Need advice for UVW Mapping...3DSMax

[spectre68]

yes, and thank you again!
The UV Map gizmo is the thing I was overlooking. I'll have to review that in detail when I get home. I'm still not used to the features of the program. I was looking for a simplistic tool to align things such as the alignment tool within the editor, so the gizmo went under the radar as I searched everywhere BUT there. I used it to apply the mapping modifier to the mesh and assumed that it had performed its intended function. I already understood the face detach thing from your previous posts, and figured out how to do that and to apply a given material to that face. I just didn't know how to align the texture the way I wanted it once I got it applied. The book I have is at times hard for me to understand, you know, it's not a book intended for "dummies" like me. You should write books being that you have the ability to explain things so well and in such detail. Heck, I'd buy one. You've already answered several questions that my book just seemed to leave wide open. Thanks for all the time you take to help us beginners get started! I'd have already given up had it not been for the help I find here.

[Viathan]

Tutorial for Modeling, Animating and unwrapping (3ds to UT2004)

Here is all you need for modeling, unwrapping, texturing, animating and importing from 3ds Max to the Unreal editor.

http://www.neomagination.com/tutorials/

[Bitter-Pill]

*Note: I didn't read every post in this thread.

Here is one way to use the look of standard textures with a custom model:

1. Edit the UVs so that each face has its own share of the map.
2. Apply the UT textures to your model in max until they look the way you want them to.
3. Add any other feature such as bump mapping, lighting, etc, to improve the appearance.
4. Bake them all into a single texture for that mesh.

The advantage of this technique is strongest when the total number of textures you would have used in your map before baking, is larger than the total number of textures in your map after baking.

[DGUnreal]

Not to knock your comment as it is valid...

The down sides are the same as using skins though:
- The average large baked texture will be 1024x1024, which is too small for anything other than small to medium meshes. On large meshes it will be a blurry blocky texture look up close.
- It adds additional assets to your map file which increases download time and server-push file size.
- It is difficult if not impossible to create meshes that are using varying types of materials for each sub-material type, ie: a mix of shader, panner, etc. You are stuck with a single texture that you have limited material combinations with.
- Detail textures may not work properly or be visually pleasing as you are limited to one Detail for the entire baked texture material.

Multi-texturing allows for superior tile capabilities and Mips, providing a better visual appearance than you can (usually) ever get with a skin or baked texture.

However, the method that you choose (multi or skin or bake) should be decided appropriately for each mesh that you are creating and the target game engine.

[Bitter-Pill]

Obviously, any mesh that is large and meant to replace BSP should be textured similarly to BSP. I don't really recommend anyone to use the standard textures if they have the means to make their own at the same quality or better, and it doesn't hamper performance. Download sizes don't matter all that much if your maps are fun to play.

[DGUnreal]

I don't really recommend anyone to use the standard textures if they have the means to make their own at the same quality or better, and it doesn't hamper performance. Download sizes don't matter all that much if your maps are fun to play.

I recommend the opposite -- use the stock textures as much as possible to keep your map file size smaller.
Sure, you can freely create custom textures and have large map file sizes and you may still get some downloads from the hosting sites if it is a decent map, but your chances of getting onto servers and server play will be considerably less or not at all.
Most clans and server admins will not put up maps that are larger than 10 or 15MB in size, due to both the issues with server-push on large files and the resulting wait time -- the majority of gamers will not wait more than a minute or so, and if the file is not pushed they will disconnect.
This issue is going to be even more of a problem when UT2007 ships.
See this thread on BUF.

[spectre68]

For me, using the stock textures is a MUST at this point. I am definately NOT a texture artist and if I were to create all my own textures my level would probably end up looking somewhat worse than the original Doom. I don't have the "vision" to be a texture artist. Right now, since I'm just beginning to learn modelling, and since this is my very first attempt at using the Unreal editor, I've got my hands full with that to the point of near insanity at times. I would surely give up completely if I had to create my own textures as well. PLUS, since I DO have a background in mapping for Half-life in the past, I know how people are about downloading large files from game servers. I made a couple of really good maps for HL, but the file sizes kept them out of servers for the most part. Only a couple of servers, other than our clan servers ran those maps. You could have a full server running Bootcamp, Crossfire, Datacore, or any of the standard maps, then a custom map would rotate in and the server would soon be nearly empty because people didn't want to wait for the dload. As a mapper, it was kinda like a slap in the face when people rejected your "masterpiece" because they didn't want to wait for a download to finish, and was even worse when all the people would return when the stock maps began rotating again. For this reason, since I'm already going to be increasing file size significantly with custom meshes, I feel it is paramount to use the stock texture assets to keep the file size within reason. I may never get my level released to the public, but I'm gonna give it a real good shot. Should I manage to get the task accomplished, I DO want it to have a fighting chance to get some play time. More experienced mappers may feel differently about this, but that is my 2 cents on the subject.

[BIOS]

if it were me, i'd make the map how I want to make it, filesize be damned. afterwards, if you find admins refusing to put it into rotation, you can always release a LE edition or whatever that uses stock textures, optimizes more, etc....