I'm using Maya 7. I don't think relax or unfold work quite the same way uvHelper does. From my experience, uvHelper works perfectly, either the first, second, or third time, removing stretching of uvs near perfectly. I've found a way to use it though, but its kind of backward.
1) Backhack from Maya 7.0 (because my 7.0 obj exporter is broken) to Maya 6.0
2) Export as an .obj
3) Import as an .obj into Wings3D, export as a .3ds preserving uvs.
4) Unwrap in Max
Then possibly:
5) Export as a .3ds, then use Wings3D to export as a .obj
Yeah, just fiddle with the numerical settings in Unfold, it does do perfectly accurate relaxing, but it takes a long time.
I don't have Maya here, but I recall setting the Iterations (or something like that) to about 1000+ will take a long time, but unwrap the object as well as possible.
The Relax tool in Maya works really well. I usually have it set to pin unselected UVs and work on small portions at a time. You just need to play with the settings till you get your desired effect
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Which version of Maya do you use?
1) Backhack from Maya 7.0 (because my 7.0 obj exporter is broken) to Maya 6.0
2) Export as an .obj
3) Import as an .obj into Wings3D, export as a .3ds preserving uvs.
4) Unwrap in Max
Then possibly:
5) Export as a .3ds, then use Wings3D to export as a .obj
I don't have Maya here, but I recall setting the Iterations (or something like that) to about 1000+ will take a long time, but unwrap the object as well as possible.