Need help with textures and UV mapping

[bonzibuddy 1]

Bear with me as I have no idea what I'm doing. I created a model in Sketchup and now am trying to import it into 3ds max for textures. Encountering several issues

Any idea why some of the faces are appearing as black? Is there something wrong with the way it was drawn in Sketchup? How do I fix it? https://i.imgur.com/RSY3iO0.png

Also I don't know how to properly handle the UV mapping and textures. I followed some of the instructions I found and it broke down everything by every little polygon, is it possible to group some of the sides together to make it easier to apply the textures? https://i.imgur.com/OBh0Mrt.png

How do I export the faces onto an image file so I can draw the textures with the exact dimensions in Photoshop?

 

[pauliaxz 195]

1 hour ago, bonzibuddy said:

Any idea why some of the faces are appearing as black? Is there something wrong with the way it was drawn in Sketchup? How do I fix it? https://i.imgur.com/RSY3iO0.png

Does this also appear after you unwrapped all the polygons (as you said - broke down to small pieces)? 

 

1 hour ago, bonzibuddy said:

Also I don't know how to properly handle the UV mapping and textures. I followed some of the instructions I found and it broke down everything by every little polygon, is it possible to group some of the sides together to make it easier to apply the textures? https://i.imgur.com/OBh0Mrt.png

I see you used Flatten Mapping unwrap option for all polys at once. You can also try to use Unfold Mapping (keep in mind that it doesn't work that well for round shaped multi-polygonal surface) you either need to select one row of polygons, or weld some sides manually. Also try to use Normal Mapping - it just unwraps every polygon you selected to a planar projection you choose (just to how you see the model from that side). Quick Peel works nice with Normal mapped UV seams. 

After you have transformed UV seams using flatten, unfold or normal mapping move seams onto each other if they are meant to have the same texture or are same size. Do this manually by hand or using Align, Arrange and grouping commands in the UV editor.

You can also manually weld vertices of the UV seams in the UV editor

 

1 hour ago, bonzibuddy said:

How do I export the faces onto an image file so I can draw the textures with the exact dimensions in Photoshop?

In the UV Editor -> Tools -> Render UVW Template -> choose the texture size and then Render UV Template.

[bonzibuddy 1]

I fixed the black faces issue. Turns out Sketchup had the faces reversed for some reason and now the model is importing correctly into 3ds max.

I still am very confused on the UV unwrapping. It continues to break down every single polygon into a unique object like this https://i.imgur.com/OBh0Mrt.png

I don't know what's wrong with my model, I dumped other train assets on the Steam Workshop and the UV unwrap works perfectly, properly grouping together polygons that are supposed to have the same texture. What am I missing? How do I group the polygons together so the UV unwrap works flawlessly?

[Ronyx69 2,413]

4 hours ago, bonzibuddy said:

How do I group the polygons together so the UV unwrap works flawlessly?

Learn about UV seams.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

To get perfect overlap, use vertex editor (instead of polygon or edge) and enable snapping (icon is a grid with a magnet in the lower-right hand corner). If you want to get good, start with uv unwrapping modified boxes (because rectangles are easier than pseudo circles made of many triangles) then work your way up to more complex geometry. I'm in the learning phase when it comes to cylinders and have yet to learn non-monochrome spheres.

[bonzibuddy 1]

Ok so I think I'm making some progress. I'm in the process of drawing the seams and using the planar projection to build the UVW map manually. Looks like you can overlap the projections over one an another so I can reuse textures with ease.

The thing I'm concerned about are the trucks for the train. I made it fairly complex with a lot of odd shapes and I might get burned here. Hopefully that's not the case

[bonzibuddy 1]

Is there a way to get the unwrapped UVs aligned along the same line so they line up?

Is there also an easy way to get the UVs to be the same size?

[Ocram's Razr 963]

20 minutes ago, bonzibuddy said:

Is there a way to get the unwrapped UVs aligned along the same line so they line up?

Is there also an easy way to get the UVs to be the same size?

It's extremely easy to do in 3ds Max. Do you have 3ds Max?

 

If you do, here is a picture:

[Ralph 0]

Hey did you figure out was was causing the shapes to be all broken up in the uv map, cuz i have the same issue. I textured the model in sketchup and when i import it in 3ds max it looks amazing. When I create the uv map it has so many broken shapes and it messes the entire thing up. I followed this tutorial: 

 BUTTT the issue is that i cannot find the “diffuse color option”. So basically i have 2 issues, the uv map is all broken up and i cant find the diffuse color option. Please help