BLENDER & SUBSTANCE PAINTER: USING UDIMS FOR MULTIPLE PANEL TEXTURING (PART 1)
30I am somewhat starting again on the KURSK SUBMARINE panels. I've kept the modeling from what I have been calling Device 2 (but removed the textures) and gone on and modeled 3 additional panels and put everything together in one scene. Many of the knobs and buttons have been copied from the old Device 2 (panel 2, here) to the other panels so there is some consistency in the modeling. Fortunately, these were already marked with seams, ready to be unwrapped.
So with everything modeled (and some hidden such as the glass for the radar screen and dials), in this video I explore the use of UDIMS (UV tiles) to increase the resolution of the textures I will apply to the various objects. I create a number of additional UV tiles, unwrap the objects and place them where I want them on the UV tiles. When I run out of tiles, I create more, until everything has it's place on a UV tile. Then I export the entire model (with the 4 panels, knobs, buttons, bolts, etc.) as one FBX and bring that into Substance Painter.
In Substance Painter, I make sure to enable the "use UV tile workflow" and bake the mesh maps at 2K. I realize that I missed unwrapping the ends of the handles on the radar screen panel (Panel 3) so will have to fix that later. I add a smart material that I created after texturing Device 2 and apply it to the model and it nicely covers each panel. Now it looks consistent rather than texturing each panel separately in an individual file. I add indents for the bolts using colour and height and do the same for the various knobs on each panel. This will look better when more dirt is added to the button material layer. And finally, I add an indent in each bolt to simulate where the screwdriver would be inserted. This will also look better with some dirt.
There is still a lot of texturing to do: overall materials, emissives, text, alphas ... but I'm hoping it will go smoothly in the coming video(s).
So, is THIS the way to go for models like this? Should I have used trim sheets or another method? I'm not sure yet. I know methods like this have been used in big studios for VFX and I guess this is my first rather large experiment using UDIMS. I've used them on smaller, more compact models before to increase resolution where I need it and it has worked great but I haven't had to use as many UV tiles. We will see what the process is like back in Blender to get all the textures set up.
Thanks for watching and come on back to see how this experiment progresses and finishes.
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Watch all videos in the KURSK SUBMARINE series
Part 1: https://youtu.be/wVOKxPudtcA (Device 1)
Part 2: https://youtu.be/e1725rQdPAY (Device 1)
Part 3: https://youtu.be/_nvnZZW515Y (Device 2)
Part 4: https://youtu.be/uX_acTGV-8M (Device 2)
Part 5: https://youtu.be/XFc-Vu4lEFU (Device 2)
Part 6: https://youtu.be/e_eJnWG6dh8 (Using UDIMS For Multiple Panel Texturing: Part 1)
Part 7: https://youtu.be/yY7mHbr8Q28 (Using UDIMS For Multiple Panel Texturing: Part 2)
Part 8: https://youtu.be/HAguxdXTOVQ (Using UDIMS For Multiple Panel Texturing: Part 3)
Part 9: https://youtu.be/tDO6D6N6f10 (Using UDIMS For Multiple Panel Texturing: Part 4)
#blenderbeginner #blendermodeling #UDIMS