PDO Texture Change

[rickstef]

Hi all,

This little tutorial is in response to a question posed in another thread, on how to change texture in pepakura viewer.
I will be using one of the cars designed by the Japanese designer Oniya, and his Porsche 962.

First view is the regular model, opened like any file in pepakura.


In order to get to the texture change panel, click on Settings tab at the top, and select Texture Settings


You then will be presented with the Texture Configuration window.


Using the Specify Texture Image, Windows Explorer will open, and all you need to do is navigate to where the other images/textures are stored, and you will see all of the textures and in my case, they have a number, which corresponds to each of the patterns on the original model.


In the example, I will changing Pattern-20, which on the car represents most of the body work.
You will also see the parts on the model be highlighted in Yellow, indicating which pieces will get the new "paint job"


After you have applied the texture you wanted, the model will update showing the new graphics.


After you have applied all of the texture changes you want, you can print out the newly clad model.

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask, and I or someone else, will try and answer your questions.

If you want to see the pictures in a larger resolution, you can visit my album here https://picasaweb.google.com/1104278...oTextureChange

Rick

[Yale]

Thanks very much, Rick. Can't wait to try this out.

[JohnM]

Cheers Rick. I've saved the whole thread as a PDF for further study.

One question ... Were you using Pep Reader or Pep Designer? Most of us cheapskates only have access to Reader or Designer Free y'know.

I have run into PDO designs (Mostly WoW stuff) that have extra texture files included in the zip, which can be pulled into the pdo using Pep reader, but I've never figured out how to generate my own texture files.

[SCEtoAUX]

You can apply the textures to the plain white parts using Viewer.

For the Tower Fish that has the plain white parts with the textures in separate .jpg files you open the .pdo and click on the Settings and Texture Setting buttons like Rick showed. Highlight one of the parts like fish1 in the list and click on Specify Texture Image... and then navigate to the folder with the Tower Fish textures and choose fish1 then Open. The part in the 2D window will be highlighted and when you click on Close the texture will be applied to the part. Do that with all of the parts by choosing the appropriate texture file and then print it out. If you close the pdo before printing you will have to go through that process again to apply the textures.

[rickstef]

John,

I am not a designer and have not bought the designer version of Pepakura, so all that i show is done in Viewer

Rick

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by rickstef

John,

I am not a designer and have not bought the designer version of Pepakura, so all that i show is done in Viewer

Rick

Cool, even I'll probably be able to understand it then.

As I said, I've saved your tutorial as a pdf, so I can print it out and have it beside me whilst playing with the program on the 'Puter.

I've always wanted to (relatively easily) be able to change body colours on car models. Always wanted to be able to do it on a photo too, but although I've heard it's fairly simple, nobody ever showed me how to do it. Probably need summat more sophisticated than Paint to do it, eh?

Mind you, I am slowly transcribing the GIMP on line manual into pdf format, so I should learn a lot more about that too. People often claim that the GIMP can do anything that Photoshop can do ... IF YOU KNOW HOW to use it.

[Yale]

OK, interesting test. Started with a model that I remembered having texture files -- the Tenderheart Care Bear from the Paper Model Factory. When I applied the Lucky-bear file, the model changed from tan to green. But it surprised me that there was no "Save" or "Save As" menu selection, so the Reader does not let you create new PDO files. But the print-to-file technique did let me create a new PDF file for each optional version of the bear. This also means that should I do a whole set for some deserving young person, I could do them at half the original size.
Next up is searching through the whole electronic collection for additional models with optional texture files. Thanks again, Rick!

[imcold]

If there is any interest, I can add texture replacement & saving of modified files into PDO tools.

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by imcold

If there is any interest, I can add texture replacement & saving of modified files into PDO tools.

Dunno about the others, but I'm always interested in learning new techniques within Pepakura, Paint,GIMP, and any other free applications. Of course I'd love to indulge in the niceties of Paintshop and others, but although many hints are dropped, Santa never delivers, and I can't justify the expense.

I gather that Rhino is a freebie, but I'm also hearing it is a steep learning curve to master it. So I'm plodding my way through the Gimp instructions. Firstly by downloading the on-line manual into a printable .pdf. It's a big one, but a chapter at a time, I'm getting there slowly.

[Revell-Fan]

Originally Posted by imcold

If there is any interest, I can add texture replacement & saving of modified files into PDO tools.

That would be awesome! I like the idea of improving your tool.