Getting started texturing - triangulate first?

Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:41 pm by Warre

I've just finished my very first two models. You can see some screenshots here and here.

I want to texture these ships, but i have a few questions:

- I created the ships with Wings3D. Can i use this program to do the texturing as well?
- I used a "virtual mirror" so i only had to model one half of each (symmetrical) ship. Does this need to be removed before texturing?
- As you can see, the models contain a lot of polygons that have more than one vertex. Should i triangulate these before texturing? I know that the models will have to be triangulated at some point, i just don't know when.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Edited by - Warre on 8/2/2006 2:42:51 PM

Edited by - Warre on 8/2/2006 2:43:15 PM

Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:09 pm by parabolix

Warre,

You will have to have Milkshape to put your ships in game. Milkshape also makes texturing easier. If you import the half you modelled into Milkshape, you can regroup the ship as you want it and then texture each group. You can then mirror each group and the mirrors will be textured as well. You can download Milkshape here. There is a free 30-day trial. After that, you will lose the ability to save, but you can purchase a lifetime subscription for just $25 (USD). It is a very good program and is the best value shareware out there. There is also a tutorial written by my good friend and modding partner Harrier, you can find it here. It will walk you through texturing models in Milkshape.

Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:27 am by Warre

OK, thanks for the info. Looks like i don't have a choice but to install MS3D now...

What about the triangulation? Can i still do that after texturing?

Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:19 am by Warre

OK a little update:

After trying to export to obj and importing into ms3d, i noticed the model got triangulated automatically - in a messy way (i.e. applying convex triangulation to non-convex polygons). Guess that solves the triangulation question

I experimented a bit with uv-mapping in ms3d, but it was cumbersome, so i decided to do the texturing in wings3d. UV-mapping in wings3d is a lot easier than any other program i tried. I would recommend it to beginners. The only problem is, it's under-documented, so maybe i could write a small tutorial on it when i start on the second model.

Is anyone here interested in such a tutorial?

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