UV mapping is a pain in the rear!
wdsmith1959
Posts: 60
Hexagon's UV mapping is royally p***ing me off! A lot of the time, the new object I'm trying to create won't even show up in DAZ, or else it won't accept the UV map. It just stays gray. Another problem is how do I have SEPARATE parts of an object UV'ed on the same map, and how the heck do I group them all together so they ALL load onto the figure like they're supposed to do? I'm trying to create a new Civil War Kepi, with a chinstrap and buttons. The main part will load, but not the chinstrap or buttons. I can't get it to work at all.
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In Hexagon, you have all the outfit that one want to end up in one clothing file fitting on the dummy figure.
Delete the dummy figure.
Export out the .obj file of the clothing.
In D/S load the figure, then import in the .obj file and it should land right on the figure and yes it'll probably be grey or white.
Then run the transfer utility to make the clothing.
Then apply the desired textures.
Then save out the new clothing piece.
Uvmapping ... long stories abound there ... I have some tutorials in my DA galaxy, latest one is Skinning Dino ... lots of uvmapping ideas in there.
When creating all the parts in Hexagon, you can select the faces and rearrange their uvmap space so everything can fit on one "page".
I'd suggest working with the 2 panes showing. All uvmap stuff must be "on" the Checker pager before exporting out the final .obj file.
Quote - Uvmapping ... long stories abound there ... I have some tutorials in my DA galaxy, latest one is Skinning Dino ... lots of uvmapping ideas in there.
Patience, can you please post a link to your DA page, I'd really like to see your tutorials :)
That might help eh ;-)
http://patience55anotherone.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://patience55anotherone.deviantart.com/gallery/49373175/Tutorials
http://patience55anotherone.deviantart.com/art/Skinning-Dino-461534703
n.b. I don't normally leave everything available forever so if one sees something they want, grab it ;-)
The .pdf tutorials are in .zip folders so they don't start trying to open in people's browsers [can be rather large files].
Install and use Blender instead! I stopped trying to work in a program that is no longer supported!
Reasons to use Blender vs hexagon:
1st Blender is free, hexagon is not.
2nd Blender is 64bit, hexagon is not.
3rd Blender modeling program uv editor works, hexagon’s does not.
4th Blender is supported and constantly updated, hexagon is not.
5th Blender works in windows 8 and hexagon does not.
See a pattern : )
Sigh, yeah one of these days looks like we're going to have to.
Thanks for the links Patience, I've downloaded a couple of your tutorials - Thank you :)
You're quite welcome.
I have more at the planning stages ... as I work through projects I make the images and so hopefully don't miss too many steps.
If/when ... oh often enough ... run into too many difficulties, whatever gets scrapped and I either try again, or do something different and come back to it later. Often enough one picks up a few more tricks with each project worked on, and then can go back and get success on previous failures.
Possible good news ... some folk do have Hexagon working in W8. I'm hoping my little laptop will survive as long as I want it too. Pretty sad internet world when 'puters are attacked from news sites, what can I say? ... we're not supposed to check the news? The big K caught the trojan before it did any damage but it's a freaky world out there.
I know what you mean about finding new ways of doing things, I did a tutorial a while back on making a sword with Hexagon and I know I could do it better now.
Sometimes I'll look at a model I made in Hexagon with all its textures in place and I'll think, "How the heck did I do that??" The program just sort of does that to you.
I've been doing some uvmapping in another program ... and was quite surprized to find an article it could NOT uvmap. HAD to uvmap it in Hexagon, but then could take it over and get it to lay out the islands better. I also still use Hexagon to rearrange islands possibly more because of habit, I know how this program works and don't know the other one that well yet.
Hiya.
No real need for this kind of thing, but anyway...
Just because Hexagon isn't currently being worked on by DAZ doesn't mean it is not supported. If you have problems, you can email them. They haven't "discontinued" Hexagon...you can still buy it on their site.
As for Blender v. Hexagon...
1st: If you already have Hexagon, who cares if Blender is free? At any rate, Hexagon costs $20. I mean, c'mon...that's pretty much 'free'. If you can afford to go get a double big mac meal at McDonalds, you can afford Hexagon.
2nd: Unless you are going to be needing to use models and textures that have file sizes in the gigabyte's, 64-bit isn't going to make a large difference.
3rd: Hexagons UV editor works just fine...you just have to learn how to use it. Me? I generally don't use it...but that's because I use either UltimateUnwrap3D or ZBrush for my UV'ing, which I am much more familiar with.
4th: Blender is constantly updated...with things that people who have been using Blender for years and years would notice. Others? Not going to notice. Blender constantly updates things that *just don't matter* to someone trying to learn it anew. I (and hundreds, if not thousands, of others) have been asking for a revamp of Blender's interface and general work flow to be more in line with what is "standard" for 3D programs (or at least an optional layout/theme more in-depth than what they have now) . The bottom line is this; until blender finally gets someone behind it who is trying to make "blender a better program" and not make it a "better program for blender artists", attempting to move into Blender as a primary app for 3d isn't going to go much farther than it is now.
5th: If you're using Windows 8 then I guess this is a legitimate point. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hexagon "2.6" be able to be used in Windows 8...but that's likely a ways off.
The only pattern I see is someone who uses Blender claiming it's "better" because of relatively superficial points. People in the industry see blender as a useful TOOL. But it's just that; a tool for creating something. Hexagon is also a tool. If a tool isn't doing what you want/need, you find one that does. For me, Hexagon fills the "quick rough-out modeling" (and even some of the more detailed stuff). After that, I find myself exporting it out and then into either Lightwave or ZBrush (or Softimage, if I can ever figure out how to get my license working for it again, seeing as Autodesk is...well...grrrr....nevermind...), for whatever I need to do to finish it. Lightwave has some really slick modeling tools that I have yet to find else ware (in particular, it's "Multishift", "Boolean Drill" and "Rounder" tools). ZBrush...well, not really much to say; it's freaking awesome in all ways awesome can be. Blender...I'm still trying to come to grips with it. Over the last few months I've set aside an hour or so every few days for it. I get waaaaay to frustrated in it if I try and go past about an hour of use. I'd say out of that hour, 45 minutes is spent trying to find out (A) if blender has a tool to do what I want, (B) what that tool is even called, (C) where the heck it is located, and (D) how to actually get it do do what I want. I mean, really, I was trying to re-map a hotkey so that "X" was for Scale, "C" was for Rotate and "V" was for Translate. Why? It's what I'm used to. That's left over from my years and years of Softimage use. So far I have been unable to do that. I want to hit V to translate *whatever I'm working on at the time*....object, edges, UV island, texture map, whatever....if I hit "V", I'm telling the program I want to move whatever I have selected.
Anyway...Blender is definitely a capable program. However, if you know how to use any other 3d program, Blender is not something you can just "jump into and go". Hexagon...yeah, you can do that.
^_^
Paul L. Ming