Fixing sculpty map

[Spinell]

I've started using the JASS-2 PUB for making some sculpties and since I'm used to modeling with blender, the only real problem is getting used to the UV mapping.

And obviously, because I can't follow a simple tutorial, something wrong happened on the first sculpty.

I'm following the Sculpted Prims III video from machinimatrix and following the instructions for building a bow. Everything was fine until I added two edge loops. I followed the instructions of the tutorial exaclt,y but the UV map got horribly distorced. Being and idiot as I admit I am when it comes with programs like blender, I didn't think it would a bit problem. Until I noticed I could no longer bake the sculpty map anymore.

So, my questions are:

*Why did the map get distorced after adding the edge loop when this didn't happen in the tutorial?

*How do I fix this so I can have a clean square-like UV map that bakes properly and works on SL?

Here a reference pic:

 

Oh yes, one last detail. Despite following every step of the tutorial, when I wanted to add the edge loop, bender gave me an error about Multires, which I'd never heard before. So I located the so-called multires, clicked "Apply" and then I add the edge loop. Was this what cause the UV map to go buggy?

[Chosen Few]

With sculpties, you can't just add geometry at will.  All sculpties have fixed, uniform topology.  If you do anything to deviate from that uniformity, your model is no longer sculpty-compatible, and it won't work.

I haven't watched the tutorial in question, but I tend to doubt it instructed you to add that extra edge loop.

If you want to be able to model your own way, forget about sculpties, and just upload mesh models directly.  If you want to use sculpties, you have to accept the extreme restrictions that come with them, which means you can't do 99% of the things you're probably used to doing as a modeler. 

I'd strongly recommend you just ditch the sculpties, and work the way the entire rest of the 3D modeling universe works, with arbitrary mesh models.  Sculpties are an obsolete relic, from a time before SL supported arbitrary meshes.  Now that it does have the proper functionality, there's almost zero reason to continue using sculpties at all.

[Spinell]

I wanted to use them because a lot of custumers still don't use MESH-capqable viwers or simply dislike MESH.

And yes, in the tutorial, we add two edge loops to the topography and the UV map doesn't get distorced like this.

Any way I can fix it?

[Chosen Few]

I'll take your word for it, and say I stand corrected on the edge loop addition.

I don't know enough about Blender to tell you with any certainty what might have caused the UV map to go haywire.  Did you perhaps forget to apply a deformer or something?  In Maya, that sort of thing can happen if you forget to delete history after using a UV projection, and then you alter the geometry.  In this context, Blender's equivalent of deleting history is to click Apply.

In any case, to fix it, you could always just move the UV points back into place by hand, of you can't find an automated solution.  From the picture, it doesn't look like all that many of them are out of alignment.

[Drongle McMahon]

Looks to me as if you added the loop, then accidentally moved the vertices in the UV edit window when you meant to move them in the 3D view window. That's easily done, as Blender changes the focus depending on where your cursor happens to be.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Spinell wrote:

 

Oh yes, one last detail. Despite following every step of the tutorial, when I wanted to add the edge loop, bender gave me an error about Multires, which I'd never heard before. So I located the so-called multires, clicked "Apply" and then I add the edge loop. Was this what cause the UV map to go buggy?

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I think that is what causes it yes. I suspect Multires is a geometry smoothing modifier. Modifiers like that and UV mapping don't always go hand in hand.

In 3ds Max I get distortions in my UV maps sometimes when first laying out the UV map and then applying a modifier like multires. Sometimes the distortions are very small, sometimes they are quite obvious, although never as bad as in your example.

Are you really really sure you followed the tutorial to the letter? Either you skipped a step or the maker of the tutorial did it seems.

[Coby Foden]

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Spinell wrote:

I wanted to use them because a lot of custumers still don't use MESH-capqable viwers or simply dislike MESH.

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Lots of customers?  I think you have missed the real information. :smileywink:

 

Perhaps you didn't know that at present about 90 per cent of users login with mesh capable viewer.  Is it really worth the effort trying to keep the minority of customers happy?  With mesh you can really do a lot more, and more easily, than with limited sculpties.