Whats the best UV method for this Cylinder?

Calabi

So I've been out of the loop for a while and have always been rubbish with UV's.

I dont understand this forum now and how to show images, but the link is below.

http://imgur.com/e2x91fK

I've unwrapped, it as a Cylinder in modo but it doesnt seem that great.  Does all that stretching even matter?  Should I try each part separately and stitching them or maybe another method altogether atlus or maybe unwrap it?

AtticusMars

You could reduce a little bit of the distortion simply by squishing it vertically, or you could only unwrap a quarter/half of it and mirror/stack the UVs...otherwise your best option is to just add more seams.

Stretching can either be not too bad or a total disaster depending on how you plan on texturing it, if its a handpainted texture using 3D painting to paint then you'll probably be alright if you wanted to leave it as it is. Anything else I wouldn't recommend though.

Quixel and Substance both have docs outlining best practices for unwrapping meshes for texturing (spoiler: They suggest minimizing stretching)

Calabi

Thank for the reply.  I'm probably going to use photoshop or substance.  I'm not sure its necessary to mirror and stack within this mesh. But I'll try splitting it up. I guess the only way to know is try and texture it then adjust the UV again if it doesnt work.

AtticusMars

Just a general piece of advice since you're going to be adding splits and using Substance, it has a tri-planar projection node that can be very helpful for cleaning up visible UV seams in your textures. You may already be aware of it but figured it was worth mentioning.

SnowInChina

uv unwrapping also depends on the texture you are going to apply
depending on the texture you can get away with some stretching

usually anything with grungy random stuff allows for more stretching than anything with clear patterns