How to Create a Properly Textured Die in Blender
My name is Samuel Cohen and this is how I single-handedly designed, developed, and launched a website where you can customize a die and have it 3D printed in 30 days. Below is a technical update post. If you wish to read more about the project, the landing page is here.
In order to create a 3D color customizer, I had to create a model that had visual properties. To create my model I chose to use Adobe Illustrator and Blender. I used Adobe Illustrator to create icons that would be imported into Blender and turned into 3D models.
Below is a video highlighting my rationale for using Blender and the basic methods I used to create the model. If you want to know the specifics, continue reading. This model incorporates icons created in a previous tutorial and once complete, will be used in an upcoming tutorial to customize colors.
Blender Overview
Creating a Die Model in Blender
In the first tutorial, I create the die faces that are going to be stamped on to the 3D model. I am going to import the image, format the die, and then export the model with a lightmap.
Importing Die Faces
First, I open two instances of Blender. One will contain the die model and the other will be the workspace for dot formatting. In one of the instances, I am leaving the cube for the dice base.
In the other window, I go to File-Import-SVG.
In this window, I sect the die face SVG that I had exported in the first tutorial.
At the end of this step, I see the basis for the SVG in Blender. Next, I move on to formatting.
Isolating One Face:
Each component of the SVG can be selected. I select all of the portions except for the one-face dot and delete them.
Now that I have one dot, I can start formatting for 3D.
Turning a 2D image 3D:
Now that the image is isolated, I can begin formatting the dot. The first thing that I do is select the dot, right-click, and convert to mesh. This doesn’t change the look of the 2D image, but it makes it possible to turn 3D.
Now, I can go into edit mode. Edit mode can be selected in the upper-right hand corner in the area that currently says object mode.
From there I can select the whole dot and then click E on the keyboard. This is the command for extrude. Then I can type in a number, that determines how large you want the model to be. I am using .25m.
Formatting the 3D Model:
Now the dot is 3D, but the proportions are wrong. In order to fix that I open the transform menu and change the dimensions. I change the X and Y dimensions to .3m.
Now the dot is properly proportioned. Next, I am going to prepare to import this model. In order to do this, I have to reset the origin. To do that I select the dot, right-click, and select the origin set origin to center of mass. The location value changes when this command is used.
Next, I change the location numbers to 0.
Now, I am ready to copy the dot to the die base. To do this, I select the dot, right-click, and select copy.
Fitting the Model:
Now I can move over to the die base. Here I change the dimensions of the base to 1x1x1 to make alignment easier.
Now that the block is prepared, I can paste the dot into the scene.
I can see that the dot was placed in the center of the block. I can move the dot position from there. I am going to move the dot up by changing the z value. In this case, a good z-height is .376m.
Now the dot is in the correct position. From here I follow a similar process for the rest of the dots.
Note: When I create faces 2–6, I have to join the dots together so that they keep their position relative to each other.
To do this I select the 2–6 dots, right-click, and select join. Now they function as one object and I can continue the same process.
UV Unwrapping:
Once I add the dots to the correct faces, the die looks like this. Now, I need to create something called a lightmap using the UV unwrap tool. This allows me to edit the visual properties of the model later.
First, I drag in a new window in the upper right-hand corner. Once this is complete, I see a duplicate of the current screen.
Now that the duplicate window is open, I change the editor type in the second panel to UV Editor.
Now that the UV editor is selected, I go back to the first window and select all elements using alt + H and then hit A to select all.
Once that is complete, I move into edit mode, hit F3, and type in smart uv and hit enter.
I change the island margin option to .03 and hit OK.
Now I see the lightmap in the second panel. From this point, I am done making edits to the model.
Final Formatting and Export
Now that the UV unwrap is complete, I can export the model so that the colors can be changed. In the right-hand panel, I can see the names of each component. For example, the base is called Cube. I have to rename all of the dot models to something that can be referenced later, like Number1.
Then I click file-export-gITF 2.0. This format allows me to change the colors individually.
There aren’t any special values required for this step. Once the file is exported it looks like this in Windows 3D viewer.
Conclusion
Now I have a die model with separate textures for each face. In the next tutorial, I am going to create a color customizer.
Check Out the Website at www.dicedesigner.com.