How to Create and UV Map a Grate in Hexagon (Among Other Things)?
zombiewhacker
Posts: 683
If I create a cube, tesselate it a few times, then delete a few parallel faces and bridge their edges, I can create a simple wall with a doorway and maybe a few windows,. With a little maneuvering, I can UV map the completed geometry in Hexagon just fine.
OK,, so far, so good.
But if I use the same trick to create a more complicated mesh, with gaps of different lengths and widths, like say the grating for an air vent or a sewer or possibly some type of fence, the UV map Hexagon spits out is complete mess, with bits and pieces of my geometry strewn everywhere, like what the T-Rex did to the lawyer in Jurassic Park. The UV lines will be all crooked and assymetrical, meaning even if loop them row by row, then straighten them with the universal tool, I'll be at it for hours and hours and still won't get the UV to match the original geometry.... which ironically is a simple rectangular cube with perfect 90 degree angles.
Suggestions for a possible workflow? If you were creating and mapping any grid-typed shape in Hexagon, how would you go about it? Thanks in advance.
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Comments
what I do in Carrara and same as in hexagon is firstly create a grid
maybe a 6 x 5 or whatever
next select all the edges
next use the edge tool to extract edge around
next select all the larger faces and delete them
next I would use the thickness modeling tool to give it thickness
and finally use the planar projection to uv map it.
@Stezza_Carrara9, thanks for the info. I've had Carrara in my wishlist for a while now and I might pick it up when it drops below $10 again. But one thing I've been trying to figure out is what exactly is Carrara? Is it primarily a modeler? or is it for posing or animation? The promo pics look cool, but they don't do a very good job of explaining what the program is for. I mean, I know what Bryce is for, and Hexagon, and DS, but I'm not sure if I should buy Carrara. Can you enlighten me a bit? Sorry to be so off topic.
How do you resolve the stretched UVs?yes, to all three.. visit the Carrara board to see what happens in and around Carrara
Carrara
Carrra is a bit of everything. It can generate terrains and skies like Bryce, model like Hex, use pre-made content and render / animate like Studio. It also has some very nice dynamic features like being able to create your own hair.
However, it has it's own materials settings (which are very powerful, but different) and it's own rendering engine. Also, I personally don't find it's modeling tools to be as intuitive to me as Hexagon, but that's certainly personal choice.
I used to be a big fan of this tool. The reason I'm not anymore is simply because it feels forgotten by Daz. There's very little news about development or plans for the product. If you like what Carrara has to offer, it's a great tool. If you're thinking "I wish it was more like Hex or Studio in this way..." you're probably going to be frustrated with it. Definitely worth picking up during one of the ultra low sales, even if it's just to generate land and sky for backgounds like I did in this very old render...
I think I'm going to get it. If it makes UV mapping a little easier it'll be worth it. I'm starting to get the hang of Hexagon. I just have to keep my models simple and UV map the parts separately. Anything big and complex turns into a bowl of spaghetti in the UV editor.
Here's something I learned when I was modeling this baby crib.
At first I tried creating the whole thing then UV mapping it. It was a major pain! But then I started over and created one of each part (Leg, Top Rail, Bottom Rail, Slat, etc.) I UV mapped each of those (I don't use Hex for mapping, but the concept still works). Once I was happy with each of those maps, then I cloned the objects in Hex and assembled it together. Clones share the same UV mapping; so it let me have a pretty simple map for a model with a lot of duplicated parts.
So when you say "assembled it", is that all one object or are they still seperate objects within the same .obj file? In other words, are they welded together?
Jonny Ray, I follow the same principle, if there's something like your crib uprights I'd model one, UVmap it then use the Multiple Copies tool (the Copy On Support (and other tools)) work as well) to make the rest.
Kitsumo, when you weld objects together you loose the UVs.
Ok. That's what I thought. For a second I thought he discovered some new sorcery to make UVs stay intact after welding.
If you assign shading domains, it kind of retains the UVs even when welded, but not in the way you would expect. It obliterates seams, and the UVs regenerate.
If you UV one shape and then duplicate it as a row/grid, but still want that shape welded overall, you could import the shape as obj to DAZ studio, and that will weld the UVs with the shape correctly, then export from DAZ studio and import into Hexagon and arrange the UVs as you want.
I find the planar (and cubic) gizmos in Hexagon useful as well. My question though: is this how the pro's do it? If you created a complicated mesh, then used a UV gizmo to map it, would that pass muster with quality control at DAZ?
Depends wholly on what you're mapping. Remember, mapping with a gizmo is not necessarily the end of it. It often is a very useful first step before you go in and take the gizmo-made map apart and put it back together to your liking.
Thanks to all.
Follow-up question: the cylinder UV gizmo does a nice job, but what if the cylinder itself is not symetrical? If I use Hexagon to create a cylinder but the x to z ratio is roughly two to one, the gizmo will produce a UV map where the texture is stretched wider along the length and squished along the narrower ends.
(FYI: I'm using the advanced cylinder in Hexagon because it comes pre-tesselated and allows me to make holes in the mesh without using Boolean.)
Sorry, wrong thread.