Blender 2.49, uv image-->shapeways

Hello everyone,
I have what would seem like a simple goal. I have images that are 360°x180°, I want to map the image to a sphere and print it in full color sandstone. I have tried many times to get it to work but no joy. I can get everything into blender and get it to render correctly. But no matter what i've tried I can't get a successful upload. I have tried both of the vrml exports and for giggles the obj export.

The vrml export says its uploaded ok, but all I get is a preview shadow. The obj export shows the sphere but with no texture(as expected)

Should this be simple?
thanks in advance
bvr

Is the image UV mapped onto the sphere in blender? If so, did you upload a zip file containing the vrml file and image file?

shop4stuff,
The image shows on the sphere when i render the scene in blender, so i think i've mapped it correctly. I've zipped just the vrml and the png image. All i get is a "shadow" of a sphere in the shapeways preview.
bvr

Did you check out the tutorial? https://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/exporting_to_vrml_and_x3d _for_color_printing

Chances are that the image file has the full path (drive/folder), one fix is to open the file in a text editor (not notepad), search for the image filename and remove the filepath just leaving the image filename.

I've found that if the colour model looks good in Accutrans3D then it will upload ok to Shapeways, but again make sure the image path is truncated.

Paul (aka sTop4stuff )

I just checked and there is no path, just the filename.
btw, thanks for your help
bvr

Just a wild guess from my part now, as I don't know Blender - are the normals all correct (the faces of the sphere pointing outwards)?

I checked, and all the normals face outward.
thanks again
bvr

i have never had great success with vrml or wrl files in blender...

i would suggest as an alternative export a DAE file. you will have to do all the same things that you did with a wrl file and vrml file but it seems to work out much better...

some things to remember...

use the latest version of BLENDER.. in this case 2.62.
make sure the model is water tight.
if you have multiple shells- join them- this is only necessary if you are doing full color sandstone and want the color to render.
when you export select the items that you want exporting- some of the exporters in BLENDER will only export the selected models.

that is all i can think of.

good luck.

chris

Chris,
Thanks for the tips.
The dae export and upload shows only the sphere and not the image on it. I didn't think that format could use the image on shapeways.
My model is a simple sphere, so I think its manifold from the start?
I made sure my object was selected when i exported.
thank you all
bvr

does the image show on screen or only when you render?

just because it shows on render doesn't mean that it is mapped properly...

it has to be uv mapped and the texture has to be mapped correctly...

in blender pack the image with the file and post the blend file and i will take a look at it... or i could explain more about what is going on...

i really think this might do the trick for any color coming out of BLENDER.

chris

Chris,
It only shows when I render. I have sent you a link to the project.
thank you very much
bvr

Please download MeshLab and see if it loads/displays your file correctly. If it does, then make sure you have included the texture file correctly:

https://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/exporting_to_vrml_and_x3d _for_color_printing

If not, head back to Blender and fix your model. I think there's an issue in older Blender versions (by are you still on 2.49, by the way), and you have to enable 'TexFace' in the material settings for the textures to properly export to VRML2.

Bart

bartv,

I have the newest version of blender for me-2.61
Someone else used blender and gave me a working .x3d file which I had no problems uploading and all was good. Only issue is that i was testing and had them uv map the image to a solid sphere. I am intending for it to be a hollow sphere with a hole in the top of it.
So I now know I need to use the x3d format, and I can zip and upload the files correctly.

Right now I have created my hollow sphere with an opening
10cm x 5mm wall x 2cm opening in my cad program and imported it into blender. So far so good.
Now i just need to CORRECTLY map the image to the outside of the sphere.

I reading tutorials like a maniac and trying to get this working.

really...thanks for the help everyone.
bvr

Thanks everyone for the assistance. Both on and off the forum. I have it functioning and now just need to tweak the image position. I now have questions related to the material and will do some searching before i post them.
thanks
bvr