SC2Mapster

Have you tried checking the "Alpha Only" and "Alpha Based Shading" checkboxs of the Self Illumination Material Layer already? I remember that I had to enable one of them for a particle system I made.

Quote from println: Go

Have you tried checking the "Alpha Only" and "Alpha Based Shading" checkboxs of the Self Illumination Material Layer already? I remember that I had to enable them once for a particle system I made.

My issue is not that, but it is that my mesh does not match up with my textures. Direct Link to Image

Quote from println: Go

Basically you have just to do the following steps:

1. Import the model into Blender
2. Make sure the correct material is selected in the "M3 Materials" tab. You can find out which material a mesh has by right clicking first the mesh and then selecting the materials tab in the Properties Editor. The materials tab contains a "M3 Material Settings" tab which shows the name of the material the mesh uses.
3. Once the correct material is selected, go to the M3 Material Layers tab and select the Diffuse layer. Change the image path to your liking. The path needs to be the same like the one which can be found at the right side of the Archive Browser(SC2 Editor->Window->Console->enter "browse"). It can also be the path of an imported texture
4. You can also adjust other layers. To add the classic emissive texture you need to select the "Self Illumination" layer in the M3 Material Layers tab and set the image path to whatever you want. (Actually I am not sure myself what all the layers do exactly, if anyone wants to experiment and write an article about it would be cool :D )
5. Export the model. Either via menu or via the "M3 Quick Export" panel
6. Import the textures at the correct paths, save and check via the File->Add menu of the Cutscene Editor if the model is correct. Once you are statisfied just use the normal way of importing a model.

It's important to note, that if the Starcraft 2 Editor fails to lookup a texture for a model, that it will use a placeholder texture. That is why you should import the texture first, save, and then import the model. The saving is necessary to make the import effective. The only known way to stop the editor from using a placeholder texture is to restart it.

1. I have done that.
2. When I open the M3 Material tab it has only Material #1. Am I suppose to add or change something?
3. Under the M3 Material Layers do I put in the entire C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II...etc or do I just put in the Assets/Textures/zombie_diffuse_01.dds?
4. I have made the Self Illumination field under M3 Material Layers as the emissive texture.

The rest of the steps are simple and I know textures before .m3 file. Also, my figure looks like the mesh is placed incorrectly on the texture.

@admielke: Go

I assume zou exported the Assets/Units/Terran/ColonistMale/ColonistMale.m3 model. That model does not show up textured for me in the SC2 Editor since it's texture is missing.

As you have figured out yourself, the mapping of the texture on the mesh is wrong. This mapping from texture to mesh is called UV mapping. It's what you can seee on your screenshot on the left side. So you basically just have to adjust the UV mapping in that editor. If you switch the "Viewport Shading" to "Texture" then you can preview the mapping. The setting can be found right to element where you selected teh "Edit Mode".

I do minimalistic UV mapping in my Coin Tutorial, but you may want to google for "UV tutorial Blender" for more tutorials on the topic.

About 3: It needs to be the location of the image in your map or in Starcraft 2. A file path that points to your local disk like c:\... won't work. Assets/Textures/zombie_diffuse_01.dds is correct if that's the path where you have imported the texture.

Quote from println: Go

@admielke: Go

I assume zou exported the Assets/Units/Terran/ColonistMale/ColonistMale.m3 model. That model does not show up textured for me in the SC2 Editor since it's texture is missing.

As you have figured out yourself, the mapping of the texture on the mesh is wrong. This mapping from texture to mesh is called UV mapping. It's what you can seee on your screenshot on the left side. So you basically just have to adjust the UV mapping in that editor. If you switch the "Viewport Shading" to "Texture" then you can preview the mapping. The setting can be found right to element where you selected teh "Edit Mode".

I do minimalistic UV mapping in my Coin Tutorial, but you may want to google for "UV tutorial Blender" for more tutorials on the topic.

About 3: It needs to be the location of the image in your map or in Starcraft 2. A file path that points to your local disk like c:\... won't work. Assets/Textures/zombie_diffuse_01.dds is correct if that's the path where you have imported the texture.

When I do change Viewport Shading to Texture the figure just turns orange. I do not see any of the texture. Also, I have made the directory Assets/Textures/zombie... etc. I will continue exploring Blender a bit. Seriously, thanks for all your help.

Updates

• This might help with what I am having issues with. When I unwrap the m3 model I get a different mesh. Direct link.

• I am attempting at changing the texture layout rather than changing the mesh layout. So far I have no idea what goes where.

• What I did below is edit the texture to have bright colors with each section being a separate color to display what goes where. So far the sections look really screwed up and messy. Direct link

• I think I am giving up on this. It is almost like the mesh is completely incorrect.

@admielke: Go

Before using the unwrap function of Blender you need to mark the edges of where the mesh should be cut.

This tutorial seems to be pretty good:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/2011/01/21/intro_uvmapping/

@println: Go

When I do try to Mark Seam it will make everything but what I have selected as the seam.

Update

• I have made the seams and unwrapped the sections. It is exactly the same as the image above with the color coding.

• So far I have noticed that using the colored image above that the red area are the hand images, the pink is the sole of the foot (duh), the blue is the shoe, the cyan is the shins of the legs, and the yellow is the head. Now I am adjusting the mesh in the UV mapping to match the texture.

Final Update

My map broke and I lost my traceline and terrain. I have the traceline memorized, but still so much work. I think this zombie importing five times to test out stuff really screwed it up. Oh well.