UV Mapping - How to use multiples materials and images for one object

[micheus]

Wings3D force us to use only one material for an object when we UVmap it, even it having many materials assigned before unwrapping.

So, let say you have assigned many materials to your object/model; then you unwrap e create the UVmapped material - there will have only one for the entire object. But, what you wanted were to preserve each material assigned previously to its mesh area. That's what I intend to show in this "tutorial".

As a workaround I use this workflow to get that "fixed":


What I show in the video people can say it's not a real word case, but the process is the same. You just need to add a step I jumped by using pre-build images - after you used the Create Texture button, go to the Outline window, make a copy of the <obj_name>_auv using Duplicate in the context menu and rename it. After that you can assign this image to the initial material (as show in the video).
Everything else stays the same: you make the image external, paint it and refresh inside Wings3D.

Just a tip, in case some one still don't know about:

TIP Wrote:It's a good idea to unwrap the model only after you finished it completely.

After UVMapped, if you continue refining your model you will need to unwrap it again. That is not really a problem - it's boring. Just use the UV Editor for that - in Body selection mode - to fix any mapping distortion and rearrange the mesh position over the image.
Sometimes Remap UV->Stretch Optimization works better and give us less work.

Important: when finish fixing the map do not use Create Texture option - you already have one - just close the UV Editor window