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bitmap - uvw-mapping in 3dsmax

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:19 pm
by jonathan löwe
just doing some tests with RC5 in Max...

seems to be impossible to use uvw-mappings with any any kind of bitmap?

"UVW channels (0) on object "stein01" not enough for material "steinplatte"

i used a mxm-file created in studio...is this some bug or am I doing something wrong?
do mxm - files work with bitmaps in the plugin?

thank you very much for any answer :-)

jona

Re: bitmap - uvw-mapping in 3dsmax

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:15 pm
by rivoli
jonathan löwe wrote: i used a mxm-file created in studio...is this some bug or am I doing something wrong?
it's a known bug, when importing back in max a mxm done in studio uv coordinates get messed up. you're better off rendering from studio if the scene you're working on is not too complex.

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:42 pm
by JesperW
This ought to go in the "PLUGIN BUGS" Sticky. It's a bit of a showstopper if you want to use MXM's in an animation...

Note that textures in Maxwell Diffuse works. Plastic works sort of, but not bumpmaps.

/j

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:10 pm
by Fernando Tella
Yes, I usually apply a diffuse to setup the uvw map in 3dsmax and then in studio I change the applyed material in the way I want.

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:47 pm
by jonathan löwe
thank you very much...that's what i feared :-)

so i will try studio again...

jona

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:13 am
by Tim Ellis
Fernando Tella wrote:Yes, I usually apply a diffuse to setup the uvw map in 3dsmax and then in studio I change the applyed material in the way I want.
Me too, then replace the two bsdf layers with either an mxm or my own material in Studio.

Tim.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:30 am
by Tim Ellis
Kenneth1984 wrote:Do I understand U correct... :

1: If U have a big complex scene, then it is difficult to controlled the UV map on severals objects?

2: If we imagine that we have a box, and applying a bitmap (example: stones) on it, then it is impossible to controlled the UV map on the different side of the box?
To me this is only true for Studio. I don't use Studio for any UV mapping.
If the UV maps are correct in my application before exporting them to Studio, then there are no issues with Studio and it's handling of UV maps, regardless of scene size and complexity.

It's using Studio's own UV mapping system that I find I get the most errors with and less control of my UVs.

Tim.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:28 pm
by j_man
Hi Kenneth,

If you correctly map everything in Max, (ie two UVWmaps, both set to box, one rotated 45 degrees) and apply a material that has maps in both of those channels (ie one diffuse, one bump) then the mapping will work in studio without a problem.

Josh.

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:17 am
by misterasset
Am I doing something wrong? I was running into the same problem with the error message, so I went into studio and applied projectors and now it works.

But I thought it was supposed to be that if you applied a UVW map in Max then you could apply the material in Studio and it would render. That's not working for me. Even though I've applied UVW maps to all my objects, I still have to apply projectors in Studio because none of them have them and render as "default."

If anyone and follow the rambing logic behind that post I would appreciate some help. :oops: Thanks. :)

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 2:32 pm
by Tim Ellis
j_man, thanks that's a handy tip.




misterasset, this is my workflow with UV maps, from modeling application through to Studio.

I model my object in Blender 3D and do any UV mapping to the mesh before I export it.

I then export this model as an .OBJ file to retain the smoothing and UV mapping I've applied.

I import this .OBJ file into 3DSMax. I then apply a UVW Unwrap modifier, in the stack for the model. If I click the UVW Unwrap 'Edit' button, I can check the mapping is as it was in Blender.

I now add a Maxwell Plastic material to the material editor. I then load up the colour map I will be using in Studio and the bump map.

I assign this material to the model and render with a Maxwell camera, to create the .MXS file.

I then open Studio and import the .MXS file to my scene, if it's an addition to the scene, I just open it if it's a complete scene.

I then delete the material for the model and create a new one, using the maps I used in 3DSMax. Then apply that to the model.

The projector list for the model will have 'Locked' selected. There's no need to change this otherwise you will lose the UV map data, if you select box or similar.


I hope this helps,

Tim.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:55 pm
by JesperW
Kenneth, I tried exactly your first item above:
- Make a Box, Turn to Poly, Select 1 side of box and set material ID=2, rest = 1.
- Create Multi/Sub Material with 2 slots, Slot 1 = Maxwell diffuse, Color Map = Bitmap, map channel 1; Slot 2 = Maxwell diffuse, Color Map = Bitmap (another one), map channel 2.
- Apply two UVW Mapping modifiers, different mapping, one is channel 1 the other channel 2.

Works well.

(The "locked" projector means that UVW coordinates are coming from MAX, so that is just good.)

Please explain what it is that "Doesn't work" exactly?

/j

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:23 am
by Tim Ellis
I did some more experiments and I only got the error message 'Error: UVW channels (0) on object "Name11" not enough for material "material #667' if I don't add a texture map to the material before export.

So, do everything as you have been, but before export from 3DSMax make sure you have loaded a texture (jpg, tga, png etc) into the colour slot for the maxwell material.

If the object is correctly UV mapped, has a maxwell material assigned and then exported without an image texture, then Studio or the plugin will give the error message.

Make sure you have an image loaded before you try to export.

Hope this helps,

Tim.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:10 pm
by j_man
BTW Kenneth,

the plugin materials in Max still have the problem where when you add a bitmap to a material, the little checkbox under the "maps" group for that map doesn't get checked, so you need to do this by hand to make sure the bitmap is properly assigned and the mapping is exported.

Josh.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:17 pm
by j_man
you don't need any extra plugins, but you do need the correct plugin! did you install the new max plugin from the next limit/maxwell/plugins folder after installing RC5?
Maybe you should upload a sample max file to have a look at. Can't really think of anything else.

Josh.

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:41 pm
by j_man
we've suggested everything else, so sometimes it's the simplest thing. now how about posting that file, even if you just maked a quick test scene that you know doesn't work. remember to include all of the maps.

J,