How to draw textures on a model

Question

The following code is a complete XNA 3.1 program almost unaltered to that code skeleton Visual Studio is creating when creating a new project.

The only things I have changed are

• imported a .x model to the content folder of the VS solution.

  (the model is a simple square with a texture spanning over it - made in Google Sketchup and exported with several .x exporters)

• in the Load() method I am loading the .x model into the game.

• The Draw() method uses a BasicEffect to render the model.

Except these three things I haven't added any code.

Why does the model does not show the texture ? What can I do to make the texture visible ?

This is the texture file (a standard SketchUp texture from the palette):

And this is what my program looks like - as you can see: No texture!

This is the complete source code of the program:

namespace WindowsGame1 {
/// <summary>
/// This is the main type for your game
/// </summary>
public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game {
    GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
    SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

    public Game1() {
        graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
        Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Allows the game to perform any initialization it needs to before starting to run.
    /// This is where it can query for any required services and load any non-graphic
    /// related content.  Calling base.Initialize will enumerate through any components
    /// and initialize them as well.
    /// </summary>
    protected override void Initialize() {
        // TODO: Add your initialization logic here
        base.Initialize();
    }

    Model newModel;

    /// <summary>
    /// LoadContent will be called once per game and is the place to load
    /// all of your content.
    /// </summary>
    protected override void LoadContent() {
        // Create a new SpriteBatch, which can be used to draw textures.
        spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

        // TODO: usse this.Content to load your game content here

        newModel = Content.Load<Model>(@"aau3d");

        foreach (ModelMesh mesh in newModel.Meshes) {

            foreach (ModelMeshPart meshPart in mesh.MeshParts) {

                meshPart.Effect = new BasicEffect(this.GraphicsDevice, null);
            }
        }

    }

    /// <summary>
    /// UnloadContent will be called once per game and is the place to unload
    /// all content.
    /// </summary>
    protected override void UnloadContent() {
        // TODO: Unload any non ContentManager content here
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Allows the game to run logic such as updating the world,
    /// checking for collisions, gathering input, and playing audio.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="gameTime">Provides a snapshot of timing values.</param>
    protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime) {
        // Allows the game to exit
        if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed)
            this.Exit();

        // TODO: Add your update logic here

        base.Update(gameTime);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// This is called when the game should draw itself.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="gameTime">Provides a snapshot of timing values.</param>
    protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) {

        if (newModel != null) {

            GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

            Matrix[] transforms = new Matrix[newModel.Bones.Count];
            newModel.CopyAbsoluteBoneTransformsTo(transforms);

            foreach (ModelMesh mesh in newModel.Meshes) {
                foreach (BasicEffect effect in mesh.Effects) {
                    effect.EnableDefaultLighting();
                    effect.TextureEnabled = true;

                    effect.World = transforms[mesh.ParentBone.Index] * Matrix.CreateRotationY(0)
                * Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(0, 0, 0));
                    effect.View = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(200, 1000, 200), Vector3.Zero, Vector3.Up);
                    effect.Projection = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.ToRadians(45.0f),
                        0.75f, 1.0f, 10000.0f);
                }
                mesh.Draw();
            }
        }

        base.Draw(gameTime);
    }
}

}

Answer 1

I think you're trying to do too much. It will depend on what is in the ".x" file, but these CAN contain all the shaders needed to color and texture the model.

I believe the problem is that after loading the model, you are overriding the model's Effects with a BasicEffect, which doesn't know about the texture you want to use for your Model.

The easiest thing to do I think would be to comment out the code relating to the BasicEffect in LoadContent. The setting of "EnableDefaultLighting()" and/or "TextureEnabled" might be unnecessary too.

Answer 2

I had some problems using .x models in the past. Try using .fbx to export your files. Once exported from your 3D app put both the model asset and its texture in the same map within your project. Do not rename it since the name of the texture is in the .FBX which might not be readable.