senni]

Thanks, I'll have a look .

Also I'm getting a weird problem, when I open up my model with openbrf the models split in two and one half is slightly higher than the other Oo.

[Ryu]

2 possible reasons(and an half ) for that i can think of;
1- You didnt merged all the vertex of your models in the middle
2- Your model bugged on export

For the 1st one, you have to figure it out to merge vertex'es or edges at the middle of your model on your 3dsuit(3dmax i asume).

For the 2nd one, if you're not already using it; use .obj export. Also to check if its because of the exporting progress: first export your model then open a new-clear scene in 3dmax and import the model you just exported. If the model looks different than the original model; your exporting is bugged somehow, make a search for a fix on net(try cgsociety forums).

1\2- This is a long call, maybe its because of openbrf, if it asks you something like that "do you want to import model as seperate meshes" be sure that you choose "no" so your mesh can be imported as one mesh only.

Good luck .

[xFirestormx]

Assuming 3ds max it is most likely number 2, for 2 reasons.

First, 3ds max is notorious for bugging exported files, which is why i constantly rage at it  :-\

Second, i have never heard of nor seen vertexes shifting in any direction for any reason when i open a file other than it wasn't a clean save. Vertexes don't care enough to move if you don't merge them. They will just warp/twist/wtfbbq the polygons so that (in the programs opinion) it works out.

One side of the model shifting up could also be the result of the model actually being 2 separate models that are colored coded the same in max, so make sure it's one whole model

[Senni]

Yh I was having trouble in 3ds max, it seems their two seperate elements. I could only weld some of the central vertices though, some just plain refused , no idea why :/.

I thought I was being clever making half the model then mirroring and welding later xD.

[xFirestormx]

If you used the symmetry function it will not let you get away so easily :p once you have finished your model and are happy with the outcome, add another editable poly layer on top of the symmetry layer and then collapse the layers to the new editable poly. This will make the symmetry model become "real", and then double check that the seam in the middle welded properly by selecting them and using weld vertices, and that should solve it. Then its a matter of deleting the left half of the model again and redoing the symmetry until it works :p you'll need the symmetry layer if you want symmetrical UV's. Make sure the center of your whole model is on 0,0 in the grid too otherwise symmetry won't work properly. I believe you can change the offset of the vertice seam weld somewhere in the layer. Hope this helps

[Ryu]

If you used the symmetry function it will not let you get away so easily :p once you have finished your model and are happy with the outcome, add another editable poly layer on top of the symmetry layer and then collapse the layers to the new editable poly. This will make the symmetry model become "real", and then double check that the seam in the middle welded properly by selecting them and using weld vertices, and that should solve it. Then its a matter of deleting the left half of the model again and redoing the symmetry until it works :p you'll need the symmetry layer if you want symmetrical UV's. Make sure the center of your whole model is on 0,0 in the grid too otherwise symmetry won't work properly. I believe you can change the offset of the vertice seam weld somewhere in the layer. Hope this helps

Wow, its really painful just to make a mirror in 3dmax i guess. Also when using symetry you should be careful about normal directions as they tend to swap their direction too. Hmm i think you also have to make sure your manipulations on your model are applied on your model before doing the symetry thing(its apply rotation, scale or location in Blender, not sure how you do that in 3dmax)

In Blender you can just use a mirror modifier and pick a direction (x, y or z). You can simply select merge option or clipping option in that modifier to "unite" your model pretty easily. Though you should be careful where your model's origin is to make symetry work properly.

[xFirestormx]

It essentially the same in 3ds max, in terms of scaling, rotating, and moving. For symmetry you can do it x,y, and z as well as the inverse of each, and choose weld at the seem (although 3ds max doesn't seem to weld at the seam very well in my opinion). As long as you put all consecutive layers below the symmetry layer, normally no problem will arise. It also helps if you delete the model's left side instead of the right as 3ds max seems to work better with right to left, no idea why

[Kriegstofu]

devs, please replace the eastern katana with the black nodachi (since the eastern katana looks not like an eastern variant
(the crossguard is a german/prussian cross which fits not the eastern theme)

[Senni]

Had a bit more of a play around, seems my model isn't out of alignment. But there is some weirdness, basically only part of my model appears from different angles in the OpenBRF, so I was only seeing the top left and bottom right parts, or top right and bottom left Oo.

Is it still a problem?