Can anyone help me apply a uv map to an .obj please.I make my own models and uv maps but they are not lineing up properly.

once you make a map from an obj you must save as a new obj or the map will not apply, so all ya do is import the obj to uvmapper giver it a map then save map then save obj and then the map will work seeklight

Yeah, right. I'm quite capable of modelling and UV mapping these days (Cinema4D XL 8.5 and UVMapper Pro). Vue 4.2 still doesn't load my Wavefront OBJ files' UVs properly (even though Poser, Cinema, LightWave, UV Mapper all import them as expected). I was about to leave a new message, but I'll make the comment here: Thanks to all of those who mentioned using a Poser scene file to load ".obj" files properly into Vue with textures and UVs intact. Since I've already created the Poser files for my product, it was only a matter of saving a Poser scene and importing it into Vue. Note that THIS worked (same .obj file was used in Poser as failed in Vue). Moral of the story: Vue d'Esprit 4 (4.2 in my case) is incapable of loading simple Wavefront OBJ UV coordinates (vt). But plop that same OBJ file into Poser, save as a scene, and import into Vue and it is flawless. Go figure? Kuroyume0161

kuroyume0161: There was big problems with UV maps and .obj files in Vue Pro when it was released (fixed in the current update). Maybe some of them also sneaked into Vue 4.2? If I get some time over I could compare how it loads into both apps. If you want me to do that then IM me and I will give you my email adress so that you could send a file that don't work for you. 'save as a scene, and import into Vue and it is flawless. Go figure' Another thing that you could try that whould have you to 'figure' even more if it is succesful, is to import the .obj model into Poser then export back to a new .obj file and try to open it up in Vue. If this works then one really have to Go figure ;)

I'll have to check that Vue Pro is updated then. But the good things about using a Poser scene still stand - all textures and materials are loaded and, in my case, multiple parented objects are properly sized and aligned to each other. Still, will try .obj import again if Vue Pro is in need of an update.

Vue d'Esprit 4 is still incapable of loading simple Wavefront OBJ UV coordinates (vt). I updated Vue Pro but the same problem occurs on various objects in Vue d'Esprit. This also occured in 4.12 (just before updating to 4.2 while working on the current project). Exportation of the object from Poser results in the same mess. But the Poser scene containing the exact same mesh loads with proper UVs. How difficult is it? You have a set of 3D vertices (v) and a matching set of UV vertices (vt). They are correlated in the facets (f) section. There isn't much more to this for polygonal meshes saved in .obj format. Somebody has to fire the guy who wrote the Wavefront OBJ code for Vue and get some that works - it's not that difficult - I've done it in several programming languages. It's obvious that the Poser scene loading code that they purchased has working routines to handle this. ???

I've run into the .obj import mess several times before. If I recall correctly, I was able to fix the problem by setting the Y-scale of the picture map to -1. I think this problem is actually an old problem, that was supposed to have been fixed during a recent patch. :

ok thanks for the help I"ll try out these and see if they work

ok just tryed the last thing (y scale-1) and it worked!

Well, I have the latest patches for both Vue d'Esprit and Vue Pro - just installed both yesterday. It is hoped that they fix this minor oversight in the next patch, maybe, please... Thanks, sittingblue! Sorry for venting, but this stuff is "academic" as they say. There's no mystery to this - it's an open interchange format that's been around for at least ten years. Of course, Cinema 4D still can't figure out how to avoid the "reordering vertices" problem which causes morph creation problems on imported base geometry. What we need is a universal interchange format which includes features for geometry, UVs, normals, morphs, bones, textures, maybe rudimentary procedural materials, possibly NURB or other primitive support. But, it needs a convening committee to enforce compliance in apps that use it and controls the specs (rather than one company or small group). When will these companies realize that most of us, professionals or hobbyists, utilize many applications towards our 3D CG ends. Sheesh, I use UVMapper, Cinema4D, LightWave, Poser 4/PP/5, Vue d'Esprit, Vue Pro, ImageModeler on a regular basis and I'm certain that this pales in comparison to what others use consistently. Okay, I'm done. :)

Attached Link: http://shade.e-frontier.co.jp/en/index.html

Sadly the software houses' need for a "competitive edge" will always outweigh the real world demands of the users, be they pro or hobbyist. This holds in IT generally even where standards bodies exist i.e. the current wireles LAN IEEE 802.11g "standard" which the likes of USR and Netgear have "extended" to lock users into their products.

An alternative to the single format is one app written and updated to import and export to and from all the other major apps / formats. To simplify and speeed up workflow, I'd happily drop all the 3D apps we use currently and buy it. Speaking of which...

I'm watching the approach of the Japanese app, Shade, with great interest. If the Japanese can't spot and exploit the weaknesses of competitors, no one can.

Right Hemisphere's Deep Explorer comes close to this, but is ONLY for import/export. It covers a wide range of formats, but many require that you own the application to use those formats (such as 3D Studio Max for MAX format). Speaking of which, it actually helped me solve this dang problem. Instead of import .obj into Vue (or Poser scenes), I just load the .obj in Deep Explorer, and save as a .3ds which imports into Vue very well, textures in tact! A very good thing that D.E. has done is to circumvent (somehow) the UV limitations usually set for other .3ds exporters. And it'll rename your textures to conform to the ancient 8.3 filenaming convention used by .3ds. I'm also watching the development of Shade. The "international" release is set for sometime in March and, as you hint, if it can be done, the Japanese will do it better! :) Kuroyume