uv mapping a jagged cliff

[heaveninarms]

hey guys, im just about finished modeling the coral reef base for my underwater scene, and now im looking for some good suggestions on how to texture it. the reef model looks like a jagged cliff face with rocky outcroppings, so it will have to be a uv texture because the surface is uneven. i have the image i want to use ready, but the tutorials i have found so far on uv texturing do not explain well enough how to texture these kinds of complex models without it looking distorted or having seams. the reef is a sub-d object. can anyone point me in the right direction, or know of any helpful tutorials? thanks!

[heaveninarms]

heres one of the reef bases

[mlinde]

Originally posted by heaveninarms
...so it will have to be a uv texture because the surface is uneven.

I don't know why it has to be a UV texture. Why can't you use procedurals to surface your coral reef? Procedurals don't require mapping like an image, and (with enough time and effort) can look amazing.

[Triple G]

I'm with mlinde here....I would give serious consideration to using procedurals instead of a UV map. You can set up different weight maps which you can use as alphas to apply textures only in certain areas; you can use procedurals themselves as alphas, texture displacement layers, etc. There's a world of options available, and with a little bit of effort, I think procedurals would be the best way to tackle surfacing this particular object.

[drclare]

Plus with procedurals you won't have to worry about any seams.

[paintboy]

you can map something like this, but your going to have to break it up
into different sections. and deal with each section individually.
there is a great tut. on menis site on how to use morps to flatten
whacky shape like this, lots work but the results are worth it.

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/LightwaveTuts/LWTutSet.html
http://www.menithings.com/main.php?action=how
if this is just the rock base(pink and purple coraline) you could use
procedurals but to get it to look good thats gonna take some work too,
to avoid the repetition.

just as a side , you might want to get some reef reference, this is kinda
unatural looking(like a sheet over a picnic table?)you can also go to a good aquarium shop and look at some "live rock"

[heaveninarms]

thanks for the input everyone, it looks like i have a few options to get decent results. i will deffintly check out those links paintboy, and whichever technique ends up working out maybe i'll post the results, thanks everyone

[heaveninarms]

here is the texture i will either uv map or replicate with procedurals, just so you guys know what im talking about