triple_r wrote:
> I got a little sidetracked and started playing around with Wings3D (on a
> mac).  The program works great, but I couldn't get the pov export plugin to
> work, so I wrote a program to parse a .obj file and output mesh2.
> 
> The problem is when I try to use uv-mapping.  It doesn't work too well in
> Wings3D - so I figure either it doesn't work too well or I don't know how
> to work it - so I tried the free UV Mapper program.  At best, that just
> does spherical mapping that I could do right in POV-Ray anyway.  Wings3D is
> really slow for complicated models and gives a lot of overlap and ugliness
> when it does work.  I have a suspicion that what I should have done is
> UV-map it from the start, then create the model.  But it's too late for
> that.  The topology of the model is spherical, but there is some overlap
> so, as seen in p.b.i., parts around the eyes and neck get pretty distorted.
> 
> My current plan is to get my program to find uv vectors with spherical
> mapping then some kind of pseudo-mass-spring model to clear up the rough
> spots, but I'm pretty lost on this one.  I've never really done any mesh
> modeling before, so I'm not really sure how it should work.  Any help?
> 
>  - Ricky
> 
> 
Most of us use Poseray for the .obj2mesh2 conversion but if your routine 
handles the uv list, then it does.

I am a little reluctant to comment here since I have yet to produce a 
uvmapped result of professional quality but here is the direction I've 
gone in fwiw.

Sometimes I use AutoUV in wings but for most situations I use Uvmapper. 
  I do have the Pro version but any operations I use could be done on 
the free version, just more awkwardly.

The thing I like to do is to export the unsmoothed cage to Uvmapper (via 
.obj format)  I then create the uvcoordinates and the corresponding 
template in Uvmapper.  Uvmapper supports a variety of projections to 
start from (besides spherical). Of course you can then pull the points 
to "unfold" the model and get a better correspondence to the texture 
map. Also, if, before you export from Wings, you apply materials to 
different sections of your model, then in Uvmapper you can use these 
material names to select and map these areas separately using different 
projections.  This is sometimes helpful because it gives you easier 
control over "seam" placement.  When I "save" the model from UVmapper, I 
save with the option: "in a single group".  Now that saved file (which 
is in .obj of course but with uv's ) can be *"imported"* back into Wings 
for smoothing.  The smoothed model can then be exported for conversion 
and/or for loading back into Uvmapper if you wish to make a template 
which reflects the smoothed model. I then do the final conversion to 
mesh2 with Poseray.  (It is also true that Poseray supports smoothing 
and export to .obj so I can picture other workflows than what I have 
just described )

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