LSCM mapping questions

[Mossie]

This is a nice feature and one shown on a number of other packages.

While looking around the methods used involve making or marking a seem and then applying the LSCM tool.

Now within AC3D we don't have a seem maker or marker, but we do have "unweld vertices".

Having a quick play this approach seems to work.

Are or is there a better way?

[Andy]

I never thought of using unweld on the vertices - very clever!

As there is no specific support for seems at the moment, you will need to do that or unwrap in multiple sections and move them together in the TCE.

[Stiglr]

One of the things I appreciated most about AC3D when I was taking a hard look at Blender was the way their respective TCEs worked. Blender 2.5+ had gotten fairly close to the functionality of AC3D with regards to texturing.... but no cigar.

I couldn't figure out how to be able to move and manipulate surfaces or vertices any way I wanted with the new Blender versions. I would select a surface and try to move it on the texturing window, and all the connected surfaces and vertices would distort as I moved the surface I wanted. I couldn't figure out how to "detach" a surface or selection of surfaces and manipulate it (remap from a different angle, etc.) separately.

With AC3D, you can easily move surfaces, vertices or both with complete control and ease of use. Then, when you get it aligned pretty close, you can select vertices on the TCE and snap them together to make it a perfect match on your model. I couldn't figure out how to do this in Blender 2.5/6 (that is to say, it *may* be possible, but it sure isn't as easy or intuitive as it is in AC3D).

[jentron]

So, I read about the unwrapping feature in the new AC3D, but never saw/used it until I read this thread. I even installed the 7.x version a while back to look for it. Couldn't figure out how to use it. And now, wow. I'm going to have to save my pennies to update my license!

Ron

[Noob]

Originally Posted by jentron

So, I read about the unwrapping feature in the new AC3D, but never saw/used it until I read this thread. I even installed the 7.x version a while back to look for it. Couldn't figure out how to use it. And now, wow. I'm going to have to save my pennies to update my license!

Ron

It's a bit of a pain to use on complex meshes though since you can't define seams at all (even a simple vertex selection to define an edge would be nice here). It's also a bit wonky for some shapes (http://www.inivis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6666).

Even so, it's definitely worth the $40!

[russellbdavis]

Well, I discovered by accident, and have looked through the documentation to see if there is an explanation, but have not found it. At any rate, I too discovered it was difficult to create unwrapped models that looked correct. Here is what I found.
I first grab the left side of my aircraft model and map it to the TCE.

This view has not been properly flattened so I can create a 2d texture. So, I then map it using LSCM. Here is how it was mapped:

This is of course stretched out of proportion and I would typically mess with it and move vertices until it looked better, but it still was not mapped very well.
So, I hit CTRL+Z to UNDO the mapping. But to my surprise, something else happened. This image appeared:

I thought, WOW, this is much better! So I flipped it both horizontally and vertically and also rotated it a few degrees and now have a properly flattened 2d ready for texture creation.

Don't know if this function has been there all along, but I sure like how it flattens my models now. They now appear very symetrical, as they should be.