Change UV for individual texture maps?

Silas3D

Hi all

Spent a while trying to find a solution to this in the forums but no luck thus far.

One thing that's always frustrated me with DS is that you can't set multiple UV's for the same surface, ie for individual maps. At the moment I'm trying to use Parris' fantastic Macro 8K normal maps with my male characters.

It would also be useful for displacement or opacity maps, which often are for a different UV set to that of the diffuse texture. Whilst I'm aware of map transfer, the maximum res is 4k (higher settings result in blank files) and some of the detail is lost. Besides, I'd like a more 'on the fly solution' like Slosh's fantastic UV scripts.

Can anyone help? Many thanks :0)

I should point out that I only use Iray or Reality with Lux for rendering.

FSMCDesigns

I am pretty sure you can't use different UVmaps on the same surface since a UVmap defines what area of the model a certain defined part of the texture will cover, so the alternative textures like bump, displacement, specular, etc will have to match the same UV layout of the diffuse texture. This isn't just a DS issue, but universal.

If the male characters use the same UV mapping that Macro uses, they should work.

Silas3D

That's a shame. No they don't, they use V5 maps and I'm not aware of any male textures using V5 maps!

XtraDimensional

I'd love it if there were some way to use a per-map uv set, as well. The map transfer leaves something to be desired, and I'd love to use some of my v4 diffuse maps with maps from other UV sets for other things.

If anyone comes up with a better solution than the Map Transfer Utility, I'm all ears...and so is my wallet.

Richard Haseltine

In a few cases using a Geometry Shell may help - that can have a different UV. However it is limited in where it would be useful.

patience55

Not a one click solution, and without having actually done all this just now [esp with the newest program], info presented "as is".

If you are willing to make your own uvmaps, yes you can mix 'n match "that which exists" to your own [and not redistributable] uvmap.

In D/S load up each figure for which you want the uvmaps, strip the texture images off, don't need those. Export out each figure "alone" or send it over the Bridge to Hexagon.

In Hexagon [or whichever], load a copy of each figure [so you can see both uvmaps at the same time], re-arrange the islands as desired on ONE of the 2 figures.

Then back in D/S, clear the scene, load ONE of the base figures [the one the new uvmap was created for] and Edit > ... bring in that new uvmap.
On the surface tab, select it and see if you like the results. If it's a "keeper", "save it". File > Save as Support Asset > uvmaps [or whatever it is now called, haven't checked everything in the latest yet].

Close D/S, open D/S, load the figure. Check the uvmaps desired ... now, in applying the "skins", they all normally set the uvmaps to the way the artist designed them so don't panic. Apply the desired skin. Then change the uvmaps on the concerned Surfaces to that which you desire ... apply the new texture image [which you would have to create to match your new uvmap from the existing texture images perhaps], if/when you have all the settings as you want them, SAVE the materials preset being sure to select "everything". Save it to a sensible location for example: My People > materials > Folder with your name on it > .... OR inside another folder but be careful to give it its OWN name not to overwrite $products ;-) In the saving process, Vendor's Name = YOUR name [makes life a lot easier if/when wanting to find and delete them and prevents overwrite].

Richard Haseltine

Patience55 said:

Not a one click solution, and without having actually done all this just now [esp with the newest program], info presented "as is".

If you are willing to make your own uvmaps, yes you can mix 'n match "that which exists" to your own [and not redistributable] uvmap.

In D/S load up each figure for which you want the uvmaps, strip the texture images off, don't need those. Export out each figure "alone" or send it over the Bridge to Hexagon.

In Hexagon [or whichever], load a copy of each figure [so you can see both uvmaps at the same time], re-arrange the islands as desired on ONE of the 2 figures.

Then back in D/S, clear the scene, load ONE of the base figures [the one the new uvmap was created for] and Edit > ... bring in that new uvmap.
On the surface tab, select it and see if you like the results. If it's a "keeper", "save it". File > Save as Support Asset > uvmaps [or whatever it is now called, haven't checked everything in the latest yet].

Close D/S, open D/S, load the figure. Check the uvmaps desired ... now, in applying the "skins", they all normally set the uvmaps to the way the artist designed them so don't panic. Apply the desired skin. Then change the uvmaps on the concerned Surfaces to that which you desire ... apply the new texture image [which you would have to create to match your new uvmap from the existing texture images perhaps], if/when you have all the settings as you want them, SAVE the materials preset being sure to select "everything". Save it to a sensible location for example: My People > materials > Folder with your name on it > .... OR inside another folder but be careful to give it its OWN name not to overwrite $products ;-) In the saving process, Vendor's Name = YOUR name [makes life a lot easier if/when wanting to find and delete them and prevents overwrite].

There's no problem setting different surfaces to use different UVs, the problem is using two different UVs on a single surface. The only solution I can think of is to use the Map Transfer tool to make a new version of the odd-map-out using the same UV layout as the rest of the maps on the surface, though there will be a trace of quality loss with that.

patience55

Richard Haseltine said:

Patience55 said:

Not a one click solution, and without having actually done all this just now [esp with the newest program], info presented "as is".

If you are willing to make your own uvmaps, yes you can mix 'n match "that which exists" to your own [and not redistributable] uvmap.

In D/S load up each figure for which you want the uvmaps, strip the texture images off, don't need those. Export out each figure "alone" or send it over the Bridge to Hexagon.

In Hexagon [or whichever], load a copy of each figure [so you can see both uvmaps at the same time], re-arrange the islands as desired on ONE of the 2 figures.

Then back in D/S, clear the scene, load ONE of the base figures [the one the new uvmap was created for] and Edit > ... bring in that new uvmap.
On the surface tab, select it and see if you like the results. If it's a "keeper", "save it". File > Save as Support Asset > uvmaps [or whatever it is now called, haven't checked everything in the latest yet].

Close D/S, open D/S, load the figure. Check the uvmaps desired ... now, in applying the "skins", they all normally set the uvmaps to the way the artist designed them so don't panic. Apply the desired skin. Then change the uvmaps on the concerned Surfaces to that which you desire ... apply the new texture image [which you would have to create to match your new uvmap from the existing texture images perhaps], if/when you have all the settings as you want them, SAVE the materials preset being sure to select "everything". Save it to a sensible location for example: My People > materials > Folder with your name on it > .... OR inside another folder but be careful to give it its OWN name not to overwrite $products ;-) In the saving process, Vendor's Name = YOUR name [makes life a lot easier if/when wanting to find and delete them and prevents overwrite].

There's no problem setting different surfaces to use different UVs, the problem is using two different UVs on a single surface. The only solution I can think of is to use the Map Transfer tool to make a new version of the odd-map-out using the same UV layout as the rest of the maps on the surface, though there will be a trace of quality loss with that.

Yes I did get that ... didn't explain it thoroughly enough I guess ... one would be taking the 2 uvs and actually creating a 3rd one. Then applying that 3rd one.