Short tutorial on blender uv mapping by me:
how to mark a seam (only used for normal unwrapping):
- go into edit mode
- select 1 or more edges
- hit ctrl + e
- click mark seam
how to unwrap:
- split your viewport and set on of the 2 to "uv/image editor" (it's the button in the left corner)
- stil in edit mode(!) select all the faces you want a texture to be aplied to.
- press u and select the type of unwrapping you want.
the type of unwrapping is entirely up to you.
The first (unwrap) is the only method that uses the marked seams.
Cube projection is best if you want to bake a lightmap.
- in the uv window, click image > new
- set the properties according to your prefrences and hit ok. (be sure to set the viewport shading to textured to see it)
- I advise you to play around with this window.
- the goal is to edit the vertices so none of the faces overlap and there is minimum stretching while keeping all vertices within the texture size.
how to bake a normal or light map:
- after you've unwrapped your face and aplied a new texture, in the buttons window go to scene
- click on the bake tab (it's on a pannel with a big "anim" button.
- click on normals for normals or shadow for lightmaps (don't forget to setup your lights)
- click bake.
Quote: "baking normals which is why I'm trying to keep them low poly"
I've never tried baking normals myself, but baking normals requires a mesh with as much detail as you can cramp into it. otherwise directx could just the normals stored in the vertices.
