Maya: Exporting/Creating UV Map for Nurbs

Hi,

I am trying to export my nurbs in Maya for use in Modo or C4D. I export them as a .obj, but they do not show up in other programs such as C4D or Modo. When I export them as polygons, they get a terrible UV map and lose the one useable with SL. I want to learn how to create a proper UV map for them so I can texture them in other programs.

I will pay rl-wage for help and guidance. Please IM me private on forum or in game.

Thank you so much, I really want to learn!!

Hiya, Stella!

I can understand why you're wanting to avoid Maya's painting and texturing tools, they're not easy to learn. But why not just create your objects in C4D and paint on them?. C4D can create NURBS too. Although you may need to convert your C4D NURBS into the .obj format before taking them into Maya.

I am used to modeling in Maya. I really need to learn more about UV mapping, it will help me in the future. I am not fond of Maya's shaders and lighting though :/

Stella, before we get to your question, I want to talk about two things. First, this is the second post of yours in a row I've read asking for people to contact you privately, rather than answer here. Please don't use the forums for such self-centered purposes. When a question is answered here, it helps thousands of people all at the same time. When your question is asked here, but answered elsewhere, it helps you and only you, and just wastes everyone else's time. That's NOT what the forums are for. If you can come here to ask, you can come here to read the answer. Otherwise, kindly ask your questions elsewhere.

Second, have you been through all the introductory tutorials in the Maya Help? I'm guessing the answer is no, since if you had, you'd probably have a different set of questions now than the ones you're asking. I'd recommend you drop what you're doing, and learn Maya as it's intended to be learned before coming back to sculpties. It won't take all that long.

OK, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about your specific problem. There are a few things to know:

Terminology

There's no such thing, really, as a "UV map for NURBS". NURBS don't have UV's like polygons do. NURBS surfaces are always perfect rectangles, and so are the textures that go on them. No matter into what shape a rectangle has been bent into in 3D space, it's still just a rectangle when it's unwrapped into 2D.

If you really need a map though, I'd suggest this one by DanielFox Abarnathy: /8/c0/217539/1.html . Assuming your NURBS surface has the right number of sections and spans, the lines on Daniel's map should perfectly coincide with the isoparms on your surface. You could also use this map, made by me: /109/45/214824/1.html . It won't align perfectly with the isoparms, since it's divided decimally instead of hexidecimally, but that doesn't really matter. It will still show you where each part of the canvas goes on the model, and that's all you really need to know. Apply either pattern to the color channel of whatever shader material you've got applied to your NURBS surface, and you'll easily see what goes where.


Learn about shaders.

I'd encourage you to learn Maya's internal texturing tools, rather than relying on exports to third party programs. Learning to understand shader networks, and how to use them to create the effects you want, is a very important skill to develop. And once you learn the basics behind how the system works, you'll be really surprised at how quickly you can generate what look like very complex textures, especially when you work add a high quality renderer like Turtle into the mix. (Turtle is fantastic, and is the only renderer on the market specifically designed from the ground up for this type of work.) I seriously doubt you'll find a simpler or more powerful material shader system in any program.

As 2K said, it can seam a little intimidating at first, but really, the basics are quite simple. The Hypershade makes it really easy to dissect even the most complicated shader into an easily understandable chart. You just need to have read enough about the concepts to understand what you're looking at is all.

Again, I'd suggest consulting the Maya Help for getting started with this. Unlike the Help in many other programs, Maya's Help is actually helpful. It's without question the best help file of any program I've ever seen. It's all in there.

It's also worth investing in a good book on Maya. There are lots to choose from. Head over to your local Barnes & Noble's or Walden Books, skim through a few, and pick one you like. I recommend the Learning Maya series from Maya Press. The books are written in plain English, chock full of interesting tutorial projects to cover all the bases, and are really easy to follow.


3D Painting may not be life saver you think it is.

Unfortunately, for reasons that have always baffled me, 3D painting programs (including Maya's own painting tools) tend to be rather weak. They're all quite underpowered in comparison with what 2D painters like Photoshop can do, despite the wealth of claims on each of their websites about "the next evolution of painting", "a rich immersive painting experience", "powerful range of tools", etc., etc., etc. While it's true that specialty programs like Deep Paint 3D, Body Paint, and Zbrush have a better range of tools tools for painting than Maya has, really, none come anywhere close to including the range and depth of tools in Photoshop and other quality 2D image editors. I've never really understood why that is, but unfortunately it is how it is.

Also, 3D painters tend to be rather buggy. I've found that for most tasks, they're more trouble than they're worth. In my opinion, no one has yet created a viable substitute for good old fashioned 2D painting on a flat canvas in Photoshop, and then enhancing it with a good lighting bake in Maya with a good renderer like Turtle.

Try the various options, and make up your own mind though.