Creating a Low Poly Medieval House in Blender: Part 2

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

Marking the Seams and Unwrapping the Model

Step 1

The seams are the lines from where the mesh gets unstitched to unwrap it onto the UV Editor, for further texturing and painting.

If you are in Object mode, select the house with right-click and press Tab to enter edit mode. Select Vertex or Edge mode from the toolbar or press Ctrl-Tab to select.

Select edge select mode — Enter edit mode

Step 2

Select any edge or point of the main building, by right-clicking on it and pressing Ctrl-L to select all connected edges—only that mesh. Press Shift-H to hide rest of the mesh.

Step 3

Press A on the keyboard to deselect all. Hold Shift and then right-click on the edges where the roof starts, one by one, to select them all.

Hold Shift and right-click on the center edges as shown in the image from both front and back.

Step 4

Press Ctrl-E to bring out the Edges menu and click on Mark Seams. The selected edges turns red.

I have marked the seams such way that the roof gets completely separated. To test this, switch to Face select mode. Move the mouse over the roof and press L.

All the faces separated by the seam are now selected. If the whole mesh got selected, then you might have missed some edge to mark seam.

Step 5

Switch back to Edge-select mode. Hold Shift and then right-clickon the side edges of the house as shown in the image. Press Ctrl-E and click on mark seams.

Step 6

Drag the 3D view from the corner to split it into two.

Click on the Editor Type button and select UV/Image editor.

Step 7

Now select all faces by pressing A key, as you need to unwrap the whole, visible, mesh.

Press U to bring out the UV Mapping menu and click on Unwrap. The selected faces are unwrapped in the UV Editor.

Step 8

In the UV Editor, adjust the points to give the packs or UV islands a neat and tidy shape. The commands in the UV Editor are same -

Hover over any group and press L to select the group
Select any vertex or vertices of the group and press Ctrl-L to select the whole group with connecting vertices
Hold Shift for multiple select
A to deselect / Select all
W to bring out the weld/Align menu

Here are other commands for the UV editor, though they are same as the editing commands in 3D view.

G to move
R to Rotate
S to scale
Mouse wheel to Zoom in/out
Shift-Middle mouse button and drag to Pan

To maximize the UV Editor, move the mouse over the UV Editor and press Ctrl-Up Arrow. Press Ctrl-Up arrow to toggle back.

Step 9

In the UV editor, press A to select all vertices. Press G and move them away from the grid plane.

I did this because the UV mesh of all mesh will land here and would overlap each other. So to avoid this move them from the default position.

Step 10

In the 3D view, press Alt-H to reveal all hidden vertices and mesh
Press A to deselect everything. Select the side part of the building as it is a separate mesh
Ensure you're in the Edge-select mode. Move the mouse over to any edge and press L to select all connected edges
Press Shift-H to hide all the unselected mesh

Step 11

Similar to the main building, mark seams at the edge of the roof and this time, two at the bottom. Right click to select edge and Ctrl-E to mark seams.

Select all of the mesh with A key and then press U and select unwrap. Check the seams and try different edges for seams to unwrap well.

If you didn't delete the back face, ensure you do it before unwrapping

Step 12

In the UV editor, press A to select all. Press G and move to another area so that they don't overlap with previous or next unwrapped data.

Move the selected mesh away from the center

Step 13

Press Alt-H to reveal the hidden mesh. Press A to deselect all. Select only the planks created all around the main building. If you are in Edge-select mode, hover the mouse over the edge of any of the plank and press L to select it. Repeat this to select all.

Step 14

With all the planks selected, press U and click on unwrap. Since I've deleted the faces at the back of the planks, I don't need to mark the seam.

If you didn't delete the face then you have to create seams so that they get unwrapped nicely.

Step 15

In the UV Editor press A key to select all vertices. Press G and move them away from the main grid.

Step 16

Press A to deselect everything. Right-click on the edge of the balcony and press Ctrl-L to select all vertices connected. Press Shift-H to hide unselected mesh.

Step 17

Hold Shift and then right-click on the edges as shown in the image to select them. Press Ctrl-E and mark them as seams.

Step 18

Press A to select all vertices/edges. Press U to bring out the UV Mapping menu and click on Unwrap.

Step 19

Select and adjust the vertices in the UV Editor. The commands are written in step 8. Press W in the UV Editor to bring out the align menu. Choose according to your needs.

Select all vertices with A key and move it away from the main grid with G key.

Step 20

Press Alt-H to reveal the hidden mesh. Select only the window and press Shift-H to hide rest.

Select the window mesh and hide the rest — Select the window and hide the rest

Step 21

Mark seams as shown in the image. You have to practice a lot on where to mark seams. Experiment with different edges and unwrap them to see different results. Ensure all the faces which are not needed are deleted.

Step 22

Select all edges of the window with A key. Press U to bring the UV Mapping menu and click on Unwrap.

Step 23

Select all vertices in the UV Editor with A key and move it away from the main grid. Use S key to scale them down.

Do the same for the second window of the ground floor.

Step 24

Similarly mark seams in the front sign board.

Step 25

Select all of the vertices with A key and press U and select Unwrap.

Select all vertices in the UV Editor and move it away from the main grid. Scale them down with S key.

In the 3D view press Alt-H to reveal all parts.

Move the unwrapped vertices away from the center grid

Step 26

Press A to deselect everything. Select all the beams and columns by moving the mouse over the edge and pressing L key.

Press Shift-H to hide all the unselected part.

Step 27

Mark seams as shown in the image. Right-click to select any edge and then Ctrl-E to bring out the edge menu to Mark Seam.

Select the side edge of the support as shown below and mark it as seam.

Make sure the faces which are not needed are deleted.

Step 28

In the 3D view press A to select all. Press U to bring the UV Mapping menu and click on Unwrap to unwrap them.

Step 29

With those vertices selected, move them away from the main grid with G key.

Step 30

In the 3D view press Alt-H to reveal the hidden parts. Select the door frame and hide the rest of the mesh.

Step 31

I will unwrap it differently. Pres Ctrl-1 to get into back view. With the door frame selected, press U and select Project from view.

Step 32

Select the outer vertices by moving the mouse over the edge and press Alt-right-click. Press S and scale it out a bit.

Similarly select the bottom most edge loop and scale it out so that it doesn't overlap on any other edge loop. Adjust the vertices to give a neat look.

Step 33

Press Alt-H to reveal the hidden mesh. Press A to deselect everything. Move the mouse over the edge of the stairway and press L key to select connected edges.

Press U and select Unwrap.

Step 34

Press A to deselect all. Select the front stairway and press Shift-H to hide rest.

Select the front stairs and hide the rest

Step 35

Select the edges as shown—hold Shift and then right click on the edges for multiple selection—and then press Ctrl-E and select Mark Seam.

Step 36

Press A to select all edges and then press U and click on Unwrap.

Step 37

With the UVs selected, press G and move it away from the main grid area.

Move the selected vertices away from the grid

Step 38

Press Alt-H to reveal the hidden area. Press A to deselect all. Now select only the front part and press Shift-H.

Step 39

Select the edges and mark them as seams.

Step 40

Press A to select all and press U and click on Unwrap.

Step 41

Similarly mark seams on the upper part and unwrap it.

Step 42

For the chimney too, mark the side edge loop as seam and then Unwrap it. Straighten up and align the vertices properly in the UV Editor.

Step 43

Press Alt-H to reveal all parts of the mesh. Press A to select all to see all the unwrapped data in the UV Editor.

Step 44

Arrange all the island groups such that it fits neatly inside the grid. Here are the commands.

The commands in the UV Editor are same:

Hover over any group and press L to select the group
Select any vertex or vertices of the group and press Ctrl-L to select the whole group with connecting vertices
Hold Shift for multiple select
A to deselect/Select-all
W to bring out the weld/Align menu

Here are other commands for the UV editor, though they are same as the editing commands in 3D view.

G to move
R to Rotate
S to scale
Mouse wheel to Zoom in/out
Shift-Middle mouse button and drag to Pan

To maximize the UV Editor, move the mouse over the UV Editor and press Ctrl-up Arrow. Press Ctrl-up arrow to toggle back.

Texturing and Painting

Step 1

In the UV Editor click on New Image.

I'll use the default dimensions of 1024x1024.

Step 2

In the 3D view, press Tab again to exit edit mode, and add a plane below the model. This plane will prevent light to come from down, and help achieve nicer shades while baking the AO data (in the next step).

You can skip baking the Ambient Occlusion if you want to use the dynamic lighting of the game engine, for which you are creating the model.

Step 3

I will bake the Ambient Occlusion data onto the image. This will add shadow information to the image, giving a nice effect. Click on theWorld button on the Properties panel.

Tick the Ambient Occlusion check box in the panel, and input the value of Samples to 10 or more.

Open up the Render panel in the property window. Scroll Down to Bake Panel. Select Bake mode to Ambient Occlusion.

Increase the Margin to 10px, and finally hit the Bake button. In few seconds, and the image will be updated.

In the 3D View, Press Alt-Z to view the model with textured applied. Use Alt-Z again to toggle back to shaded view.

Step 4

Save the image, preferably in .png format.

Step 5

With the model selected, Press TAB to enter into edit mode. Select all vertices with A key. In the UV Editor, click on the UVs menu and select Export UV Layout.

Select the .png format and decrease the Fill Opacity to 0.00.

Step 6

Open the image with Baked AO data, in your favorite image editor.

In a new layer on top, put the UV Layout you exported.

Step 7

Create a new layer in between the Wire and AO layer. This will be the layer on which you can paint the texture. You can create more layers for painting but keep them between the Wire and AO Layers.

Step 8

Paint the texture with the Wire frame as guidelines. Set the paint layer to Multiply or hard light or overlay. You can experiment with the transparency levels. You will see that the AO layer automatically gives nice shades to the texture overall.

Paste some seamless textures for stone wall and roof top in different layers and set them to multiply or overlay. You can adjust the brightness and contrast of the AO layer. Save the image in .psd format. Turn off the layer visibility for the Wire layer and export it to .png format.

Texture painting in layers — Texture painting

Step 9

Get back to Blender. In the edit mode, with all the vertices selected, open your exported .png image, in the UV Editor.

If you don't see the texture on the model in the 3D view, Press Alt-Z to enable Texture View Mode.

Step 10

In the Materials panel, reduce the specular intensity to zero. Scroll down toOptions, and check Face Textures. You can also make the material shadeless by checking the shadeless tick box under the Shading panel. Save the file.

Step 11

Press Tab if you are still in the edit mode. The model is now ready for export or use within Blender.