Texture Mapping Spheres

[danf]

After very carefully placing the second decal, I realized that my targa file somehow did not keep the transparency mask I made for it in photoshop, so the "transparent" mapped white over my previous decal.

 

I have a feeling the answer might lie in the "spherical" decal application method, but since I don't know how that works, I figure it can be part of the same question if it's the answer.

[heyvern]

There is an ancient topic somewhere on the forum. Most likely in the archives about modeling a soccer ball. As I recall the author of the post included the model. You may want to try and search the forum.

 

Decaling spheres like that is tricky due to the "pinching" at the top and bottom. I don't know what is going on with your decal and the transparency. If you did save out of photoshop as a targa with an alpha make sure it is as "32 bit" and not "24 bit". 32 bit includes the alpha. Sometimes, at least in my old version of photoshop, it defaults to 24 bit and when I hit okay there is no alpha channel included.

 

-vern

[danf]

That could well be it, I did 24 bit- off to try!

[danf]

Nope, 32 bit didn't do it either. I'll mess with it later, thanks for the ideas.

[robcat2075]

How to preserve Photoshop transparency when making decals...

 

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...st&p=241122

[danf]

That taught me a lot about how alpha channels work.

 

BTW- I could save a lot of time if there were a way to rotate a decal that I'm applying, while in the applying mode. Is there such a way?

[robcat2075]

BTW- I could save a lot of time if there were a way to rotate a decal that I'm applying, while in the applying mode. Is there such a way?

 

No, but you can (T)urn the model to other angles. use CTRL for for rotation around the screen z axis. then apply the decal.

 

You can also create a pose for the model, turn the model and apply the decal in the pose.

[John Bigboote]

I once modeled a baseball... I thought -'this should be easy'...WRONG!

[robcat2075]

if you "spherical" apply the map at

 

http://flickr.com/photos/87849770@N00/2572996930

 

 

 

 

you can get the new 2008 ball

 

 

 

but I haven't found an equivalent classic soccer ball map. There ought to be one out there.

 

 

EDIT: here is the actual Creative Commons License image in case the above link goes dead:

 

[nimblepix]

Soccerball.mdl

 

Here's an old soccer ball that someone made.

[danf]

That's incredible, Nimblepix! You're my hero! Now to scuff this thing up...

[johnl3d]

this is probably the source http://www.ypoart.com/Downloads.htm

 

searching the forum works

[Rodney]

Thought I should add this to the mix as most people don't know about this tutorial.

The classic tutorial on modeling a soccer ball surely must be the video by Alain Desrochers (Alweb here in the forum).

The video itself (one from Hash Inc's SIGGRAPH videos) is hard to find as its out of circulation but the tutorial is still online.

 

Modeling a Soccer Ball - by Alain Desrochers

 

It makes for a pretty good modeling exercise.

[NancyGormezano]

BTW- I could save a lot of time if there were a way to rotate a decal that I'm applying, while in the applying mode. Is there such a way?

 

3d painter has the capability of applying a bitmap - that allows scaling, rotating and distorting an image before applying from any view - It will probably not help you with making a soccer ball - but it is good to know, as it's quite a handy feature