Texturing a Volk rim in 3DS Max 2012 (Part 3)

Andrei Cornea · 18 May 2012

Hi again and welcome to the second chapter. I am C. Andrei and in this part I will show you how to add some layers on the rim (like the mark of the rim, or whatever you want). But I will tell you something before, I have made the unwrapping in 3DS Max 2010, because the Unwrap Editor is very laggy and if you want to do it in 3DS Max 2010, do like this : When you will save your rim, at the bottom you have the format, and if you will click on the dropdown button, you will see that you have a format for 3ds max 2011. So, open the file with the rim that we have made before. And let’s start :

Step 1

Having the rim selected, go to the modifier list and pick up the modifier called "Unwrap UVW” .

Step 2

Then, open the dropdown list from the "Unwrap UVW” modifier, choose face and press ctrl+A to select all the polygons.

Step 3

Having all those polygons selected, press the "edit” button from the modifier menu, and you should see this window:

Step 4

We cannot texture the rim right now, because we don’t know what face we need to texture, everything is a mess . We will start by going to mapping > flatten mapping, press OK , and you should have this :

Step 5

All I want to do is to texture the spokes and to add the volk logo in the middle. Select everything from that square in the Edit UVWs window and drag them out.

Step 6

Now, using the viewport (and stay in the Unwrap UV modifier), select the polygons from the spokes and the middle of the rim.

Step 7

Go to the Edit UV window and the go to Mapping > Normal Mapping > Pick up "Top/Bottom” from the dropdown list and press ok . You will end with something like this :

Step 8

Since on the rear of the spokes we will have a single color, you can make that part smaller. You can select the polygons from the back of the spokes and scale them down and after that , make the face of the rim bigger because we will apply a texture on it. The parts which will have a single color should be a little bit smaller to make some space for the parts which will be textured.

Step 9

Before reading this step, pull out from that square what we have made until now (the spokes) because when you will mapping again, it will placed over (see the first image) . The other part which I want to make it the same color as the spokes, is the middle of the rim . So, you need to do the same process. Select , and Mapping > flatter mapping (or another kind of mapping, you can play a little bit with the setting to see how it works.

Step 10

Now, instead of search every polygon in the viewport, for the rest of the polygons (which practically is the exterior of the rim, you can use the "Edit UVW’s” window . Select them all, the go to mapping, pick a mapping type and then scale the down, because it will be a single color. (By the way. If you want to add some texture on some different parts of the rim, you can do the same process that we have made for the parts. Select the part that you want to texture it , go to mapping , etc.) After you have finished with the other parts , put everything back into the texturing square . Below is what I have made

Step 11

Go to Tools > Render UV template. A tiny window will appear. At Width and Height it will be the resolution of the texture . If the resolution will be higher, the quality of the texture will be better. I will use 2048x2048 because if sometimes I will need it with a lower resolution, I will decrease it. Do the same settings as below:

Step 12

Press the "render uv template” button and then you will have the image that you can texture . Save it , and name it how you want.

Step 13

Save what we have done until now, because we will use another software to create the texture. I will use Photoshop CS3 but you can use what image editing software you want. So, open the image , and replace the grey colors with your color and texture . In the right lower corner I have the exterior of the rim. I will make it black, and the spokes and the interior will have a green color.

Step 14

Now I will add the logo. Search on google for some logo images and import it to photoshop and apply it on our wheel

Step 15

Now go to 3DS Max, pick a material and at the diffuse slot, click on the small square > choose bitmap and pick your texture. Then apply it to the wheel.

Step 16

Play a little bit with the material setting to obtain a glossy look and then render it . Here ar some of my results :