lightmaps on a model texture? Thread

ive seen several times models with textures that have shadows on, done with lightmaps in the modelling program. However i have no idea how to do this. I presume you create you texture first apply it to the model after you have UVmapped it and then add lights in the scene. But how would you get the shadows to show up in the texture? it would be great if someone could inform me about how to do it. Thankyou

You'll want to start by making sure the UVs are set in a way that gives each face a unique space (so if you're overlapping/tiling, you'll have to create a second set of coordinates for the lightmap to use).
Set up the scene's lights, and then depending on the program you're using, and use whatever tool it has to bake the shadows (for example, XSI would use Rendermap) to bake the shadows to the proper UV set. Then you'd just have to set up a shader that multiplies the shadow texture overtop of the actual texture.

yeah thats what i have no idea how to do ! im using 3ds max 9, does anyone have any tutorials on how to do this ? it would be a really great help !

Try this:

Create->Lights->Standard->Skylight

Set light colour to white (by default its a slight blue).

Apply a new material to your model, but change the grey diffuse value to white.

Press F10 and go into render options. Advanced Lighting tab, then select Light Tracer.

Select your model, then go Render->Render to Texture

In this pop-up window you need to do the following:
Set the UVW channel to "Existing Channel"
"Add" a new map in the slots below, set it to CompleteMap and whatever resolution you need.
Set an output directory (so "my_models/maps/ambient_occlusion.TGA" fo exmaple) TGA is lossless, best one to use.

Hit Render, sit tight and wait.

Its rendered out - to apply the map in Max you have two options:
Bring it into Photoshop. Put this as a new layer above the rest of your texture. Set the blend mode to Multiply/Screen/whichever works best.

OR

In the material browser, place your map in the ambient map slot.

Sorry for the late reply, didn't see this post .

Edited by: M@ty

yeah i worked this out the other day, thanks for your reply though