weird shadows problem and need help making material map

Thanks for your response.

I will try the above method after remodeling.

This object does not morph or move. So long it is shaded okay, its topology does not matter.

First, to answer your question about the flowers, when you say the rotary tool do you mean the array modifier? Yes, you can make your flower with the array modifier. It’s always best to use modifiers because it saves time. You just have to make sure the petals don’t overlap. I think that’s how you got so many layers of geometry in one petal. The geometry overlapped in one petal and then you duplicated the flower and that’s how you ended up with the problem in each flower.

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Okay, moving on. Let’s get started. This is a long post, but I'm going to walk you through this.

* If you make a mesh yourself, always model in quads. Studio will turn your quads into tris for you so don't worry about that.

*If you have a mesh that's in terrible shape, retopologize it. This is especially true if you've sculpted your mesh. Retopology is part of the process.

The instructions below are what you’d do if you have a mesh with good topology. I’ll post what you can do with your current mesh in another post.

If your mesh is in tris, convert them to quads. It means fewer edges to deal with.

1. Select your mesh, tab into edit mode.
2. Alt + J to turn your tris into quads. Note that sometimes Blender doesn't convert tris to quads very well and you may need to manually fix the mesh in some places.
3. You can add edges by using the knife tool (K) or shift + select two vertices and press J to add an edge.
4. If you need to turn two tris into a quad, select both tris and press F.
5. In the lower left corner, open the little window and put a checkmark next to "compare UVs." Sometimes turning tris to quads messes up your UV islands. Compare UVs fixes that.

If your texture hasn't been made yet you can go ahead and arrange your UV islands however you want.

1. Select your mesh and tab into edit mode.
2. In the 3D viewport, hold shift + alt and select the edges that you want to mark for unwrapping.
3. Edge > mark seam. The seams will turn red.
4. U > unwrap.
5. In the UV editor, press A to select everything.
6. UV > pack islands. Because bigger UV islands make your texture look better, try not to waste UV space. Packing islands will help with that.
7. Resize your islands if you need to and put them wherever you want. Important note: Always resize all of your islands at the same time. If you don't do this, you can end up with textures that are stretched or sized unevenly.

Here's what I mean:



If you have an existing texture that you want to use, mark your seams, and unwrap your mesh as I explained above, then do this:

1. Make sure you’re in edit mode.
2. In the UV editor, press A to select everything.
3. At the bottom of the UV editor, press the X button to remove whatever texture or image that’s there. If the UV editor is not showing a texture, disregard these steps.
4. Once you no longer have an image showing in the UV editor, do what this screenshot shows:

1. In the UV editor, press A to select everything.
2. At the bottom of the UV editor, next to where it says “new,” click the little arrow and open the image you just imported.
3. Make sure you’re in texture viewport shading.
4. Now you can move or adjust your UV islands and you can see how the texture will look on your mesh in real-time.
5. Put your UV islands where you need them.
6. You may need to move the vertices on the edges of your UV islands to fit the texture.
7. If you have to adjust the edges of your UV islands to fit the texture, do whatever you need to do then hold shift + alt and select the edges of each UV island.
8. In the UV editor, press P to pin the edges in place.
9. In the 3D viewport, in edit mode, press A.
10. U > unwrap. This will change the inside of your UV islands so that the islands match up with your mesh’s topology. The texture will look better on your mesh after doing this.

Once you’re happy with your UV layout, do the following:

1. Make sure your cut numbers are correct. (1 for the mesh, 0 for the floor shadow mesh).
2. Make sure your floor shadow mesh is sized the way you want it.
3. Make sure your mesh is positioned where you want it.
4. Make sure your edges are split (instructions below at step 7).
5. Save your file. This is your LOD 0.

Now you need to make your LOD 1.

Note that the following only works if your topology is good. At this point, your mesh should be in quads.

1. Select your mesh, press tab to enter edit mode.
2. In the 3D viewport, press A to select everything.
3. Press M > by distance to merge all of your split edges. This way, you’ll be able to select more edge loops at the same time.
4. Press 2 on your keyboard to enter edge select mode.
5. Hold shift + alt and select any edge loops that aren't needed. Like, maybe, every other edge loop.
6. X > dissolve edges. Remove as many edge loops as you can. You can remove a lot of edge loops without the mesh changing its shape. If you dissolve an edge loop and the mesh changes shape press ctrl + Z and keep that edge loop.
7. Enter edge select mode, if not already (2 on the keyboard).
8. Select one of the edges that's marked red.
9. Shift + G > seam. Now all your seams have been selected.
10. Edge > mark sharp. Normally, the edges will turn blue, but you won't see that as the seams have already been marked for unwrapping and are now red.
11. Add the edge split modifier. Be sure to uncheck “edge angle” then apply the modifier. You can hold your mouse key over the modifier and press ctrl + A to apply the modifier. You have to be in object mode, though.
12. Save your file. This is your LOD 1
13. Repeat these steps for your other LODs—merge the vertices, dissolve edge loops, split the edges again then save.

Now, make your shadow meshes. The game uses the shadow meshes to make a shadow when your item is outdoors, so these meshes are important.

1. Open your LOD 0 in a new scene.
2. Delete the floor shadow mesh.
3. Change the cut number to 0.
4. Save. This is your LOD 0 shadow mesh.
5. Repeat the steps for your other LODs to make the shadow meshes.

Tip: Bake an ambient occlusion map. An AO map adds shadows to your mesh and will help your mesh look 3D.

You can use a version of Blender that’s 2.80 and above to make an AO map but if you’re a beginner, it’s easier (in my opinion) to use a lower version of Blender. Here’s a tutorial. I baked an AO map for your mesh but I had to fix some of the topology and I had to entirely re-unwrap your mesh for it to look good. You will have to do the same thing or you won't get a good bake result.



After baking an AO map, in the bottom of the UV editor export the image as a PNG. Image > save as image.

Open the baked texture in Photoshop and add it as a layer to your texture then use one of the blending modes to blend the two textures.

As for your specular map, here are some instructions courtesy of me! You're welcome. The instructions start at step #79. There's an explanation of how the specular works, if you're interested.

ONE VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: My instructions includes directions for making a specular mask. This is only for CAS items. Objects do not need a specular mask. AND, my tutorial says to make the specular 1024 x 2048 but yours is 256 x 256. You can keep it that size, if you want to.

If you don’t want any shine on your mesh then make the specular pure black—both the RBG channel and the alpha channel—and save it as a DDS using these settings:

Do you still want instructions for how to rescue your mesh the way it is? It will be a lot of instructions and you're probably overwhelmed already.

In all honesty, it would take just as much time to retopologize your mesh or to make an entirely new mesh as it would to fix all of the problems your mesh has. If it were me, I'd start over. I know that's not good news but making mistakes is how you learn. I've made terrible meshes, too.

Edit: I've taken a closer look at your mesh. It has many, many problems. I do not think it's worth your time or mine to try to fix this mesh. You would be better off starting over. I know that's not good news but sometimes starting over is the only way to do things right.