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Apply materials and textures to the Canyonero and export the model
Overview
Name of explainer: Apply materials and textures to the Canyonero and export the model
Creative theme: Beginning 3D Modelling using UModeler
Software used (for this explainer): Unity Hub. Unity LTS. uModeler.
User level: BEGINNER
This is explainer 7 of 7 in this series
This series includes:
- Install the Unity Hub and Unity LTS
- Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset
- Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface
- Navigate the scene and scale, rotate and move 3D objects
- Adjust faces, edges and vertices to make unique 3d shapes
- Create a simple car model based on the Simpsons Canyonero
- Apply materials and textures to the Canyonero and export the model
The Software
This series of explainers uses the Unity platform and the ‘UModeler’ Unity asset .
UNITY is a real-time 2D and 3D development platform. It’s a versatile environment used to create animations, 2D, 3D and VR games, as their recent showreel demonstrates!
You’ll recognise these popular games, all developed in Unity. Expand to view:
Beat Saber
New Star GP
Cuphead
With its full 3D feature set, Unity can also be used to create full animated films and cinematic sequences:
Short Movie: ADAM
Animated film: SONDER
To introduce 3d modelling we’re using the Unity 3d modelling asset UModeler:
UModeler is a PAID asset with a standard price of around £120 / $120. Once you’ve learnt the basics you may like to graduate to UModeler X, the professional-level modelling tool for Unity:
The 3D car model created in this series
To demonstrate basic UModeler modelling tools we’ll create a simple car based on the Canyonero as made famous in the Simpsons! Notice it’s made from a small number of polygons, has a ‘cut out’ interior and a nice shiny coat of paint!
Here’s how our Canyonero looks at the end of the initial explainers:
…and here’s how it looks after additional tweaking and accessorising:
The pre-requisities
This is a BEGINNER explainer series, but you’ll need to have a basic knowledge of using Windows, downloading and installing software to follow along. Unity is a complex application and is not recommended for new computer users. For introductory Unity courses and videos, have a look at their own learning platform, Unity Learn
Why would I do this?
The Canyonero is shaping up nicely! Now it’s time to apply materials and textures to the model so it isn’t just plain grey! After that, we’ll export the model from Unity so it can be used in any OBJ-capable software, including Tinkercad, Unreal and Maya. You can also upload OBJ files to sites such as Sketchfab to share your creations with the world and sell your work!
Let’s do it!
Click the play icon to watch this explainer video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.
Video Transcript (Click to expand)
Here is the full transcript for explainer seven above:
00:00:14 – 00:00:15
Welcome to you.
00:00:15 – 00:00:19
This is explainer 7 in the series beginning 3d modeling with the umodeler.
00:00:20 – 00:00:28
In this explainer, I’ll assign materials to different parts of the Canyonero, and, just for fun, use an image texture to create a license plate.
00:00:28 – 00:00:32
The Canyonero is mostly red with a bit of a shine to the red paint.
00:00:32 – 00:00:37
The bumpers are a grey shade, and the tires are very dark grey bordering on black.
00:00:37 – 00:00:39
I’ll work with the tires first.
00:00:39 – 00:00:41
Start by creating a brand new material.
00:00:41 – 00:00:48
In the project panel at the bottom left, navigate to the try polygon folder, u modeler, materials.
00:00:49 – 00:00:56
To create a new material from scratch, right click in a blank space, create material.
00:00:56 – 00:00:59
I’ll title this material tires.
00:01:0 – 00:01:3
The Inspector shows the options available for this material.
00:01:3 – 00:01:11
Let’s start by selecting a colour, click to set the base map, and select a suitably tire like dark grey.
00:01:11 – 00:01:15
The preview sphere updates as I make changes to my selection.
00:01:15 – 00:01:18
There are sliders here for metallic map and smoothness.
00:01:19 – 00:01:26
Notice how the tire material becomes more shiny and reflective as I move these sliders to the right.
00:01:27 – 00:01:32
This looks about right for the tires, and, of course, I can change this material at any time.
00:01:33 – 00:01:39
Before applying any materials, I’m going to create a second one from scratch for the main body of the car.
00:01:43 – 00:01:46
I’ll set this body material to be a metallic red.
00:01:51 – 00:01:51
Okay.
00:01:51 – 00:01:54
Let’s apply our 2 materials to the Canyonero.
00:01:55 – 00:01:57
Select the main body of the car.
00:01:57 – 00:02:3
Click the umodeler material icon here, and look for the material slot.
00:02:4 – 00:02:9
To add a material to the slot, I’ll drag and drop the body material into the slot like this.
00:02:10 – 00:02:11
An instant painted body.
00:02:12 – 00:02:14
I’ll do the same for one of the wheels.
00:02:15 – 00:02:20
This time I’ll drag and drop the tire material into the material slot.
00:02:20 – 00:02:21
There we go.
00:02:22 – 00:02:25
I’ll repeat this process for the other tires.
00:02:33 – 00:02:40
As you can see, if you know you’re going to be duplicating a single object many times, it would be quicker to apply materials to it before duplicating.
00:02:41 – 00:02:43
Next, the bumpers.
00:02:43 – 00:02:46
Start by creating a new material in the usual way.
00:02:48 – 00:02:50
I’ll give it a light gray matte finish.
00:02:53 – 00:02:56
Our bumpers are part of the main chassis object.
00:02:56 – 00:03:1
An individual object can have various materials applied to different parts of it.
00:03:1 – 00:03:7
With the chassis selected, click add slot to create an additional slot for another material.
00:03:7 – 00:03:10
I’ll drag and drop the bumper material into the slots.
00:03:11 – 00:03:14
Each material is assigned a keyboard shortcut.
00:03:14 – 00:03:18
As you can see, the bumper will use the keyboard shortcut alt 2.
00:03:18 – 00:03:22
Select only the face or faces you need to apply it to.
00:03:26 – 00:03:30
Alt 2, and the gray material has been added to only these selected faces.
00:03:32 – 00:03:33
I’ll do the same for the rear bumper.
00:03:35 – 00:03:42
Next, just for fun, I’m going to add a license plate to the front of the Canyon Aero to show how an image can be applied to a material.
00:03:43 – 00:03:48
I’ll start by creating a fun plate online at legalshhowplates.com.
00:03:48 – 00:03:50
Right click and save the image.
00:03:51 – 00:03:53
I’ll save it as canyon plates.
00:03:54 – 00:04:2
Back in Unity, import the image into the project by dragging and dropping the file into the materials folder alongside the existing materials.
00:04:2 – 00:04:8
Let’s create another new material so I can apply the license plate image to it.
00:04:10 – 00:04:17
This time, rather than selecting a color for the base map, drag and drop the image just to the left of the words base map.
00:04:17 – 00:04:21
The preview shows the license plate image mapped onto the new material.
00:04:21 – 00:04:32
As before, I’ll add another material slot for the chassis object and drop the number plate material into the 3rd slot.
00:04:34 – 00:04:42
Select only the polygon for the license plate and use the assigned keyboard shortcut as before to apply the license plate material.
00:04:43 – 00:04:45
The texture needs moving and scaling.
00:04:45 – 00:04:47
Select the UV tool.
00:04:47 – 00:04:50
Think of this for now as a texture mapping tool.
00:04:50 – 00:04:57
As the tooltip says, this will let me move, scale, and rotate my material in relation to the currently selected face or faces.
00:05:5 – 00:05:5
There we go.
00:05:5 – 00:05:7
The perfect plate.
00:05:7 – 00:05:11
Be aware that this kind of texture mapping or UV mapping is a topic in its own right.
00:05:11 – 00:05:14
For links to helpful resources, see the website.
00:05:14 – 00:05:21
Finally, for now, let’s export the entire Canyon Aero out of Unity so we can use it with other software or display it online.
00:05:21 – 00:05:25
1st, select all the Umodeler objects that make up the car.
00:05:25 – 00:05:27
Click the Umodeler export tool.
00:05:28 – 00:05:32
Leave the defaults as they are, and click export to OBJ.
00:05:33 – 00:05:39
Give the file a name, a folder containing the model, and any texture information is created.
00:05:44 – 00:05:45
I’ll upload the model to Sketchfab.
00:05:46 – 00:05:51
If you like, you can use a free account to try out this functionality, and here’s our Canyonero.
00:05:52 – 00:05:54
It’s still a very basic model.
00:05:54 – 00:06:1
I’ll go on to shape the body so it’s more accurate and add the roof bars and front lights so it’s actually ready to share with the world.
00:06:2 – 00:06:7
This model can be used inside a game, an animated environment, or even a VR experience.
00:06:8 – 00:06:11
Your modeler includes a lot of additional functionality.
00:06:11 – 00:06:18
You can access their help and support by going to tools, umodeler, about.
00:06:19 – 00:06:26
Once you’re feeling confident with the basics of 3d modeling, take a look at umodeler x, the advanced modeling and rigging tool for Unity.
00:06:28 – 00:06:30
That’s the end of this introductory series.
00:06:30 – 00:06:32
We look forward to seeing your creations.
The main steps in this video:
- Create a new material for the tyres with a dark grey color.
- Adjust the shine and reflectiveness of the tyre material.
- Create a metallic red material for the car’s main body.
- Apply the materials to the Canyonero’s body and wheels.
- Create a light grey matte material for the bumpers.
- Add a license plate image designed online to the front of the Canyonero.
- Adjust the position and scale of the license plate texture using the UV tool.
- Export the entire Canyonero model out of Unity.
- Upload the model to Sketchfab for online display.
- Consider potential enhancements to the model, such as reshaping the body and adding roof bars and front lights.
- Introduce UModeler X, an advanced modeling and rigging tool for Unity.
Good to know
uModeler uses a ‘slot’ system to add materials one by one to an existing object. Each slot is assigned a keyboard shortcut to apply the respective material to selected faces.
When using a material with an image texture applied, you’ll need to move and scale the texture to get the desired result. Texture mapping is refered to as ‘UV mapping’ in modelling software. For an introduction to UV mapping…
We exported the model with the current textures intact. If you’ll be exporting a model to use it with other software it’s usually best practice to texture models in the destination software. You may run into unexpected issues with materials when exported from umodeler and imported into other software.
Where to next?
This is the final explainer in this series. Remember there are more uModeler tools to explore to aid the modelling process – This was only an introduction!
Once you’re happy with the basics, take a look at uModeler X. You’ll find your existing skills are transferable as you take your modelling to the next level!
Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in October 2023. This page was last updated in November 2024.
Disclaimer:
We are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Any links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the Team. Modern software offers users many ways to accomplish a single task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options except where deemed helpful to do so. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise the risk of data loss.
This is number 7 of 7 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!
