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I have created a rigged 3D model, and it starts with nothing but white. I wonder how to color the model.

I did try painting it directly in Blender and did not like the results. There were spots I couldn't get to make my model blink.

I also tried unwrapping the mesh, painting it in an external program, and "wrapping" the new painted texture around it. The results were much better.

Am I on the right track? What can I do to improve the resulting model? What other options do I have? I want the model to be 100% done, to be used in an external game engine, so that I can start with the programming.

CodeManX
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luigi
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  • I also did something involving seams to (UV wrap?) and export to an outside program, color and import back. I don't know what it's called but I know how to do it, probably without looking at any tutorials, I remember it pretty well. What are the advantages to this way. – luigi May 01 '14 at 22:55
  • Are you just making it a solid color? Or do you want to paint a texture? – gandalf3 May 01 '14 at 22:57
  • Related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/q/4871/599 – gandalf3 May 02 '14 at 00:53
  • I want it done 100% ready to go. I want it ready to import into Unity with no more work required other than coding. – luigi May 06 '14 at 21:17
  • UV un wrapping seems to to me to be what you are looking for. It is a way to define a map of the surface of your 3D model in 2D, which can then be used to map an image. – gandalf3 May 06 '14 at 21:26
  • Thanks gandalf. Although I know uv unwrapping isn't the only way to add color to a model I'll assume that it is the best way – luigi May 07 '14 at 01:37
  • AFAIK it's the most common way to texture objects for game assets. – gandalf3 May 07 '14 at 01:50
  • Ok thanks man. It's just that when I see tuts and stuff they do different things so you're never sure which is the right way. Gonna make another model today and use that same method and check how it looks in Unity – luigi May 07 '14 at 01:56

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From your supplemental comment, you seem to be creating game content for the Unity game engine, which will limit the set of possible answers, but the answer will still depend upon what kind of content you are making. Inorganic content--vehicles, metal objects, and painted surfaces, may be better colored by defining the color properties of the material. Organic content--living things (even imaginary ones)--and complex items like highly detailed structures may be best done with an image texture mapped to the surface of the model using UV unwrapping.

If you've got some modeling experience, I'd suggest Ben Simonds' book, Blender Master Class, where he discusses a wide range of coloring techniques for various kinds of elements, organic, and inorganic.

ns

brasshat
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