[Solved] Load UV Map After Model Changes

[riuthamus]

So, here is what happened:

 

1) Created the model and loaded it to 3dCoat for uv mapping. After marking seems on most of the object I noticed I had some duplicate mesh stuff going on. I saved the UV map with the Save button in the UV room.

2) Went into Maya and fixed the error by deleting some faces.

3) Started a new 3d project and imported the mesh again.

4) Went into the UV room and used the load button, chose my UV map I had saved

5) When it loaded all seemed to be good and life was happy. Until, I noticed that it loaded the old model with the duplicate geo.

 

So, here is my question:

 

Am I able to get the previous Seem work from the old model onto the fixed model? There is about 30 - 50 min of work in that and wanted to try and not redo that process if possible. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[AbnRanger]

Go to the RETOPO Room (to do our Mesh Editing) > from the RETOPO Menu, choose "Use VISIBLE Paint Obejct as Retopo." This will bring the object into the Retopo room for mesh and even UV repairs/modifications. Clear any duplicate meshes > check to see if the UV's are good to go in the Retopo Room (has a mirrored set of UV tools and no need to click APPLY UV CHANGES like you do in UV room).

 

If everything is kosher in Retopo room, you can get the modified mesh back into the Paint Workspace one of two ways:

 

1) Go back into the Paint Workspace and delete the problem meshes (so we don't have duplicates) from the Paint Objects or Surface Materials panels. Once you do this, at the bottom of the (Paint) layer panel, the last icon on the right will clear any unused paint layers. This is all a house cleaning measure.

 

Now we are ready to merge the modified mesh to the Paint room. Go to the BAKE Menu and choose "RETOPO to Per Pixel Painting (no bake)." This sends a copy of the mesh directly to the Paint Room, and you should be good to go.

 

2) Rather than house-cleaning then merging, you can just replace the mesh in the Paint room. Go to the RETOPO Menu > EXPORT. Then go to the Paint Room > FILE Menu > IMPORT > REPLACE GEOMETRY.

 

Hope either one of these helps.

[digman]

Here is some added information as well... It appears all you desire is to create seams, not adjust a model with a uv set already created. 

AbnRanger's method is good and very valid on your current problem. The method I give starts with a clean mesh, so for future work it could be a better option that going to the uv room first... This depends upon your workflow of course...

 

You are not fully understanding the function of the Save and Load functions in the UV-Room... Look at the picture with the tool-tips and you will understand the reasons for the errors you are having. The save function here is mainly for keeping your uv seams selections in a special file... Notice the special extension "UV" and is not a regular obj file..

 

You are simply reloading the error file again, 3DC had saved it...

 

There is a better workflow for creating seams for models that do not have a uv-set.

 

The method uses the retopo room instead instead of the UV Room. The UV room is good for adjusting a model that already has a uv set and textures. Say you need a better uv-seam layout. You create your new uv seam layout and save that layout, it is updated in the Paintroom and the textures are transferred to the new uv set without destroying them. Special care though has to be taken if there is normal map information with the model in how you rearrange your uvset but that is not the topic of this post.

 

The below works best for creating a uv-set for a model that has no prior uv set creation. In this method, make sure your model has no errors.

 

Use the Preform Retopology under the New Menu... Look at the 4 ways of importing the mesh closely. One of the top two are the best in this case.

Next go to the Retopo room, Import your mesh using the import function under the Retopo Menu. Choose no on snapping the retopo mesh, there is no need of doing that in this case.

Create your seams and unwrap. Side Note--- if you have errors in the mesh, yes you will have remove the error mesh from the retopo room and re-import the corrected one. You of course will lose your former seam selections. 3DC assumes you have a clean mesh to start with.

Export.

Done. 

Edited November 29, 2015 by digman

[Michaelgdrs]

Exactly that , i personally use the second method (especially when i work with second software) in order to re send back to Paint room.

[riuthamus]

Thank you for the help. I know that the save function is not working as I wanted, I was hoping to find something that would. And it seems you guys have provided that :P