How do I UVmap an obj in Carrara

Geminii23

Hi.  Hopefully someone will be able to assist me with this.  I have been trying to figure out how to UVmap an object so that I can apply textures and shaders properly to it in DAZ.

Basically what is happening currently is that if I apply a shader in DAZ, the obj ends up just a base color but won't allow for any actual texture such as diffuse, bump, spec or normal mapping.  Other users have pointed me to UVmapping the obj in Carrara, Blender or other 3D app.  

I have tried watching some videos about this but can't seem to figure out how to do this at all.  Truthfully I am still just trying to figure out how the heck to navigate Carrar.  Maybe I am just so used to DAZ, but Blender, Carrara and a lot of other apps I have tried are just a pain to navigate around.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Diomede

Welcome.

There are some links to helpful threads.  Scroll down to find some uvmapping specific links.  For the links, see the second post in this thread.  https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/96301/modeling-objects-in-carrara-q-a-come-one-and-all/p1

 

Here is a good thread.

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/72057/uv-mapping-and-unfold/p1

 

Having said that, here is some quick info on navigation.  In the bottom right of the Carrara interface, there is a box called the instances tray. Select your modeled object there.  Click on the wrench in the upper right menu to enter the modeling room for your selected object.  Along the right side there is a menu.  Near the top are three options labeled edit modes.  Choose the far right, which sort of looks like a fishing net. The screen should split.  One part of the screen has the mesh of your model.  The other half shows a square grid, which is the uv map.  That right side menu should have tabs for various uv editing options.  You can use presets for common shapes, such as cubes and grids.  You can also create seams and pins to unwrap a uv map.  See the links above for examples.

Geminii23

Diomede said:

Welcome.

There are some links to helpful threads.  Scroll down to find some uvmapping specific links.  For the links, see the second post in this thread.  https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/96301/modeling-objects-in-carrara-q-a-come-one-and-all/p1

 

Here is a good thread.

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/72057/uv-mapping-and-unfold/p1

 

Having said that, here is some quick info on navigation.  In the bottom right of the Carrara interface, there is a box called the instances tray. Select your modeled object there.  Click on the wrench in the upper right menu to enter the modeling room for your selected object.  Along the right side there is a menu.  Near the top are three options labeled edit modes.  Choose the far right, which sort of looks like a fishing net. The screen should split.  One part of the screen has the mesh of your model.  The other half shows a square grid, which is the uv map.  That right side menu should have tabs for various uv editing options.  You can use presets for common shapes, such as cubes and grids.  You can also create seams and pins to unwrap a uv map.  See the links above for examples.

Hi.  Thanks for sharing that info.  So when I first load it up, the UV View was completely blank.  Then I try to unwrap the obj and it look really strange.

 

Stezza

have you setup the texture domains?

one for the bat

one for the eyes I think it is ( it's either a bat bra or bat goggles I'm guessing )

and one for the rest

then try again

Geminii23

Stezza said:

have you setup the texture domains?

one for the bat

one for the eyes I think it is ( it's either a bat bra or bat goggles I'm guessing )

and one for the rest

then try again

how do you setup texture domains?  I setup surfaces in DAZ before I exported it is that the same thing?

Diomede

You can uvmap without shading domans, but it is easier if you have them.  

RE uvmapping in Carrara: this video may be helpful.

 

Diomede

Here is an example.  I made a quick model similar to yours.  It is a modified cylinder with some wings in front.  I noticed that your model is triangles instead of quads, so mine starts that way also.

The first thing I did was select the entire mesh and then use the model tab from the top menu to "untriangulate" the mesh.  Wasn't perfect, but it helps.

But I have a fully quad version so I am going to use that.  

Not necessary, but I selected the wings and created new shading domains using the menu in the right panel (properties tray).  One for the wings and one for the bra, but do as many as you wish.

 

 

Diomede

I then went to the uv editing mode.  As default, Carrara applies a spherical type map.  Result isn't too bad, but there are some overlapping uvs.  If you press unfold now, Carrara spreads the uv islands along the bottom of the map.  They can be very small sometimes.  That appears to be what happened in your pic.

I selected the edges where I wanted the seams.  In this case, I selected the edges where the wings meet the bra.  Press the plus under seam and the selection turns blue.  NOTE - I sometimes make a mistake and press plus under the selection tools instead of the plus under seam.  Try to avoid that.  You can also place pins.

I pressed unfold and Carrara spread my wings island and my bra island along the bottom of the map.  Because I only have two islands, they are not tiny.  They can be rescaled so make as many islands as desired.

Not too bad, but I noticed that there are some oddities around the corners of the wings.  It can still be improved.

 

Diomede

I selected some of the edges around the upper and lower corners of the wings and added more seams.  I hit unfold again and Carrara spread the islands along the bottom again.  The corners of the wings are improved.

You could select the uvs using the same selection tools as usual.  You can also select by shading domain.  In this case, my shading domains match the islands.  I selected each uv island and moved and scaled them to take better advantage of the uv space.

Diomede

I applied a checkered shader.  Note that because my islands are slightly different scale, the checkers for the wings are slightly smaller than the checkers for the bra.  In effect, that would allow greater detailed painting to be more easily applied to the wings.

Geminii23

Wow thank you for sending all of this.  

Ok, so one of the issues that I am having when selecting the shading domains is a warning box pops up that says "Polymeshes sharing same shading domains should not have different wrapping setup".  

The other issue I am having is just the learning curve of navigating Carrara.  I am so used to DAZ that the whole setup seems foreign.  It seems like the default view is the Director Camera which feels really cumbersome to navigate around.  I was trying to rotate around using the dolly tool and the object just swung off screen and vanished.  It is as if there is some kind of anchor that won't allow me to actually rotate the object itself.  Now I am trying everything I can to figure how to reset my view but can't figure it out.  LOL

3DAGE

With UV Unwrapping,. you need to define "seams" so that the 3D model can be split and flattened out on the UV Grid,. normally this results in several small "islands" of flattened mesh on the Grid view (which you got already),. each of these can be manually selected (double click) and moved, rotated and scaled to enable you to layout the islands within the UV grid,.

You do that to allow you to export a "template" (Wireframe image of your UV flattened mesh) from the Display tab./export

you can then open that in an image editor, and create new layers to paint or add images to that UV template,. then export your final "texture map"

You'd then load that texture into your shader/surface material structure (diffuse/color channel) in any 3D app.

 

The error message you're getting is because some parts of your model have the same "Texture" (shading domain in Carrara) .. (Surface material /group in DS/Poser)

but those parts have different UV mapping types or layouts.

You can either adjust the parts to have the same UV layout,.

or create a new shading domain and apply that to one part of the model

 

In the scene,. Carrara uses the "currently selected object" as the rotate point,. this can be really fast to work with,. although kind of strange at first.  Use ALT+ click in the empty scene space to move around with the camera, Left, Middle/push/pull , Right buttons to Rotate/Dolly/Pan

Using the Directors camera . rather than  a main "animatable camera" prevents the new user creating unexpected camera motion,. the director camera doesn't animate.

it can be used to move around the scene,. find interesting points of view,. then save that position as a saved camera view,.

you can then "apply" any saved camera position to any camera in your scene, at any point in time.

You can change camera's by clicking the text in the top left corner EG: "Directors camera"

select a camera from the drop down menu,. or save/load camera positions.

Hope it helps :)

Persona Non Grata

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Persona Non Grata

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Persona Non Grata

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Persona Non Grata

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Diomede

Thanks for these illustrations of alternatives, Selinita.  Can anticipate circumstances when each one might be the right choice.