so here’s another one for ya… so im currently making a weapon model, and its made of many parts.... now, The front part of the gun is suppose to have holes in it, and creating actual holes (they dont go through to the other side, so think “foxholes” instead of “tunnels") will consume ALOT of tri’s, so the mod leader said that im to apply seperate skins, 1 to the gun, and 1 to the front part of the gun (when i said “1 to the gun” i meant “the gun but without the front part"). like i said, its made of many parts, so 2 questions, 1st do i make the gun into a single mesh? and 2nd, How to make multiple projections, cause if its a single mesh, i dont know how to seperate it..... Thx in advance.

You can keep it a single mesh, and use clusters to split it into two materials.

thats a small answer… where are the screenshots? QQ! kidding, thx mate.

Ok so i created 2 clusters, 1 for the front and 1 for the gun, now how do i apply a texture just to 1 cluster? i tried selecting the cluster, then adding a texture, selecting uv map, and when i go to textured view i see a texture just on that cluster BUT when i open texture editor, i see the uv map for the entire gun.... is it just a visual mislead? or am i doing something wrong?

EDIT: And in the… in the… explorer! i see the 2 cluster icons and the texture projection icon is outside the clusters… dunno but i think it may be related....

The UV’s are going to be in the same 1:1 space, the trick is that each cluster has a different material so they are going to be looking at different textures. Just select a cluster in the explorer (name them before things get confusing), and apply a new material to the selected cluster. Then you can give it it’s own texture (you’ll have to select the cluster and then open the render tree, or find the cluster in the explorer and open it’s material there).

You should also only need 1 cluster, but no harm should come from using two.

So, i applied new materials to the clusters (i went to materials, created 2 new materials (apple thingies), and in the mini render tree, i moused over the phong and pressed the “e” and selected a color for it, (blue color, both of them).... Now how do i go from here:

To adding a texture? is it just the normal routine? (Create>textures>add-image>select projection)

To adding a texture? is it just the normal routine? (Create>textures>add-image>select projection)

Yup. Make sure you have the cluster selected first though.

Ok i found out how to navigate between the clusters, thx… But another question, what do i do with the un-needed uv map of each cluster? (front part cluster doesnt need the body uv map, but i cant delete it… what to do with it?)

heh, im bugging the heck out of you aren’t I? so i have this question, i made the uv map and all (same weapon model) and now, we wanna cut down the tri’s by deleting some faces and putting new objects in their places, but adding objects isnt good i guess and so i wanna merge them (polymesh)… my question is how do i transfer the uv map from the old polymesh to the new polymesh with the added objects.... i really dont want to re-do it completely so is there any way? thanks in advance....

what do i do with the un-needed uv map of each cluster? (front part cluster doesnt need the body uv map, but i cant delete it… what to do with it?)

Just leave it where it is. It’s all one uv map, but the clusters’ materials will make sure the proper faces show the right texture.
(For texture-stamping purposes, you may have to duplcate the model a few times so that each cluster exists as a seperate mesh and use those for the stamp, this way you’ll only see the UVs you need to work with for that material).


For merging, unwrap the new objects first and make sure their UVs are out of the way (unless you plan on giving them a new material as well). When you merge the object, there should be an option to merge the UVs and materials as well.

Thx man, you da best!