Import .OBJ and UV mapping

[orbiter]

I have a model created in wings, this was then exported as an .obj to allow some work on the exact placing of the uv and then RE-imported as an .obj.

The model imports fine, When I open the UV editor It has the "neater" / new UV map. So I save this as a texture, make external as a .PNG file and modify the texture with the image I wish to be painted on to the vertices. This is then brought back into wings with the refresh command and I can see the auvBG thumbnail image change.

However it is not applied the the surface of the model. When I select the model and UV map, a new texture is drawn complete with the ABCD checkerboard. I new auvBG image is added to the outliner window list.

The Materials do not pick up the texture file name. I just end up going round in circles.

Any help really welcome folks

[oort]

orbiter,
I have read this post several times trying to figure out what is happening. I probably haven't used AutoUV enough to be able to give an intelligent answer. Did you drag and drop the refreshed texture (thumbnail image) onto the material (M in the outliner) assigned to the object?

oort

[Justanother1]

Also auvBG is the default name.. CHANGE IT!! If you make more UV's and create a texture it will overwrite your texture unless you change the Name! It's also good to change the Material names and Object names as well, so your not looking for Cube4 when you bring your stuff into another program.

[Nightwing]

Hi folks, first time posting here on the forums and I've been keeping an eye on this thread for the last few days. Maybe what I suggest below will work for orbiter?

I was having a somewhat similar problem, but in my case I was not seeing even the default numbered checkerboard pattern on my model during the mapping process and in addition I was unable to apply any image to the model - I tried to texture the default cube about a dozen times, no luck, so earlier I fired up a laptop I rarely use and successfully worked though to the end my texturing of the default cube - the checkerboard pattern showed up as intended and I could apply my own texture to the cube.

I realised then that something was up with the configuration of my Wings3D install on my PC, to rectify this I followed the instructions found here at the bottom of the page.

Quick Tip: Reset to ‘Factory Settings’

It’s tempting to play around with the Preference settings before you know what you are doing. Go ahead! But it’s quite possible that you could end up in some confused state, or with something more colorful than you meant. One option is to try the [Edit | Themes ] command to recover from a “technicolor yawn”. If the situation requires a Reset – unfortunately, there is (currently) no ‘Reset Preferences’ button … but there is a quick and dirty trick:

Find the location of the master file: preferences.txt. See the Erlang console window (you may have to scroll up to the beginning).
Exit Wings 3D.
Delete the master file: preferences.txt.
Restart Wings 3D.

If Wings 3D cannot find preferences.txt when it starts up – as happens when launched for the first time – then Wings 3D simply creates a full default set. The master preference file is then saved when Wings 3D closes.

Afterwards things worked the same as on the laptop and I was able to export the file as an *.obj, convert to *.fbx, and then import to my XNA project where the textured model showed up.

Unfortunately I can't remember what tweaking I'd done to mess up the preferences in the first place.

Hope this helps.


Nightwing.

[orbiter]

Really sorry for not getting back sooner but my ISP (TalkTalk) has had a network issue which they not seem in a hurry to fix. Have to do an F5 two or three times to get a page up. still...

The problem seems to of been fixed. I played around again with the UV mapper (UNwrap.exe) again but this time imported the PNG I was using as a texture. On exporting as an OBJ and then reading into wings all was well. As the texture was a set of 256 / 512 square images on a bigger 1024 file, I had just been using the UNwrap's grid to place the UV within a pixcel. Did not need the image to place stuff.

I do get the point about renameing UV maps and objects early.

Still not sure really what went wrong. If a obj file is imported and saved as .wing ; then surely when reopened it is a pure Wings3D file!!!

Open file
Open the mapper
Create texture
Make external
Play with texture file
Refresh
See changes on model

It what I have done in the past quite happly, Why it did not work and keep making new UV maps !!!!!

[Kagehi]

This is one of the things that, frankly, drives me nuts about UV mapping in Wings. 1) It uses the same texture name, for everything, so if you are adding more than one map to the object, and you forget to rename the texture *and* the material, each time you make one, you end up with a damn mess. Second - While you can create a new texture, by going to the material, picking "select" from that, then bringing up the UV window, the windows shows your "selected" map, but also every other bloody map that you have applied. It doesn't export any of them to your texture, unless you make the mistake of clicking on one that isn't selected, but.. it does show all of them, not just the one you want. Oh, right, and, of course, if you already have textures applied, forget opening the UV window, and trying to adjust it to match the texture, because, odds are, its going to generate an auvBG image, then show your map overlayed on that, instead of showing the texture that the material you have selected actually has applied to it (and, since you can fine tune the map this way, but only when you *first* add a map, and haven't yet closed the UV window, trying to adjust it after is... completely useless.)

All of these behaviors are, imho, not expected, and, for a while at least, having all of the maps showing up in the window, confused the hell out of me, like for almost a year, until, literally, about three days ago, when I decided to just see what would happen if I created a new texture from it (someone wanted to map, so they could redo the texture I made for something).

I mean, there may be "some" cases where you want to see where all of the maps end up, like, for example, you are making a bridge, so you are using the same texture every place, but just placing the lines of the UV so they line up with the texture properly, but when you can't consistently figure out what is going on, and it doesn't let you, say, "hide unselected UV lines", or something like that... I think you can select then hide them one at a time, but if they overlap... that just isn't going to work.

---

Oh, right.. another issue with this behavior.. Try taking a professional mesh, with insane amounts of geometry, with the map already there, and then open the UV window, then.. go out for lunch, and dinner, and.. what ever else you need to do, in the hope that, when you get back, you actually have a map to look at, instead of just a frozen program. It has to fumble all the stuff together for the entire bloody model, since none of the parts, in something like an obj import, are separate objects when they import (there isn't even an option to have it do so), and the result may be 20+ overlapping maps, in one UV window, if/when it ever untangles them all, so it can display them.