d/l'd a free book model, want to add book covers/jacket - help, please?

[AlienBZ]

I've d/l this free 3d book model (its an open book) from one of the free 3D model sites that are linked to on this board, and I'm doing this for a movie that I'd like to animate in max (yes I have max 2011) and I've successfully added the 2 inside pages (the left page and the right page) to this model when I first d/l it, but I'm having a bit of trouble adding the book cover/book jacket that I'd like to use in my movie.

 

When I first tried adding the book jacket, it came out like this:

 

 

but this is what I want the book jacket to look like (please see image below):

 

 

(note: I have this book in my personal home library, and these covers were scanned by me, and please excuse this image being sideways, I didn't have time to made it horizontal (from L to R),

 

so how exactly do I make the book jacket on this book model look like this book jacket?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Cad64]

It's a fairly involved process.

 

First you have to create UV's for the book: http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/an-introduction-to-uvmapping-in-3d-studio-max-using-the-unwrap-uvw-modifier/

 

Then export your UV's to Photoshop, insert your scanned image and position it over the UV's. Save to your desired image format and then apply it to the book, back in Max:

[Cad64]

Also, go back and take a look at some of your older threads, as we have already discussed UV mapping and texturing previously.

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?71924-Trying-to-create-a-gift-wrapped-box-%28first-modeling-project%29-help-please

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?72065-using-3DS-max-6-book-from-Philly-s-tuts-questions

[AlienBZ]

I tried my best to use the UVW mapping modifier, but it just didn't work for me. I was following the tut that I printed out several months ago, so at last I resorted to creating my own boxes and inserting these over top of the book model's back/front covers and book spine and that way, I was able to add my jpg's using the material editor:

 

 

This is the best I can do. I hope you guys like it. Besides, with a slightly different kind of spine, the book may look a bit sci-fi, don't you think?

[Cad64]

The photo on the spine isn't working very well because it's been squashed down in order to fit. I would remove the photo and just keep the text.

[AlienBZ]

I'm wondering (since this book I d/l from free model site linked to from this site) because I wish to use this book model as one of the objects of this movie I mentioned a month or so back (what happened to me in 5th grade) 2 things:

 

Question # 1: if I can add extra pages to this book and somehow attach them so I can animate them to make it look like I'm (I'm the main character in this movie) flipping through the pages of the book, then I come to a stop in certain places in the book, pretend to read the printed text (scanned photo of book pages) and also animate the whole book to make it open and close like a real book (in the real world)?

 

Question # 2: If then after I touch the page I pretended to read (as per my behavior in movie) with my finger, a video clip plays (yes, I saw my other thread about inserting a video clip) and make this video clip fade in (from the original printed text) to the video clip starting to play, then after the clip's conclusion the video clip fades out (goes back to the printed page texture)?

 

If these 2 objectives are possible for this model, how do I do this?

[Cad64]

Yes, it is possible. Have you tried searching YouTube?

 

 

There are also free tutorials online. Just Google it:

http://www.tutorialshine.com/3ds-max-tutorials/animation/26-multiple-pages-flip-animation