Exporting an unfolded item from Hex as jpg

Sir RenderSir Render Posts: 0
edited December 1969 in Hexagon Discussion

Hello.

I am trying to make a cube in Hex. Each edge of the cube will be 1 meter long in model space. The four vertical faces will have symbols carved in relief and all of the surface will be a mirror finish.

I can create the cube, no problem.
I have successfully unfolded the cube.
What I can't figure out how to do is export the unfolded 2D surface map as a jpg or png or something that I can open in Gimp to create my displacement map for the carved symbols.

Thanks

Comments

  • XoechZXoechZ Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    This is no problem. In thu UV window on the bottom there is a little camera icon. The tooltip on this says "save UV vie as image file". Just click it and it does exactly what you want. You can save as .jpg, .png, .bmp or whatever.

    1.jpg
    341 x 130 - 27K
  • Sir RenderSir Render Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I gave that a try, but it did not do the trick. It saved an image of the cube, not the unfolded map. If I click on the viewport for the unfolded map, the camera tool is greyed out and does not function.

  • Sir RenderSir Render Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Well, I don't know why, but I tried the "Export Bump" tool several times, and it would never save the unfolded surface map.
    After trying it 5 or six time, this time it worked. I now have a png of my unfolded surface. I have no idea why it worked this time.

  • XoechZXoechZ Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    Here it works all the time. Be sure to have the UV view active (white border) and to click the correct button. There is another camera button below it, but thats the wrong one. Look at my image above and use the correct button.

  • RoygeeRoygee Posts: 2,247
    edited December 1969

    Using that method limits you to the resolution of the size you can fit the grid into - 472X472 for me - not much good for producing a decent texture map. IMHO you would be better off using the free UP Mapper Classic to generate the template. Unwrap in Hex, import the object to UV Mapper and choose your resolution.

    Cheers :)

  • XoechZXoechZ Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    Well, thsts no problem. The image is just a template for painting - just showing you the borders of your texture. You can resize it in your painting software to any size you want. Usually 512x512, 1024x1024 or 2048x2048.

  • RoygeeRoygee Posts: 2,247
    edited December 1969

    Yes, of course - depends on how well your 2D editor can upscale without giving fuzzy lines :)

  • XoechZXoechZ Posts: 1,102
    edited December 1969

    Fuzzy lines don´t matter really. Hey, you paint over them. And it´s always good to paint a bit outside to avoid visible seams.

  • RoygeeRoygee Posts: 2,247
    edited December 1969

    Which is fine if you are dealing with simple objects, but when you need to paint different colours on the inside of the map, you certainly want nice crisp lines. You don't want to go blurring the edges between fingernails and skin, for instance !

  • GhostmanGhostman Posts: 215
    edited December 1969

    Personally I always prefer my maps to be at 4096x4096. When having smaller ones it get's too pixelated when doing details plus it's easier to scale down then up without loosing any details in the texture.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,110
    edited December 1969

    I either do 4000x4000 or 4096x4096. The pack I'm working on now is 4096 cause I need the little detail

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