UV Mapping

Purpose

UV mapping is a process of applying textures to an object by hand.

Creating a UV Map

UV MAPPING

To get an idea of the process, perform the following steps:

1. Start with a simple mesh, such as a sphere or cube.

2. Split the screen into two views, and change one of them to UV/image editor, using the editor icon in the header strip.

3. Enter edit mode and choose edge select mode, as shown in Figure bellow.

UV MAPPING

4. Select the edges (Shift-RMB) that will be seams. Try to select areas that when cut will result in the mesh being able to unfold into a flat pattern. Press Ctrl+E and choose Mark Seam from the pop-up menu. If you make the mistake of marking incorrect seams, you can undo them with Ctrl+E Clear ➤Seam, which is found just below Mark Seam in the Edges menu (see Figure).

UV MAPPING

5. When you think you have achieved well-placed seams, press A to select the full mesh, then press U, and then select Unwrap from the pop-up menu. Blender will attempt to flat-unwrap your mesh in the UV editor window. At this point, errors in seam positioning may become apparent (see some of the examples in Figure 5–6). If necessary, fix the seams as needed and simply unwrap again.

UV MAPPING

Once you are happy with the UV layout, save it. This can be done via UVs Export UV➤ Layout, at the bottom of the UV editor.

Open the saved UV layout with a 2D paint program such as Photoshop or Gimp.

Resave the image in PNG format

Add the texture to thematerial

Add the texture to thematerial

If you have a computer with a GLSL-capable graphics card, you can set the 3D view toTextured and the Display Shading ➤attribute on the Properties panel to GLSL to enable thetexture to show in 3D view

Texture Painting

Texture Painting

Texture Painting

Exercise 1: Cube Painting

Projection Painting