Help with the zmodeler

From Zmodeler 1

enter the main SELECT item and then select the SEPARATED item, then you can select each minimum part and then separate it from the main piece.



From Zmodeler 2

For the same thing you can see in zmodeler 2

It worked , thanks a lot

I would like to go to another level of modding using zmodeler 1 and/or 2 and I have a basic question to go further : how do I separate the big objects , like the cockpit , in small ones for mapping everything properly ? How to turn a round object into a flat one for mapping in the zmodeler ? For some objects is possible to do separating the faces in parts manually but I'm sure that there are some commands I can do to detach all the objects and attach them again after the mapping done much quicker . Please see the image below
Thanks in advance





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2018 09:53AM by rracunis.

I'm working on the DTM MOD 2018 and cannot use the previous MODs 2015 and 2016 as the shapes and textures are different . It means that I'm doing everything new and it has been hard . I have 2 simple question about the zmodeler 1.07 , please need help . The issues are quite basic to do but don't know why I can't understand or repeat the tutorials available ( I'm able to do in the zmodeler 2 but not in the 1 )

1. How to split the parts from one specific object as in the image above in order to map each part separately and not in a object ( maybe unlink an object ) ?

2. How to move the object into the texture using in the UV mapper view as Josekast did in his tutorial ( see the image below ) ?






Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2018 11:18PM by rracunis.

Hi Riciardo!

I will try to answer to your questions:

About your question from may, 26th:
Zmodeler 1.07b or v2 is much more limited than 3DSMax or Zmodeler3 in terms of UV unfolding and mapping but there are some interesting things to do.
The best method is to unfold all textured faces which need lines, forms, logos.
Unfortunately, Zmodeler 1.07b can't do it automatically.
You have to select your faces manually (separated to choose a group of faces already mapped and with edges connected or in single mode) and to choose the correct view to map it as flat faces.



For example, I want to map a nose cone with unfolded (flat) faces into UV mapping window
I first select the faces of the top nose in Top view.
Once done, Surface/ Reset UV / click left on one of your selected faces
Then, Surface/ Assign/ Materials - I click on the assign button and ok (the materials windows closes) and click on one of your selected faces
Select None, deselect all your faces / select object mode
Open your UV mapping window. I can see the selected faces flattened in top view

Now the sides of the nose:
I choose the right view, I select all the faces from the right nose
Once done, Surface/ Reset UV / click left on one of your selected faces
Then, Surface/ Assign/ Materials - I click on the assign button and ok (the materials windows closes) and click on one of your selected faces
Select None, deselect all your faces / select object mode
Open your UV mapping window. I can see the selected faces flattened in right view

The same for the left side in left view etc...

Well, I am sure you already know this....

At the end, in to my UV mapping window, I will get all the faces of my nose flattened top and sides


About questions 1 and 2

Now, things you can do into UV Mapping mode:
you can move, scale, rotate, mirror etc... a group of UV or an entire object already mapped.
To move an entire UV mapping into the texture (UV mapping square), here is the method:
1 -Select all your UV mapped with the rectangle selection tool
2- Select Modify/ Move and click on X or Y axis to move your group of UV into the square

Now imagine that among all your objects mapped on a same texture, you want to move or to scale only a group of UVs (like a specific object mapped)
1- Into UV Mapping window, select all the UVs
2- click on the vertices button and click-right into the UV mapping window
3- Select all the vertices of the object that you want to move/ scale/ rotate etc...(press shift to select a group of vertices) and then, select move/ scale/ rotate or any function you want to apply it to the group of vertices

It will detach this selected group of vertices from your UV mapping and the selected fuction will move/ scale/ rotate/... only these selected vertices into the UV mapping window.

I hope that it is clear enough. Don't hesitate to ask if it is not...

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Oh God , thanks a lot Arnaud for your kind and complete help

I have this huge cockpit below ( 7MB ) and I need to reduce it in order to optimize to GP4 . I wouldn't like to use the polygon cruncher but probably I'll have to . However , before reduce the number of polygons , I want to lighten it reducing many unuseful parts . How can I do that with the zmodeler , separating the parts of the object , like the steering wheels and roll cage for instance ? I watched one video somewhere but can't find it .
Thanks in advance

So many details and a huge file!

So, yes, you will have to reduce it with polygon cruncher anyway...

Could you show me the UV Mapping of this cockpit, please? Maybe you can keep some UV's already flattened and remap only the necessary parts?

To separate the entire cockpit into several objects to facilitate the mapping process:

First, into the Material window, create a new texture (defaut material - copy and rename this new texture as roll cage, for example)

1- Select your entire cockpit, then select Faces mode.
2- Select/ separated and select only the roll cage faces
3- Select Create/ Object/ Detach and click-left on one of your selected faces to detach the roll cage from the cockpit. Rename this object as roll cage.
4- In faces mode, select your roll cage object, Surface/ Mapping/ Assign UV, open the Material window, select the roll cage texture you have created and click on Assign button to assign this texture to your selected object. Then click-left on one of your selected faces.
5- Open Uv Mapping window. Your object will be mapped on the roll cage texture.

The same thing for the other objects of your cockpit (steering wheel/ seat/ inner cockpit, dashboard)

Making several objects from your cockpit will allow you to flatten each parts more easily. You can now work object by object.

Once all the parts of the cockpit have been correctly mapped and flattened as you like, you can remap all the UVs objects on a same texture

Let's say that you want to assign dashboard and seat on a same texture.
you have got a dashboard object and a seat object mapped on 2 differents textures and you want to map seat UV's on the dashboard texture.
1- Put your seat object into faces mode. Then, select / By material and choose your seat texture. The faces of the seat object becomes red.
2- Select Assign/ Mapping and open the Material window select your dashboard texture. Then, click on assign and ok buttons. Finally, click-left on on of your seat faces.
3- Open UV mapping window. You will see only the seat UVs mapped on the dashboard texture. Move the UV's seat out of the square mapping to be sure that the seat UV's are not mapped over the dashboard UVs.

Now, we want to adjust the postion of the seat and dashboard UV's into the square, so:

4- Dashboard and seat objects into Faces mode than, Select/ By material and choose the dashboard texture. You will see that seat and dashboard faces become red, both!
5- Select Assing/ Mapping and click-left on one of your selected faces.
6- Open UV mapping window and now you can see that dashboard and seat UVs both mapped on the dashboard texture
7- Select the UVs mapped on the texture and click on the vertices mode.
8- Now, you can select the seat UVs and adjust them ( move/ scale/ rotate etc..) into the square. The same for the dashboard vertices.


I know that a video would be more explicit but I haven't got the time right now. I hope that you will sort things out with these explanations
there are differents methods to separate your cockpit in differents objects because I guess that your cockpit is mapped on several textures. You can also make differents objects of your cockpit by selecting / By materials from the begining. The method I have described above is to be considered, starting your mapping from scratch.

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2018 02:07PM by Excalibur.

I didn't put textures on this cockpit yet , some of them are not well mapped after the conversion from the mts files and I'm trying to understand why . After your explanation I guess that I'll be able to .
Actually , I already converted one car but noticed that there are many " holes" in the cockpit and in the nose , headlights and so on and just now I realized that the bugs are caused by the cockpit object ( 13000 faces only instead of 73000 as the one above ). See the images below .
My plan is to "clean" the huge cockpit , deleting all the unnecessary stuff and check what gonna happen . If won't work I 'll try to mix pats of both cockpits and only in the last case reduce the polygons and , consequently , the quality of the object .
Well , more explicit than your teachingwould be impossible Arnaud , thanks a lot . Let me read carefully and try to understand all the steps slowly .
Thanks a lot once again












Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2018 03:12PM by rracunis.

Ok, I see.

With the original model, you can use 3dSimEd to purge unecessary faces and vertices to make it lighter (or even with Zmodeler 2)

1- import your cockpit into 3Dsimed
2- Click on tools and Data reports/ Info model: You will see the number of faces and vertices from your cockpit
3-Now, Click Edit on the main menu, then Purge vertices, purge faces, purge objects (use the 3 options)
4- Clik on Tools/ Data reports/ Info model: Your cockpit should be lighter now

Which make a heavy lod is the number of vertices, more than the number of faces. Always remember that your GP4 main lod can't exceed 65534 vertices/ faces or you will see missing faces in game or the game will crash...

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I sorted out all the issues , having reduced the polygons only a bit without decresing the quality of the shape . There is only one remaining issue , the 2 holes on the bonnet which need to be cover . Actually , all front lights , grill etc from the front end should cover these holes but for some reason they are not doing it . Then , I want to cover them creating a small part but I don't know how to create even a small surface like that from the scratch using the zmodeler . Please what I have to do to create these small objects in zmodeler ( like the black bonnet cover in the yellow car below )?








Note below in the gp4builder , how the front end's objects cover the holes of the bonnets , hiding the tarmac under and in front of the car ( works in gp4builder but not ingame )






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 02:47PM by rracunis.

In GP4 Builder all faces are displayed whatever the orientation of the polygons. That's why the front objects are covering the "hole".
But in game and in Zmodeler, orientation is important and if you look at a polygon from its back face, it's transparent.
For track objects you can set a material to be displayed on both faces in game but unfortunately not for a car.
So yes the single way is to add some polygons to fill the "hole".

To add some polys:
select you object and push the vertice button. You will see red dots for the 3 angles of each polygon.
From the menu of the main toolbox:
create..../faces.../single
Create your new polygones by clicking (3 clicks are necessaries to create a single face. one per angle) on the existing vertices (red dots) where you want to add your new face... You could have to add several faces to fill the hole.

From what I see, it could be not easy to access at the right vertices. So use the "User view" view to do the above.

Then you will have to select your new faces, select the appropriate texture and to map them into this texture....

Much easier to do than to explain.... but if I remember well the "help" of Zmodeler explains well how to do...

Hope it helps.





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 04:00PM by gezere.

Hi Ricardio! I am first glad to see that you sorted things out with the carshape

GP4 won't handle backfaces. A surface is single sided. It means that you will see the faces of the surface or not, depending how the surface is oriented.

Example:
1- open Zmodeler and create a surface in front view: Create/ surfaces/ flat
2- now, from your 3D view, you will see your surface from front but move your surface in 3d view and it will disapear when you look at it from the back because your surface is single-sided.

To close the holes, you have 2 choices:
A- To create faces to close the holes from back view
B- To detach the faces from the bonnet if they exist in front view/ to create a copy of your detached faces and to mirror and reorient these faces so that these holes will be closed from inner and outter views in game.

A- How to create faces from an existing object?
1- Select only the main object (or cockpit object)
2- Select vertices mode and create/ Faces/ single
3- Select the back view and create faces to close the holes by making triangles (red dot to red dot, to red dot)
4- Once the hole is covered by the faces created, in faces mode, select the faces you have created and map them on the desired texture.

B- The bonnet hole is single-sided (I see it in front view but not in back view). How to make a copy of the faces and to reorient them so I can see it from front and back?
1- Select your object/ Select faces mode
2- select only the faces which cover the hole in front view.
3- Create / objects/ detach and click-left on one of your selected faces
4- make a copy of your new object (detached faces)
5- Slect your new object. Select the top view and Z axis. Then, select Modify/ Mirror and click on your object. Now select Modify/ Reorient and click on your object.
6- Select your 2 objects, Select Create/ Objects/ Uniteselect and click on one of your object to uniteselect them

Now, you will get your object visible on both sides (front and back)


Edit: Well, it seems that Bernard is writting much more quicker than me!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 04:05PM by Excalibur.

Thanks a lot Arnaud and Bernard or Bernard and Arnaud , very useful the explanation from both of you . I already covered one side , not perfect yet because the view of the holes is not perfect in any view of the zmodeler .
Thank you so much to both of you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2018 07:35PM by rracunis.