Blender Resources

You will need to use Blender to create your own models and import them in OpenGL or Vizard (whichever you choose). Listed below are a few resources for adding materials/colors and textures in Blender, which you may later import in your application.

Watch two short Blender tutorials:
1. The tutorial on Adding Colors and Materials explains how to add (multiple) materials and colors to an object.
2. The UV Mapping (Image Textures) tutorial explains how to map textures and how to prepare your model for exporting (by "unwrapping" it), so that you can import the textures in a different program.
  Note: This tutorial shows you how to unwrap a 3D model into a 2D image using seams, but if you have a complex object you may use the "Smart UV Project" option. Before you export you object, select it and go into Edit Mode by hitting the TAB key. Go to the Material tab and select the material that has the texture. Click on the select button, verify that all vertices that are assigned to the texture become highlighted. Then hit the "u" key and select "Smart UV Project". You will have to do this for all materials assigned to a texture. Then you can export your model. You know that your object has been properly exported if you open your .obj with a text editor and see lines that start with "v" (vertex coordinates), "vn" (normals), "vt" (texture coordinates) and "f" (faces composed of 3 vertices//normals).
Both tutorials work with Blender 2.6, but they can be followed just as easily in Blender 2.7.
Reminder: To export a model from Blender in .obj format, select File->Export->Wavefront(.obj). Under Operator presets unselect all checkboxes and then select "Include Edges", "Triangulate Faces", "Write Normals", "Include UVs" (necessary if you have textures), "Write Materials", and "Objects as OBJ Groups". Then click the "Export OBJ" button.