blender sculptie UV rendering

hola

I am using blender 2.48a. Still haven't manged to import anything into SL.
i have made two objects but have some baking problems:

the one object is a very simple nurb object and when i try to bake i get this message even though it is selected:
*sculptie bake error: no objects selected*

the other object is a head made from 32 segment mesh UVsphere.
when i try to bake it i get this message:
*python script error: ValueError: face has no texture values*

anyone have any clue what the problem could be??????

most tutorials i have found have been for previous versions.
should i have used add>sculptie mesh instead of add>UVsphere?

thanks

Hola.
Yes for sure. Try and import all types for practice. Do a quick modify on the mesh and do a test upload. If all goes well you will be successful.
Good luck.
And see this thread for more help and tutorials.
Sculted Prim Tools & Tutorials
/8/8d/196863/1.html

In my view you can do no better than follow the Machinimatrix turorial series - http://blog.machinimatrix.org/video-tutorials/
If you have Domino's add-in scripts for sculpties and follow the steps you'll be importing/baking with ease (relatively speaking)

yep done that
also done those tutorials and read those threads.

done all that before posting this thread

ok trying it now with sculpty mesh.
ty

Baking directly from a NURBS ???? I know meanwhile, how this can be done, but it is far away from something a new blender user (i assume, you are new to blender?) would find "an easy task"... Except you try using my nurbs2sculptie script of course If this is what you do already, then you should make sure, that your object IS indeed selected:

NOTE: With blender-2.48 you CAN edit unselected objects. Iam not sure, if this is a bug or a feature... So it is best to go to object mode and right click your object (it shows a pink outline when it is selected). After it is selected, try your baking again and it will work.

As you write, you started from a UV-sphere. You should have started from a Sculpt-Mesh (type SPHERE = "1" If you do that, you can bake your sculptie imediately and get no errors (in most cases).


The machinimatrix videos are made with blender 2.46 and blender-2.47. The videos can be used as guides for blender 2.48 too. Although i must admit that we found some subtilities, where you could possibly fall into a trap. But this is motly related to object mode vs. edit mode behaviour of blender. If you do not succeed using one mode, try the other. it should help...

thanks for your reply
as i said it is def selected (and pink).
i have used 3D max so not a total noob yet new to blender yes

i have now attempted to do the same with SCULPTIE MESH. when i did UV render after a few changes it worked. but then i continue to sculpt (using the mirror on one plane), and now when i try to render the UV map, i dont get any error message, but now i see nothing in the UV image editor - it remains blank.... o.0 even though the python console says that it finished baking in 0.1594 seconds....
Tried it before applying the mirror and after. Once i've used mirror and if i get a baked UV map half the map is missing. I tried it again after first applying the mirror modifier but there is still half a map.
i see that sculptie mesh has a "use subsurf" option. i tried with it selected and without.
i guess i am kinda half getting somewhere...
the plot thickens

heeelp!

Sometimes I find that the UV Editor stays blank until you change from object mode to edit mode and select all vertices.
Maybe I'm reading your description wrong but what do you mean by continuing to sculpt and mirroring the sculptie mesh on one plane? You can't add/subtract vertices or faces to the sculpt mesh or it loses its integrity as a sculpty basis. Getting half a map suggests to me that you're only selecting some of the vertices in the UV window.
Apologies if I'm misunderstanding - your description needs a bit more clarification.

okay i see you are right about the map appearing once i go back to edit mode

my problem still persists however

after i have used the mirror modifier the map is not complete

to use mirror modifier i first delete half the vertices, and then mirror the remaining half, to make a symetric object like a face, by just working on one half. when it is complete i apply the morror which puts the other half of the vertices back in symetry, completing the form with the original amount of vertices.

i hope that is clearer

Sca, there's ppl out there who know lots more than me and hopefully they'll read this and add some info. but if I'm reading you right you're talking about deleting half the vertices of the sculpt mesh, working on the remaining vertices then mirroring to achieve a symmetrical mesh before baking the sculpt.
From my limited understanding of the process that won't work as the sculpt meshes generated by Domino's scripts have to remain as they are in terms of number of vertices and faces other than deformation to achieve the required shape. I believe that the face and vertex order generated by Domino's scripts need to be undisturbed and your deleting half even though you put new ones back to give the sume number as you started with breaks the process and stops it being a sculpty capable of being baked.

okay that makes sence. my guess is that you are right.
thanks

You can use the mirror modifier with sculpties. But you need to learn, how to use it.. If you want to see the mirror modifier in action with sculpties, you may want to look here:

http://blog.machinimatrix.org/2008/06/16/the-arch-example

We show how it works in the last minute of the video...

A more detailed explanation:
===================

The problem is, that when you remove half of the vertices, you loose the association between half of the mesh and the corresponding UV map-locations. Now look at the mirror modifier and see these 2 buttons labeled [mirror U] and [Mirror V] ? that is the magic you need...

Enabling these buttons will simply mirror the UV map, hence, when you lost the left or right half of the UV map, you enable [Mirror U]. When you lost the upper or lower half of your UV-map, enable [Mirror V]. If you only have one quarter of your vertices ... Make a double mirrored object. that works too


In practice:
=======

You MUST work in side view, top view, of front view when you use the mirror modifier with sculpties. In fact i think, that the mirror modifier itself can't function in other views anyways..

Now (when your object has not been rotated) :

Best check this with a fresh sculptie sphere ...:


When in TOP VIEW:
=============
- remove the left half or right half of your vertices
- use mirror modifier and select to mirror along [X]
- select [Mirror U] to mirror the UV-map left to right (or vice versa)


When in Side view:
============
- remove the upper or lower of your vertices
- use mirror modifier and select to mirror along [Z]
- select [Mirror V] to mirror the UV-map top to bottom(or vice versa)


When in Front view:
=============
- remove the left half or right half of your vertices
- use mirror modifier and select to mirror along [X]
- select [Mirror U] to mirror the UV-map left to right (or vice versa)

OR

- remove the upper or lower of your vertices
- use mirror modifier and select to mirror along [Z]
- select [Mirror V] to mirror the UV-map top to bottom(or vice versa)


And one more tip: enable [Do Clipping] that helps to keep a clean mesh.

And have fun

wooo hooo thanks gaia!!!!
thanks for all the clarity and detail
i will tackle that fresh tomorrow and get some sleep for now

and thankies everyone else too
very cool

okay yay
thanks gaia
so it works now
it was obviously important to choose this mirror U from the initial shape because when i apply it later it does not work.
any idea how to get my mirror U back for all the heads i made trying?
i guess that might be like trying to get trash back from the incinerator.
that video was really cool and comprehensive too.
*smiling*
sca

arg
now i finally get a whole map but when i try to save it i get
Error: couldn't write file C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\head.tga

when i check the console it says:
C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\head.tga: Permission denied

>.<

Maybe this is a matter of how you installed blender. Maybe you have been installing it from a different account than you use now ? Anyways, i would never save my work into the blender installation folder. You would loose all your work, when you are switching to a newer blender version...

Tip: When you store the .tga file, you always can select another destination folder. So just create one in your favorite directory and store your files there. And get independent of the blender installation...

oki's
geez i am glad you mentioned that
i would have been ready to jump off the highest bridge in SL if i lost all my files just cos of an update.
thanks again gaia!
finally my first freshly baked targa.