Question on Generating a UVW Map

[Audi0eye]

Let's say you start out with 3 different models, all individually textured.  You then attach them and it becomes one model, but their materials remain in-tact.

Is there a way (within 3ds max preferably) to take the new model and aquire its texture for uploading into SL?

It's hard to word what I mean.

[Audi0eye]

Let's say you start out with 3 different models, all individually textured.  You then attach them and it becomes one model, but their materials remain in-tact.

Is there a way (within 3ds max preferably) to take the new model and aquire its texture for uploading into SL?

It's hard to word what I mean.

[Medhue Simoni]

Well, I kind of feel like I'm stating the obvious but I'll give it a shot. When you combine the 3 models, and you apply and unwrap UVW modifier to it, it should show 3 UV maps on top of each other. You can then rework/combine them in 1 map, or leave them as is, and just use 3 textures. I'm confused by your question tho. Acquire the texture? If the model has a texture on it, then it is in your computer, somewhere. If you mean that you need the UV maps to create the textures, then you can generate these UV maps inside 3ds Max in the Edit UVW window, under the Unwrap UVW modifier.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

I'm also a bit confused. Do you mean you want your new model to have a single texture for SL?

If that's the case, you need to add a new "Unwrap UVW" modifier to the object, change the channel to something else than the default "1", select "abandon" to keep the original UVW intact then remap your UV so there are no overlapping faces.

Baking or "Render To Texture" (RTT) as it's called in 3ds Max you do by hitting "0" (zero). You'll get a new window, most things you can leave untouched. Make sure the channel under "Mapping Coordinates" is the same as the map channel in your new "Unwrap UVW" modifier. It should be set that way by default btw. In the "Output" rollout, click "Add..." and select the "DiffuseMap". Change the size to whatever is needed and hit "Render". The new texture will be saved in the "\sceneassets\images" folder, you can also save from the render window.

Make sure you upload the model that is unwrapped on the new channel, or the texture won't fit.

EDIT

shows it a bit more clearly, he does it slightly different than how I explained above, the process is pretty much the same though.

[LizbethSparrow]

I, too, am confused by the OP's question.

My take on it is this, it sounds like you are talking about combining the textures, not just the uvmaps, so that it is one texture file and then cheaper to upload into SL.

In this case, how I would do it is:

First, open the texture files up in photoshop or gimp and look at their layouts.  See, how best to arrange the texture first before doing anything else.  The main thing is to use up blank spaces in the texture so you don't have to redraw anything or end up overlapping things on accident.

Next, open the uvmaps up in 3ds max using the UVW Unwrap modifier and select the entire map for each object and move it to the side (outside the main border in the middle).  So, for example, you have 3 different maps.  Move the first one up, the second one down and the third one right.  This is so they don't overlap immediately when you combine the uvmaps.

Then, collapse all the unwraps to save your layout and attach the objects together.  After that, add another UVW unwrap modifier and proceed to arrange them all into the center area without overlapping.  It's best to start arranging them one object at a time to prevent confusion.  I usually start with the largest object first as it'll take up the most space on a map.

Once done, go to Render UVW Template and open the template of the UVW map in your texture-editing program.  Then you can proceed to, basically, copy-paste the parts of the 3 different textures together onto new mapping.

That should work if I understood your question correctly.

[Audi0eye]

Yeah the video has exactly what I was looking for thank you.  It's easier for me to learn visually so that will help out a ton.  Sorry I worded it weird, I couldn't think about how to ask what I meant, but I guess you understood

Thank you and everyone else who posted :3