How do I add texture to a mesh object in-world?

[Myra Wildmist]

I've been pouring over the forums, today, reading about texturing and mesh. From what I've read, it seems like the best approach to adding texture to a mesh object is to do it in Blender, first.

My problem is I got a nice mesh, full-perm sofa that I'd like to retexture, so the mesh object is already in-world. What are my options for adding texture to the object?

Can I export it, maybe, and import it to blender and add texturing there? Haven't tried that, so not sure it's even an option.

[Dora Gustafson]

You can start with dragging your textures onto your sofa like you would to an ordinary prim and see how you like that.
A mesh can have up to 8 materials defined and each can have its own texture
A material on a mesh is like a side or face on an ordinary prim

The materials was defined when the sofa was made and the number and sizes may not suit you
Also the textures may not look linear like when you put a texture on a side of a box prim
To make a texture fit an unlinear material we can use UV maps
UV maps are also made outside SL say, in Blender

But as I said in the beginning I think you should try and drag some textures onto the sofa

:smileysurprised::smileyvery-happy:

[Jennifur Vultee]

The mesh maker skould have provided you with a UVW map so you can create your own textures without guesswork.  If its a full perm kit and didn't come with a UVW map maybe you can ask for it...its possible they simply forgot to include it.  If its properly UVW mapped at this point all you really need to do is use thw UVW map make your textures in Photoshop or Gimp, upload them and apply them to the mesh.   If the mesh maker included a .dae in the sale you can import that to Blender if you want to to test textures before uploading them...of course that also means you can upload the mesh showing you as the creator instead of the person who made it.

[Anakin Crystal]

As Myra said, you can try to apply a texture.. 

 

But its bettre to use your own 3d program if you use blendor why not just create your own and whole object? 

 

As Myra said you should get the uvw map and import it to PS and addd your texture there.

 

[Chic Aeon]

Well,  new person (2 months ish) me always adds textures in world using the ambient map I made after mapping. I add texture layers onto that and then export again and import into SL. That way I can upload the textures as temps and try them out on the regular grid.  The sofa definitely should have come with some map, but if not you only have the option of flattish textures on it. For that you just drag the textures onto the various parts of the object. So the back of the sofa for example. You can also use "select face".

Depending on how the couch was mapped, you will get various (and varying) degrees of success.

IF you have an ambient map, then you can simply add your textures (like fabric) on top of the map in your graphics program changing the blend mode in the layers palette  to mulitply (for me anyway). Then export the ambient map WITH the texture and drag it onto your couch. That way you get ambient shadows as well as a nice texture. If you can and depending on the mapping, you may want to use 1024 textures and scale them down for various parts of the couch. Again, it all depends on how it was mapped and the bake texture you (hopefully) have.  I don't use UVmaps so no help from me there. Sorry.

Good luck! Hope that helped some.

[Myra Wildmist]

@Dora. Thanks for the tip, Dora. I'll try working with the faces, first. That just didn't occur to me.

@jennifer. I didn't get a UV map, unfortunately. I did send a request to the maker, but it was a freebie. But hope he has one.

@Chic. I'm not that familiar with texturing outside of some moderate experience with prims and sculps. What do you mean by ambient mapping? I'm a good reader if you have a link that helps me understand.

Thanks, everyone. I learned a bit from this post, too.

[Madeliefste Oh]

Example

On the left side you see the model, on the right side the two UV maps that are used. The white one is for the outside of the model, the blue one is for the inside.

An ambient map is a shadowing map. It is the self shadowing an object causes. You can make these maps in your 3D program. Take a look at the blue uv map, you see that the corners are shadowed. That is done by using the ambient map.

[Chic Aeon]

Ambient maps are black and white (grayscale) textures that have the shadows baked in so that if you drag that texture onto an object it looks more three dimensional. Many full perm mesh items (and some sculpts) come with them. There is a VERY popular free chair on the marketplace that I know came with ambient maps. If you do some searching I am sure you can find some free things that come with ambient occlusion maps that you can practice with.

 

Here you go. I found one for you. Free:  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/FREE-CHAIR-02-FULL-PERMISSION/1143982

[Rhys Goode]

If you don't have a UV map, you might be able to make some progress by using a test pattern such as http://simsdoc.deviantart.com/art/Test-Pattern-128460421 

This let me figure out where to put a design on a cheap mesh tee shirt that came with no map.  But its possible to make a mesh object that has no well defined uv map at all.  If you've got one of them, all bets are off.

 

[Chic Aeon]

Here are some examples of the UV maps that BLENDER makes for me under the BAKE > ambient occlusion tool. This is a very simple one for a small chest with open drawer. The knobs and other maps were on different textures.

 

 

Then I added a walnut texture on top of most of the map (some parts of this had another texture put on top -- I like to save on upload fees so often put two maps together). I used MULTIPLY in the blend options of the layer panel (Paintshop Pro X4 which isn't the best for this stuff but works for most things ).

 

 

And eventually it went together with some other pieces for a hunt prize:

 

Hope that helps make things a bit clearer. There is a lot to learn. No argument from me.

 

[lacii Hammill]

ok im reading about these uvb maps, how does one texture them in photoshop and gimp, im at a loss here are there tutorials on it?