Texturing

[andyjohnston.net]

Hello to everyone.

I've been building 3D objects for use in Flight Simulator for 20 years, but have been doing it with FSDS, which was relatively user friendly. Now i'm trying to re-create an object in Blender, and while I've managed to get the basic object built, I can't figure out how to apply the textures, and get certain parts of a texture to apply to the correct faces, etc.. I know people here are busy with their own things, but I'm wondering if anyone can maybe point to a good tutorial for this. The ones I've tried don't give the information I need.

 

[Mikea.at]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgEq0u2MzVgAaHEBt--xLB6U

With this you will have a good overview of blender. "Blender guru" is a good channel with tutorials.

 

[andyjohnston.net]

Thx. I have been looking at his stuff, not sure it applies to what I'm trying to do.

 

[WTFlorian]

You might need to look into "UV unwrapping" first - that's where you learn how to apply textures to the correct faces.

 

[Mikea.at]

2 materials on 1 object:

 

[JohnC1]

I feel your pain but help is on the way. I wrote myself a tutorial to figure out how to texture a cube putting two different textures on two different faces on a cube.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

You can zip an RTF file and attach the .zip

 

[Borair3]

Hello to everyone.

I've been building 3D objects for use in Flight Simulator for 20 years, but have been doing it with FSDS, which was relatively user friendly. Now i'm trying to re-create an object in Blender, and while I've managed to get the basic object built, I can't figure out how to apply the textures, and get certain parts of a texture to apply to the correct faces, etc.. I know people here are busy with their own things, but I'm wondering if anyone can maybe point to a good tutorial for this. The ones I've tried don't give the information I need.

Hi,

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl1GZH_qxFhQbg1LJguhXVZdZ5pAPu2_4

I recommend you to see this tutorial for Mr. Bill Womack. He explained how to make a model with texturing it.

But when he will talk about UV unwrapping, I advise you see this video for Guru, then continue with Mr. Womack

 

[ZdenniZ]

I've found that Blender + Substance Painter workflow where you select objects, UV Unwrap them (I use Smart UV Project), export them to FBX, import them to Substance Painter, texture/paint, export the textures with FS2020 preset, put the textures into the Blender2MSFS plugin texture slot for those objects - makes wonders. Fast, quality, great flexibility.

 

[bigglesworth]

I've found that Blender + Substance Painter workflow where you select objects, UV Unwrap them (I use Smart UV Project), export them to FBX, import them to Substance Painter, texture/paint, export the textures with FS2020 preset, put the textures into the Blender2MSFS plugin texture slot for those objects - makes wonders. Fast, quality, great flexibility.

I like the sound of that, since I own Substance Painter. But I'm still a newbie at this stuff. My question is, how much needs to be done in Blender before exporting to FBX? I've got an object UV unwrapped. Now, do I bake that in Blender, save that image, and then bring both the FBX and that image into SP, or is merely UV unwrapping sufficient? Sounds like a stupid question, but again, I'm new.

 

[WTFlorian]

My question is, how much needs to be done in Blender before exporting to FBX?

Let Substance Painter do the baking, finish your object, have it unwrapped and be sure your normals are facing the correct way, otherwise some faces won't show in substance painter.

Then go to Object Mode, select your object and export it via .FBX.
When exporting there's a little menu on the right, be sure to tick the "selected Objects" and "mesh" options.

Open the .fbx in SP and do your thing.
To export the textures you might want to use a preset like this (for MSFS)

And then just assign your textures in Blender.
I hope this helps.

 

[bigglesworth]

Thank you, WTFlorian!

 

[seippg]

And then just assign your textures in Blender.
I hope this helps.

I understand most of what you said, but how do you get what you did in SP back into Blender?

 

[Pyscen]

That would depend on a few things, such as, are all the maps placed correctly "together" for the SIM? Do any of the maps need additional adjustments, within your graphics editor (GIMP or Photoshop)? Depending on the SIM you are developing for you might need to place them either in dds or png format.

 

[WTFlorian]

- ! - What i forgot to add in my previous post, something that may also be of interest to @bigglesworth - Create and assign a material in Blender before exporting it to Substance Painter. - ! -

I understand most of what you said, but how do you get what you did in SP back into Blender?

Well, as Doug said there are a few things to consider/look at - but if that's done i use the Blender2Prepar3D Addon where i just assign the textures to their corresponding slots.
Diffuse, Metallic, Normal and Emissive.

With these textures in place i just export the object as .mdl and go on to place it in the sim (P3D in my case).

 

[seippg]

Well, as Doug said there are a few things to consider/look at - but if that's done i use the Blender2Prepar3D Addon where i just assign the textures to their corresponding slots.
Diffuse, Metallic, Normal and Emissive.

I think I understand. I watched most of the Bill Womak tutorials (brilliant!)....

...and, when it came to where he was painting I was trying to imagine how he would have done it in PBR. What I'm imagining is, using Substance Painter...

1. Create the object in Blender (walls, roof, garage doors)
2. Create as many materials as you need (walls, roof, garage doors) and assign them.
3. UV unwrap it.
4. Export the .fbx.
5. Load the .fbx in Substance Painter and assign the textures
6. Export the substances (into the textures dir).
7. Back in Blender, assign the substances to the materials using whatever sim's plugin.
8. Review the work.
9. Export for the sim.
10. Pray (mostly for newbies...important last step...don't skip).

But, I'm not sure how I'd handle his "painted on" human doors and windows (metal, glass) other than to slice them up into parts, perhaps, so they could be painted and textured as PBR? Watching this tutorial, I see he has one object but three different textures. Looks like he removed the windshield from the texture map and then, in Blender, overrides the engine color with a color. It's a quick and dirty vid.

This all sound right?

 

[Pyscen]

Seippg, which Sim are you creating for again? and which preset in Substance Painter?

 

[seippg]

Seippg, which Sim are you creating for again? and which preset in Substance Painter?

Mostly FS2020...though I'm reserving the right to switch to XPlane. I fly both. I think the pipeline is much the same(?), at least, this part of the context.

 

[Pyscen]

For XPlane, I'm not familiar with, but I can assume that is not the same as MSFS. You will need to create a preset in Substance Painter for XPlane.

 

[ZdenniZ]

But, I'm not sure how I'd handle his "painted on" human doors and windows (metal, glass) other than to slice them up into parts,

Not sure if I got you correctly here, but in Substance Painter you can choose one material in an object at once (it's called "texture set" in SP) and work with it independently from other materials. So the most important thing in Blender is to correctly assign all your materials and give them plausible names.