UV and texture map dilemma

[Beeavision]

Hey there again more questions as promised. lol By the way pardon my confusion here with all the questions I'm more of a traditional artist then a technical one so bare with me.

Problem 1: After applying "Auto-retopo for per pixel painting" to my voxel object I noticed that any changes I do to the retopology mesh doesn't carry over to the mesh in both the paint and sculpt rooms. For example I went ahead and deleted all the polys on the bottom side of my object in the retopo room so that I could avoid them later when redoing the UV map that was already created for me. This also helps me cut down on the poly count too prior to exporting the model. And speaking of changing out UV's I also noticed that any changes I do to the UV map doesn't seem to effect the texture map at all. Is there something I have to do to update everything when I change something in one room?

Problem 2: After battling with problem no. 1 I figure to start from scratch and go along with using just the "Auto-retopology" command by itself. After the Auto-retopology was done I went ahead once again to delete the polys from the underside of the object followed by creating a UV map in the retopo room which showed up in the preview popup window. Then I went ahead and moved over to the UV room and nothing. No mesh and no UV map. Is there a way to transfer the mesh over to another room without importing/exporting the object?

You see I'm trying to remove polys while updating the UV map so that it carries over to the texture map and final object. If you need screenshots to help visual clarify what I'm doing let me know.

Thanks,

Erik

p.s. I've looked through most of your videos and even read some of the threads here too but I couldn't find a particular scenario that compared with what I was trying to do above. Maybe you do but I guess I haven't seen it yet.

[Psmith]

Erik:

This, indeed, is a tough one to find an answer to - I had the same difficulty, myself.

Here is the underlying secret: The mesh you see in the Retopo Room is just a temporary mesh, (a virtual one, if you will) - and it does not become actual or "real" until you either "Merge" it into the Paint Room, (from Retopo menu), or "Export" it and re-import it into either the Paint Room or the Retopo Room.

After this, it is really "real".

So, do all of your deleting and adding of loops, polygons, etc. before it becomes "real". Once it is real, then move to marking seams for Unwrapping, (while still in Retopo Room) and use the command "Unwrap" when finished. You will then see the preview in both the Retopo Room and the UV Room.

The UV Room is "blind" to the Retopo Room until the Retopo mesh is made "real".

Think of it this way: the Retopo Room is for making topology changes, marking UV seams, unwrapping the mesh for later UV manipulation, and merging, importing and exporting meshes. It's an all-purpose room.

The UV Room, on the other hand, is for manipulating your UV Map - doing things like resizing, repositioning and, otherwise rearranging UV islands, and doing everything you want to do to your UV map prior to exporting it.

Greg Smith

[Psmith]

Erik:

With regard to seeing new Retopology changes, instantly, in the Sculpt and Paint Rooms - well, you won't.

You'll notice, when in the Sculpt Room, that there is a panel called "Objects". This lists the "real" meshes that you can actually paint on, immediately. If you delete these, then your Paint Room object also is deleted and vanishes. The 2 rooms are "synced" together.

To make a mesh available for Painting and Sculpting, (Paint Room & Sculpt Room), you need to "Merge", (from Retopo menu), the temporary, transient, unreal Retopo mesh, (with all new changes), into the Paint Room first, (which also adds the mesh to the "Objects" panel in the Sculpt Room).

You can, by the way, have a bunch of different Sculpt Room "Objects", (which you can hide or show), to try them out for texturing in various ways, (microvertex, per pixel, Ptex) - and each one of these can be made from a different topological layout, (different versions made in the Retopo Room). Just highlight the one you want to work on in the Paint Room, and hide the others.

Clear as mud, I know.

Greg Smith

[Beeavision]

Thanks for explaining all this to me. I wasn't sure if I was loosing my mind or something. I've been using Modo and Lightwave for some time now and never had to worry about merging anything prior to moving into the next tab/room. I guess its just a matter of getting use to. lol Thanks again for your quick reply.