This post is essentially just a summary of the workflows and processes that I arrived at that were discussed in the captioned images of the UV mapping process, for ease of clarity.
Before unwrapping/mapping:
- Apply Material modifier, set number to whatever the checker pattern you’ve set to is in the MultiSub material
For objects requiring full unwraps:
- Apply UVW Map modifier with the Planar preset, and align Gizmo to a logical position (eg. for an object that is at a 45′ angle – rotate it so that it matches – think about how it will project across your model)
- Use Fit in the UVW Map rollout, and set both dimensions to match the highest of the two
- Apply Unwrap UVW modifier and check result
- If seams are needed (depends on object), use either Point-to-Point Seams or select the edges you want to be a seam and Convert Edge Selection to Seams
- Once seams are defined, select a face on a UV area you want to be a separated UV shell and use Expand Polygon Selection to Seams, then use Break to allow you to move it apart from the others
- Repeat previous step for all relevant islands you want
- Use either the Auto-Peel or Relax tools (Relax by Edge Angles/Relax by Polygons Angles) or both, to unwrap each shell. This is very much an “experiment with what works” step.
- For symmetrical shells, align them so that they ‘mirror’ each other, with the mirror line either the X or Y axis (U or V) – preferably with the average of the edges as close to perpendicular to either axis as possible
- Make sure Rescale option is enabled in the Pack tool area, then use either Pack Together or Pack Normalise, depending on preference
- Done!
Throughout the process as well, it’s good to keep an eye on the checker pattern to identify any potential problem areas – this can help bring your attention to UVs that may look ok in the editor, but are actually badly stretched or compressed, or just plain screwed.
Meanwhile, the process for objects that don’t require full unwraps (this won’t take into UVW Map presets that require anything other than the Planar or Box options, as I honestly didn’t need to use any of the others beside these two):
- Apply UVW Map modifier, with either the Planar or Box preset, depending on which makes more sense for the object form.
- Rotate the Gizmo to fit the object sensibly – using the Checker material you applied earlier as a guide – good example in this screenshot:
In this case, the Gizmo for the Box map has been rotated to align better with the overall direction and shape of the model.
- Use Fit to resize your Plane/Box to match the object extents, then look for the highest number in the two/three dimensions, and match the other dimensions to that (eg. if you get a box of 2x1x1.5, change your dimensions to 2x2x2 so it’s equal) – this will help stop your UVs from being stretched or compressed
- Done!
I love the UVW Map option – the fact that you can change the UV tiling so quickly and easily by just entering numbers is really useful as it gives you a lot of control on an object-by-object basis on the texture map tiling come material time.
Anyhow, that’s it for UV mapping! Apologies for the large amounts of text – sadly it’s the kind of thing that requires a lot of detailed explanation.
Stuart McInnes 