Can't get blender mesh to upload with texture

[Andy Greenstein]

Hello everyone.  I've been trying to build my own railing for a loft I am installing in my new linden home.  I've actually done quite well (at least I think so for my first mesh), but I am getting held up on this last part!

 

I've got the textures on, I've joined all of the pieces and scaled it all.  This is what it looks like when I render the image:

http://i.imgur.com/8BbnPGu.png

 

So I export it as COLLADA, and then I try both the SL+Open Sim Rigged and Static, and I've also tried checking the "material textures"option, but nothing seems to work.  I can import it into the preview grid just fine, but the texture wont show up.

 

I keep hearing people talk about "baking" a texture to the model.  Is there something special I need to do?  I am "rendering" it, but that just seems to be more of a preview than anything.  I'm brand new to modeling so could someone explain in to me like I'm 5?  In the simplest way possible?

[Chic Aeon]

Well there is a whole challenging part to Blender called "mapping". It is not fun at the beginning (for most folks anyway) as it is a bit like a puzzle. Unless you are trying for something very unusual you do not have your textures mapped "correctly" (like with the woodgrain).

You don't NEED to export your textures with your mesh. In fact I  never have so I can't tell you what you might be doing wrong. If you have MAPPED your model (telling the program how you want the texture to fit from the texture file (png or tga usually 512) then you can use ANY texture on your railing. You can learn how to map different materials to one mesh, but QUICKER (again assume you want to use this) would be to link all the railings posts (it is called JOINING in Blender) together as one object and then link the lighter wood pieces together.  This would give you a two object LINKSET. Because it is two meshes you don't need to worry about multiple materials on one mesh (can be tricky).

Basically you want the model to look just like you want it to look in SL. So see what happens when you just put your textures on the meshes you uploaded. If they look the way you want them, you are done.

You can always improve your railing later on when you learn about ambient occlusion maps and such.

 

[Andy Greenstein]

Hey thanks for the reply.  As for having the railings linked together and then the lighter woods linked together, they actually already are because the way I made them had them setup that way.  That being said, I still am not sure exactly how I would get the texture onto the object.  If I export the model as 2 pieces (1 piece the lighter woods, 1 piece the rails), will it still be 1 piece in SL or will I be able to add 2 textures to it once in SL?  Or is this not what you are talking about doing?

 

Thanks for the reply, like I said, I'm completely new to this and it's all a bit overwhelming!

 

 

EDIT:  I got it!  http://i.imgur.com/ZSoJwxi.png

 

I did what I mentioned above.  I imported it with the 2 sections linked seperately and then in SL in the edit menu I noticed the "Edit Linked" function which allowed me to edit the pieces seperately.  Is this what you were talking about doing?

 

 

EDIT 2:  Here it is installed! http://i.imgur.com/aqermql.png

I won't lie, I am pretty proud of myself.  I was so surprised it fit so perfectly as well.  I did measure beforehand, but I'm still happy to see it come out so nicely.  Next up, staircase

[Drongle McMahon]

In case you wantb to make it one object next time, here is how to do that. Each mesh can have up to eight materials. These can each be textured with a different texture inworld. The mesh faces sharing each material behave like the faces on a standard prim. You can select a face with the button above the edit linked checkbox and then clicking on the face. Then you can adjust all the parameters and select a texture for that face independently of the others. You can also drop a texture on it and it will just go onto that face. One material can be spread over disconnected parts of the mesh surface, like the posts in your railing.

The picture shows the simplest steps for defining and applying different materials in Blender...

1. Open the materials tab of the properties panel.

2. Click + to add a new material slot.

3. Click + to add the new material into the slot.

4. Choose a distinct colour (so you can see what you are doing).

5. Give it a suitable name.

6. Select all the faces to receive the material and assign the material to them with this button. (Note; the first material it will be automatically assigned to the whole mesh, but for subsequent materials you need to assign them.).

Now when you import the mesh, it will have the colours you assigned to the materials showing which faces are which. You can select them with "Select face" and then turn the colour to white and assign the desired texture. This is just the beginning. There is tons more to learn about materials and UV mapping. Have fun.