This post is going to be commenting on the 'Unwrap UVW' tool that I am using to add textures to my model. I could just add textures onto the model, however the body makes up most of the ship and adding the texture to the body would make the ship look near enough all the same which is not what I want.
So firstly we need to add the 'Unwrap UVW' tool to the model which is under the modifier tab. From there you need to select faces, this is so that when you select the shapes in the UVW editor you select the faces of the model which is more precis rather than select multiple sections of the ship.
Once you have completed these steps we need to edit the model, which is done by clicking edit under the parameters of the UVW editor. Then a new window will open, which to start with some of the settings need to be changed otherwise it looks very confusing. First of all you need to select 'flatten mapping' from the 'mapping tab', this will show all the parts of the model so that you know exactly what part of the model you are adjusting. Also depending on personal preference you can take the chequered background off by clicking the small 3D cube along the top of the window.
This is an image of my model once I had changed the settings to the ones mentioned above.
When you have gotten this fair some of the objects of the model might need to be welded together, you can tell which parts need welding because when you click on a face of an object the line that the object is meant to be joined by changes blue, which is a big give away. To do this you need to select the object and place it next to the object that are being welded together and choose tools, then weld selected, this joins the two object together and will allow you to have more room within the square at the end.
This image shows how selecting one of the faces of the model, and how the line that the object is meant to be connected to turns blue.
In order to save some valuable time if you have two objects that are the same, for example the sides of the ship should be indentical, and instead of adding two seperate textures and saving valuable space you can copy and paste the two objects onto of each other. This will turn the object into one object but the objects are on top of each other, so that when you add the texture it is identical and you don't have to worry about matching the textures up prefectly.
Once you are happy with your modifications to the model then you need to place all the objects that will need textures adding into the small square. If they don't all fit all you need to do is scale down the objects, but don't worry this wont affect the texture but it does help to have the objects near enough the same size.
This is my finalised model within the square ready to add textures too. If you don't need some of your faces of your model textured then you can leave them outside the box, for example the bottom of the ship which no one is going to see during the animation.
Once you have finished adding the finishing touches and have fitted your model within the square you need to save it as an image ready to import into Adobe Photoshop. When you first import the image into Photoshop it will be a blank canvous.
This is the blank canvous that you will first see when you import your UVW Map into Photoshop, however all you need to do to fix this is add a new layer and fill it black.
Once you have done this you need to add another new layer on which you will be adding the textures too, which once you have done this you need to save this as another image, but jpeg would be preferred as it is a better format and better quality. After you have done this you can then find the file within the material editor and add the new textures to your model.
