Maya UVing Chain

Steve Schulze

I've got a chain with a bunch of links that I need to UV. Ideally I'd like to UV one link and then copy to the rest. Unfortunately I've got a different vertex order on each link so it looks like the transfer attributes tool isn't going to work for me.


In the mean time I'll probably just copy and paste my UVed link given it'll be quicker than fiddling about for ages, but it seems like there should be a smart way to do this. One which I probably should remember.

fatihG_

If all the chains are separate objects with their transforms preserved, you could do the 'replace objects' option in maya, under the modify menu.

kodde

How about Transfer Attributes? If they are just copies then UV-map then just UV-map one of them and copy this modification to the others through the Transfer Attributes feature (Mesh->Transfer Attributes).

Preferably you create one link, UV-map it and then create copies.

passerby

chiniara wrote: »

I think that the fastest way to do it is delete every chain link but one, uv unwrapit and then make the chain again.

Transfer attributes can just copy UV data between meshes

Steve Schulze

Transfer attributes is super-finicky. If you have a bunch of similar items, it'll often work on some but not all of them with no apparent rhyme or reason.

kodde

My experience is that it works well for transfering UV's. Never had an issue. Given that I did not modify the shape data on any of the copies.

DireWolf

What happened to me was that transfer UV only transfer to the last object selected, even if you select a few. When I was doing something similar, I kept the source selected and deselect/reselect the target over and over. Luckily transfer UV itself works with g shortcut so that saved a bit of time.

passerby

Jackablade wrote: »

Transfer attributes is super-finicky. If you have a bunch of similar items, it'll often work on some but not all of them with no apparent rhyme or reason.

If things are identical you can transfer via the topology also it helps if you delete history first like most problems in Maya.

Froyok

I think the same as chiniara regarding this situation, redoing it is probably faster. Even better if you use a spline to duplicate your meshes along it.

kodde wrote: »

My experience is that it works well for transfering UV's. Never had an issue. Given that I did not modify the shape data on any of the copies.

I always had a lot of issues transferring different UVs between identical meshes. You are lucky I guess.

Deadly Nightshade

I almost always use instancing before transfer attributes. The latter is bugged and sometimes you don't get any transfers despite trying all different settings.

Making a chain with instanced links is easy too with a script known as Duplicate Along Curve. You can find it on Creative Crash.

throttlekitty

I was under the impression that Transfer Attributes was single-source > single-target.