Unwrapping UVs
This doc goes into how to unwrap UVs in Blender using Palette Texturing...
Last updated
This doc goes into how to unwrap UVs in Blender using Palette Texturing...
Last updated
With the main texture imported, even if it is just the Diffuse texture, we can start unwrapping the UVs in order to tell which colors go on which polygons. In the case of unwrapping UVs, we are actually telling which polygons to go on which colors.
The UV Editing layout has two main windows. The UV Editor on the left, and the standard 3D Viewport on the right.
Select the 'UV Editing' tab at the top of Blender.
Go into 'Edit' Mode on the asset and select some of the polygons. Notice how shapes will appear in the UV Editor.
The shapes in the UV Editor represent the polygons of your 3D asset. The goal is to get these shapes into their respective colors on the Diffuse texture.
Select the polygons you would like to be one color in the 3D Viewport.
Left click, Left drag, and/or [Shift] to multiselect.
Use X-Ray mode or [Alt + Z] to select through objects.
Select the UVs in the UV Editor.
Left click, Left drag, and/or [Shift] to multiselect.
Edit the UVs with the standard Position, Rotation, and Scale hotkeys.
As UVs only have two axes, use [X] and [Y] to align to specific axis.
Your approach to Palette texturing may be a very small texture (similar to the one used in this example), many colors that this asset may not use that other assets could use when created, or many colors with many finishes (such as Matte or Metallic).
The same approach works however, with the UVs being placed where they need to be in the texture.
Right click in the UV Editor and select 'Align Vertically'.
Right click in the UV Editor and select 'Align Horizontally'.
Move the (now dot sized) UVs onto the color you would like the polygons to be.
You can use the standard Position [G], Rotation [R], Scale [S] buttons or hotkeys
Closer to the centre of the color is recommended to reduce potential issues later.
Repeat for the entire asset.
Thats basically it! This allows you to very quickly color your asset as long as the polygons are there to color. This is a fantastic approach for low polygon assets.
The following assumes the images in the Shader graph are Gradient based textures. It also assumes the crate will always be facing up so that the gradient can apply from light to dark vertically. If it was to by a dynamic crate I would use a different approach to the crate as it may be flipped.
Change the viewport to the direction you want the gradient to go.
Usually, the gradient goes down so the front or side views are common.
Select 'UV" menu > Project from view'.
This flattens the UVs onto the UV Map to the view.
Select the UVs in the UV Editor.
Left click, Left drag, and/or [Shift] to multiselect.
Right click in the UV Editor and select 'Align Vertically'.
Do not 'Align Horizontally' as we want to keep the height.
Move the (now a single line) UVs onto the gradient you would like the polygons to be.
You can use the standard Position [G], Rotation [R], Scale [S] buttons or hotkeys
Closer to the centre of the gradient is recommended to reduce potential issues later.
Repeat for the entire asset.
As we created a texture that can tile vertically, we can use this in interesting ways to create a loopable gradient pattern. At the top of the stump below, you can see a single polygon have the repeating loop gradient for example. In the UV Editor you can see the vertical line scaled considerably higher than the texture itself.
Scale a vertical slice of UVs so that the texture repeats over the polygon.
If you want a little more control over the assets gradient, you could scale some polygons up and down more than others, even add more polygons in the loop to add that level of control.
Thats basically it! This allows you to very quickly color your asset as long as the polygons are there to color. This is a fantastic approach for low polygon assets.
