Blender: Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures

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ProtocolX27
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Blender: Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures

Post by ProtocolX27 »

Protocol X27's Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures
So you want to make some pretty renders, but can't get over crummy textures you're stuck with? Or maybe you know how to manipulate 3D, but can't be bothered with working in 2D? If so, hopefully this will provide a couple of ideas for polishing up a model if it strikes your fancy.

Skill Level: Moderate
Hopefully you have a basic understanding of how to bring a model into Blender and navigate the interface.

Requirements:
- Blender 2.49
- Time
- Persistence


I recently had an adventure in porting a model with some questionable textures. Can't say I blame the developer considering the model still looks good in game. However, that doesn't help when it comes to posing the model for wallpapers.

When viewing a model the meshes typically start off with a restriction by materials. This particular model had only one or two meshes by default for the body. Since the body has both its skin and armor on the same texture there wasn't a need for there to be more than one mesh... something I sought to change.

At any time you can view a model's UV in Blender by switching a view to the UV/Image Editor option.

As you can see here the mesh selected represents both the body and armor.

Image

It is not uncommon to see the UV window displaying the vertices / faces above or below the actual texture. If you've never changed a UV this is not a problem because XNALara information will still tile/translate it correctly, but for us to improve it we'll want to get into a form that's easier on the eyes.

You'll have to use your best judgement to get the UV's in the correct location. Easiest solution I've found is to hit 'A' to select all vertices and then 'G','Y'. (Or do it the right way and move it down the same height as the image. Thanks L2R) This selects all objects then initates the grab / move option and restricts it to the Y axis.

Image

After doing this you should end up with a situation as seen in the left window in which your UV's now overlap the texture. In the right window you can see there are no breaks between the armor / skin areas. Vertices cannot be separated in the UV window, so our first time consuming objective is to separate the mesh object into the desired parts.

I won't spend a great deal on the separation process. Basically, select faces that you want to split, then select 'P' > 'Selected'. Repeat this process until you have the groups separated that define distinct portions of your model. For this particular model I had two skin objects (body & legs) and three armor objects (body, legs & arms).

If you split a bunch of pieces and need to join any of them back together you can always use 'Ctrl + J'.

Image

Once you have your mesh objects separated it's time start the second time consuming process of manually adjusting the UV. If you'll notice, the only faces that show up in the UV are the ones matching those selected in the 3D View.

Image

The following image shows the UV's for the arm armor. These have already been separated and edited. The key is to adjust vertices so that anti aliased part of the texture image is not included on the face of the mesh. When our objects were combined it would stretch the texture over the face including the blurry area between the two distinct objects. Now we can pull the UV's away from each other so that the blurry section of the image is no longer displayed on the face.

Image

I've found that a few simple keys help make the UV's a quick process. 'A' to select all vertices and then tap again to ensure that all are unselected. I'll use the circle select tool by tapping 'B' twice. Then I will select the vertices to adjust. Hit 'G' to move them into place. Then I'll tap 'A' again to clear the selected ones and then continue with the selection & adjustment process.

Image

That's it! It isn't a complicated process, just a time consuming one depending on the amount of UV data you need to change. Familiarity with the Blender interface will help too. Good luck! :thumbup:
Last edited by ProtocolX27 on Sun Oct 13, 2013 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Love2Raid
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Re: Blender: Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures

Post by Love2Raid »

Great tutorial, thanks! :D

The results are incredible, I have to say. :o
Unfortunately this will only work on certain (high-poly) models, but it's still useful. :thumbup:

Oh yeah, about moving the UV map, don't trust your judgement lol. Just type G, followed by Y then how many pixels you want to move the thing and whether it's supposed to go up or down. In this case, it would be: G -> Y -> -1024 (if it's 1024). This will get it in exactly the right position. ;)
ProtocolX27
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Re: Blender: Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures

Post by ProtocolX27 »

Thanks! :hug2:

Good point, yeah won't help the old school models, :okay:

And true, :lol: I didn't think about, ya know, moving it down the image dimensions, :facepalm: I already updated it for that. :)
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Love2Raid
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Re: Blender: Crispy UV's for Low Res Textures

Post by Love2Raid »

No problem. :hug:
Yeah. :(
It's ok, took me a while to figure that out as well, lol. :derp:
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