Driving Simulator Graphics

[yoko]

Hello,

This is going to be a stupid post for a lot of you so feel free to ignore it. I am doing a research project using a driving simulator and I have to edit one of the speed signs. Keep in mind I had no previous knowledge of 3-d graphics prior to a few days ago.

The graphic is a .3ds file and apparantly (I have learned) there is a jpg associated with it, possibly called a texture.

Basically what I need to do is change the "texture" so that the speed sign reads something different. I will need to have a a new .3ds file and a new "jpg" file. So I've done this but I think I need to associate the texture with that particular file because the new file is using the old JPG "texture". So basically I have a new file but the old sign is still coming up.

I have downloaded "Blender" and can open the 3ds file but can't figure out how to change the texture.

Any pointers?

Thanks,
John S

[jamesmc]

Not a stupid question at all, there are no stupid questions here.

3D graphics is hard to get a handle on because we are not used to it.

What you want to do is change the texture and perhaps lettering on the sign?

Texture mapping in 3D space is often called UVMapping. Don't worry about what UV means for now.

The example I will show is from a cube.

Basically, a UV map is a 3D shape all stretched out so it can be textured.

Below is an example of a UV Map in 3D space. What you do is use the resident UV mapper and export that map so it can be painted.

The UVMAP will look like what is on the left in the second picture. The painted map is on the right.

You can see the results in the first picture.

UVmapping is harder the more complicated the image is and is why complicated items are named and done in layers. Saves massives headaches

BTW, I don't know Blender so not sure what to tell you using their UVMAPPER. If you can export the 3D object with an OBJ extension, there is a free UVmapper called UVMapper Classic. It has instructions online.

[jamesmc]

Since you are working on a traffic sign, just to show it can be done. This is a license plate I made for a car. It's pretty straight forwared texture mapping.

So, whatever you can do in a 2D painter can be "painted" onto a 3D object.

And the animated cube from the first example so you can see it was painted on all sides.

[Grafixman]

How about simply editing the jpg texture file with a bitmap editor and replacing the original one with it? Save the edited texture with the same name as the original one and run the program again. I don't really know much about programing and such, but I would think that it should work.
UV maps are crazy patchworks, though. So repainting over it would require some skill..