posted 03-15- 05:16 PM               

As for the texturing, presumably you followed SV's instructions for making a square object and texturing it with the whole .tif file.

Then you have to make the square big enough that the part you want to texture fits on the area of the .tif you want to cover it.

Then you need to "remap texture coords" on the square to make sure the .tif is oriented right. Try each option front, side, top. The one that still looks like it's supposed to is the one you want, but you may see the square "flip" around.

Then you move the square (not the part) until the part is lined up with the section of the .tif to cover it.

Then (here's where I think SV is missing a step) select VERTEX mode. Then select ALL vertices. Then "remap texture coords" again, using the same axis you used before.
You may or may NOT see the texture actually transfer to the part in AC3D, but it's there.

Then hide the square. Select a color at the bottom, and edit it (I usually use the white, because the dark colors will bleed through the texture). Set the "shininess value" to the index number of the texture file from either the .asc file or OPS. Set your textured object to the color you've selected. Export the part.

Rebuild the .sm file, and check it in OPS. You can retexture the same part as many times as you need to.

If you don't line up the part with the section of the .tif you want and remap texture coords, and only change the shininess value, the ENTIRE .tif will map itself to your part, which will look...odd

posted 03-16- 08:11 AM               

Anyway, there's two ways to find it. You can extract an .sm file, and look in the .asc file. The first thing in the .asc file is a list of names of everything in the model; textures, materials, parts. After that is a list of textures. Find the texture you're looking for in the list. It's probably called "P51D.tif" or something like that. The position of the tif in the list tells you where to look. Now scroll down to the next section. This is a more detailed list of the textures. Find the P51D.tif section. There will be a line like:
"1; texture index" The texture for the skin is usually 1, but not always.

The other way to find it is in OPS. Open the model in OPS, and click on either the name tab or the texture tab on the left. Then, find the texture you're interested in. Count down from the top of the list. The number you come up with is the texture index. Again, the skin is usually the first one in the list, but if you're trying to texture, say, the gunsight, that will be down the list somewhere.

OK, now you have the texture index. What do you do with it? In AC-3D, at the bottom is a line of color selections. If you just highlight an object, surface, etc, and click on a color, it will "paint" the object that color. However, if you RIGHT-click on a color, a drop-down will appear, and you can EDIT the properties for that color. In the edit dialog, all sorts of things can be done, like changing transparency value. I think you can change the material as well, but I haven't tried that yet. Anyway, the values in this box will be saved as properties with your part. For a "solid" piece like the wing, you want the transparency set to 0, and the "shininess" value set to the INDEX number of the texture you're mapping.

Basically, the texture mapping process tells the part which AREA of the texture to use, and the index number tells it which FILE to use to find the texture. So once you map the texture, you need to at pick one of the colors, set its shininess to match the index number of the texture, and then "paint" the part that color. White or light gray is probably the best choice for base color.

Now, the next time you import that part into AC3D, it will bring its color properties with it, so you'll see TWO white colors in the list. One will have no shininess, and one will have the texture you used before, so don't get confused. If you open a complex part like the cockpit of the P-51, you'll see they used several colors, and associated each one with a different texture. This is a pretty good idea if you're making a composite part of some kind, like an engine or cockpit, so you can keep straight which piece has the "leather" texture, and which piece has the "instrument panel" texture.

It's also a good idea to copy the texture portion of the .asc file to refer to for texture indices.

Well, that's about the sum total of my texture-mapping knowledge.

posted 03-17- 02:42 PM               

Sorry about my site... this was mentioned before and I forgot to update it. I miss the one step where you merge or re-map the texture coords... I'll look at it and fix it.

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-Sv =FC=

WWI in SDOE!