Introduction
This tutorial shows another geometric object being skinned. Nothingz radically different going on to previous tutorials but it should at least reinforce some of the methods that will produce the best results.
The model we are going to skin is an AK47 from Black Panther. Boy I'd
love one of these suckers but they cost way too much for me I'm afraid... or was that comment meant for the aluminium PC case tutorial (c;
On with the tutorial then...
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Step 1
Clicking 'Auto Detach' with the model selected and a 'Detach Angle' of 30 will split the gun into a number of separate polys.
As in the Monster Truck tutorial we go around our model using 'Attach All' and 'Weld All' to make separate polys into larger polys. The objectives here are: reduce the number of small polys; and end up with polys that will unfold/flatten well and be as easy as possible to paint.
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Step 2
 
Take for example the wooden grip before the barrel, it would be useful to be able to unfold this as one poly so we know where to apply a wood texture. Select the sections on the sides and the top, click 'Attach All' and 'Weld All' to make them into a single poly.
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Step 3
Now select the front and bottom sections as shown. Make a mental note of the edges along which the purple underside and pink front polys meet the blue poly. Click 'Attach All'.
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Step 4
 
Now we will use a new ChilliSkinner function 'Weld Edge(s)' to join the bottom and front polys. Remember we have attached them all together but they are still three separate parts of the same mesh they, don't share vertices. Click 'Hide Unselected' to make it easier to work on the polys. It is often easier to drop to wireframe to use 'Weld Edge(s). Change MAX's sub-object level to edge and select the two edges where you want the polys to be welded and eventually unfolded. Note the
two selected edges shown in red.
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Step 5
 
Let's do a test unfold to make sure we've got this correct. Click 'Unfold Poly(s)'. ChilliSkinner displays 'Objectn will be distorted, force unfold?'. This means that ChilliSkinner has compared all the faces of the unfolded polys to the 3D original polys and has determined that there are differences. Specifically ChilliSkinner compares edge lengths and determines + or - 15% difference in any unfolded edge compared to the original 3D edge to be a distortion. If we say 'No' here the operation will be unfolded and the poly will remain 3D. However, often slight distortion is acceptable so let's say 'Yes' and see how bad the poly looks when unfolded. ChilliSkinner forces the unfold, but colour codes the distorted poly red so you can see that there was a problem. Now we can see that the distortion was minimal and won't cause any skinning problems. Click 'Undo' to put the poly back to 3D.
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Step 6
Using 'Attach All' followed by either 'Weld All', Weld Selected' or 'Weld Edge(s), we work our way around the model grouping individual polys together to make larger ones.
Here we work on the gun's sights. Imagine all those small polys unfolded as they are now, it'll be impossible to work out where they are from and which way round they go. So we join them together to make it easier.
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Step 7
Here you can see them joined. They have all ad selective edges welded in a similar manner to the wooden grip i.e. so they can be unfolded.
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Step 8
  
Often it helps to use 'Hide Selected', 'Hide Unselected', Un-Hide All' and 'Toggle Visible' to hide completed polys and make it easier to get to difficult to work with polys. Here I've hidden the side of the gun to work on the beige top section.
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Step 9
It can also be useful to select certain polys....
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Step 10
 
...and use 'Freeze Selected' and 'Un-Freeze All' to render parts of the model incapable of being inadvertently selected whilst you work on other parts.
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Step 11
Here's another good case to show how ChilliSkinner's functions are not a sequence of steps but rather a set of tools to be used in conjunction with each other to help you skin your model.
Look at the barrel and nozzle... skinners would usually prefer the cylindrical barrel and nozzle components to be unfolded as rectangles for ease of painting. However, 'Auto Detach' has detached six long polys that if attached as they are, won't unfold without distortion and certainly wouldn't make neat rectangles.
What's the easiest way to fix this? Well we could manually detach the barrel and nozzle polys I guess... but there's a quicker way.
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Step 12
Use 'Attach All' and 'Weld All' to join all six barrel/nozzle polys together.
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Step 13
Set the 'Detach Angle' to a low setting, say 5 degrees, select the barrel poly then click 'Auto Detach'. Notice that now we have separate barrel and nozzle polys.
'Auto Detach' can be used at any time on any single poly. So you're not restricted to only ever picking one single 'Detach Angle', it's a useful function like all the others.
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Step 14
 
Once we've gone around the whole model we can click 'Clone' to make a copy of the object for later use.
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Step 15
 
Click 'Optimise Polys' to automatically rotate the selected polys to their 'optimum' rotation. Click 'Unfold Polys' to lay the polys down flat all on top of each other. Leave the shape selection as 'Square' and click 'Arrange Polys'. ChilliSkinner arranges the polys in the shape of a square with no overlaps. |
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Step 16
Now some manual intervention to rotate, align and move the polys around to arrive at a better layout.
Once we're happy with the layout we 'Select All' and click 'Attach Polys' to join them all together as one poly. Then click 'Apply Planar Map' to apply UV co-ords. |
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Step 17
For the moment we are finished with our 2d flat polys, we now need to do a little work on the clone that we made earlier. Click 'Toggle Visible' to hide the flat polys and show the 3D clone polys.
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Step 18
Click 'Select All'.
We now need to attach the polys together as we did with flat polys, so click 'Attach Polys' again.
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Step 19
OK now we will work on both objects together. Click 'Un-Hide All' and you should see the 3D Clone object and the 2D flat object.
Click 'Pick Source' and then select the flat 2D object in a MAX viewport.
Click 'Pick Target' and then select the 3D object in the MAX viewport.
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Step 20
Click 'Morph' and the flat 2D object will be made 3D again using the 3D object as a template so to speak.
Even though it looks like we have our original 3D box back, we still need to weld the vertices at each corner to make it a contiguous mesh again. Click 'Weld All' to do this.
You're done with ChilliSkinner!
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Step 21
Use Texporter or an equivalent to generate the initial bitmap skin. Save the bitmap.
Note that Texporter is generating this bitmap based on the UV coords that ChilliSkinner placed on your object.
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Step 22
In MAX's Material Editor, select a new material and at the bottom under it's 'Maps' rollout, check the 'Diffuse' checkbox and click the 'Map' button on the right of it Choose 'Bitmap' as the map type and browse and select the bitmap you just saved from the previous step. Now drag and drop the new material on top of your object.
Note which part of the bitmap goes onto which face of the model.
Now you can paint your bitmap in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or your favourite paint package to get it exactly as you want it.
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