Best UV Unwrap software for 3DS Max?

Easton · Jan 2018

Hi, I am extremely frustrated with UV Unwrapping, I got my modeling down fairly well, it is slow but in time it will improve. Now I am learning more about UV Unwrapping but it is a pain in my a$$, it's just too much.

I can learn it eventually but my problem is when I try learning UV Unwrapping in Max, I forget modeling techniques in Max or Texturing, it just throws me off and is too much to cram in my brain on top of the 5 programs I am learning at school...

So I was wondering if there are softwares out there similar to Substance Painter or Quixel, I have those and know how to use them and will NEVER use Photoshop for Texturing because it would be a waste of time. For now I am going to work for myself anyways, so knowing certain softwares or how to do something the "original" way is pointless.

Basically I just need to save time, as long as quality stays the same or improves I am fine with spending money to speed up and make the process easier.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Axi5 · Jan 2018

This is the wrong way to think about things. As much as that sucks to hear.

If Max is giving you a hard time UVing, you'll probably have a hard time UVing in any software, not to say that there aren't simpler solutions it's just that they're all as similar as each other because the task is the same.

I understand that learning many programs is tough but just learn each part in steps, no one ever remembers everything, don't worry about forgetting other stuff because you can relearn it when you need it.

Here's the thing about Photoshop though. It's not just the "original" way to do it, it's the fundamental way to do it and in some cases, the only way to do it. Meaning, that if Substance lacks something, or quixel crashes (for the 50th time), Photoshop has your back to get you through, it's far from pointless and is sometimes the most valuable tool in texturing. Sure it's not the fastest, or more fun way of doing it, but it gives you more control over what pixels you're putting down than any other software, there's a reason we tell people to learn it.

That said:
Neither Photoshop, nor Quixel nor Substance will help you when it comes to UV mapping as it's purely a geometry thing. They're purely for texturing, and you need to cross that bridge after you have a good UV map.

A few questions you can answer to help us help you out here:
1) What type of model is it? High detail for Film or Lower detail for Game?
2) How have you attempted UV mapping before?
3) Where is it failing you/what do you expect instead?

I get the feeling you're trying to run before you can walk, which is normal, I used to be like that too. Just slow it down, take a deep breath and collect yourself.

Mark Dygert · Jan 2018

Best UV Unwrap software for 3DS Max?

3dsmax.

Unwrapping is, at most an after thought with quick and simple steps to get what you need done with minimal effort. I'd say the only pain in the ass thing about max is that it's modifier based, but other than that, the tools are quick and elegant.

Are there specific objects or steps that are throwing you for a loop?

Easton · Jan 2018

@Axi5 Yeah, I know you're right, I just really wish you weren't

The main reason I mentioned Photoshop in relation to UV Unwrapping is that I have seen around the forums in the past that it's recommended to learn it. I'm mostly worried about time more than anything though, so if there are softwares that do the same thing easier, then I'm all for it. I guess in my mind it's like this, "why learn a stick shift when I have an automatic car?". I know driving a stick first helps become a better driver, but why learn something like that when they both get me from A to B and I will never use the other because of it? Essentially that's my mindset, which is good or bad...

Mostly the frustration is just from UV Unwrapping, I have built models so far, pretty decent ones too for a beginner, it's just that when I Unwrap them I end up finding out that I somehow screwed something up, and I usually find out once I bake my model for an hour and then start adding textures.

It's just for game design now, contemporary simple objects for now, mostly industrial like garbage bins, shipping containers, propane tanks etc. Low poly too.

I have UV Unwrapped a model in the past and it worked out perfectly, I guess that's why I'm confused. I did it right somehow then, but now I'm doing something wrong but don't know what.

Most of my current problems I guess are object selection and breaking down the model into objects to individually unwrap them, so that I can textures that little bolt differently from the one next to it, or the piece attached to it. But when I try to unwrap it I end up finding out later that I messed up, but don't know how exactly.

I probably do need to slow down a bit, but I also feel it is taking too long. I know I have to get UV Unwrapping down and do it pretty well because that is the link in the chain between modeling and texturing. I have a pretty large self project planned, actually a future business modeling and texturing add ons for a certain game and am trying to go full speed ahead, I'm okay with modeling and I LOVE texturing, I just really dislike UVs...

LaurentiuN · Jan 2018

@Easton Not everyone likes to do UV`s, some like them, some dont, but it`s part of the process so you need to make them, just put some music and start doing them, there is no easy way to do them, just have patience. I use 3ds max and the plugin Polyunwrapper most of the time.

Sometimes i use Unfold3D for packing, it`s a very nice piece of software if you have the money, take a look. But remember it still "boring" to unwrap

. Sometimes i have to do unwraps for a week, so yeah take your time and think positive because they need to be done if you want nice bakes and textures

Mark Dygert · Jan 2018

Easton said:

I guess in my mind it's like this, "why learn a stick shift when I have an automatic car?". I know driving a stick first helps become a better driver, but why learn something like that when they both get me from A to B and I will never use the other because of it? Essentially that's my mindset, which is good or bad...

I learned to first drive a stick, it doesn't make me a better driver, it just means I can drive more types of cars. It was a cumbersome process and unnecessary, but I am thankful I learned earlier in my life rather than just getting by and putting off learning.

That's the trap you can fall into when you rely on shortcuts, you get a method that sort of does what you want and you never bother to grow beyond that, because you have something that "works". You put off learning what you should have learned years ago and by doing so you never practice with those tools and you never figure out how to use them fast and efficiently.

Focus on quality first and speed second. Speed comes from practice.
You analyze what you did, find the mistakes and figure out better ways to work. If all you ever do is make crap quickly then all you ever have is a faster way to churn out shitty content. Make it good, then make yourself faster.

Careful with taking on large projects, especially early on.
It's great that you have ambition but it's important not to set yourself up for failure.
It's better to get a few small successes under your belt rather than repeat the mistakes of almost every art school drop out by trying to do what takes 5-10-30-300 people to do. People that are well versed in the tools and methods, get to make games and art. People who make shitty stuff really fast get to sit at home.

I see it happen a lot.
Animation students want to make a short film, or game students that want to make a game on par with the games they love playing, all on their own or with only a few other students. They underestimate the amount of work it takes and they overestimate their abilities. Then they fail with no successes along the way to prop them up because they tried to do something that had a very low chance for success. You might think it's beneath your ability or below what you want to become but small successes have a snow ball effect and have a higher chance of leading you to where you want to be.

Anyway...
If you have some specific examples or models that are driving you nuts you might want to post them and ask how people would deal with them. I've seen a lot of awesome little tips and tricks pop up when people do that. Sometimes those threads spawn scripts or tools because people bash their heads together and find a new way that no one ever thought about.

Easton · Jan 2018

Mark Dygert said:

Easton said:

I guess in my mind it's like this, "why learn a stick shift when I have an automatic car?". I know driving a stick first helps become a better driver, but why learn something like that when they both get me from A to B and I will never use the other because of it? Essentially that's my mindset, which is good or bad...

I learned to first drive a stick, it doesn't make me a better driver, it just means I can drive more types of cars. It was a cumbersome process and unnecessary, but I am thankful I learned earlier in my life rather than just getting by and putting off learning.

That's the trap you can fall into when you rely on shortcuts, you get a method that sort of does what you want and you never bother to grow beyond that, because you have something that "works". You put off learning what you should have learned years ago and by doing so you never practice with those tools and you never figure out how to use them fast and efficiently.

Focus on quality first and speed second. Speed comes from practice.
You analyze what you did, find the mistakes and figure out better ways to work. If all you ever do is make crap quickly then all you ever have is a faster way to churn out shitty content. Make it good, then make yourself faster.

Careful with taking on large projects, especially early on.
It's great that you have ambition but it's important not to set yourself up for failure.
It's better to get a few small successes under your belt rather than repeat the mistakes of almost every art school drop out by trying to do what takes 5-10-30-300 people to do. People that are well versed in the tools and methods, get to make games and art. People who make shitty stuff really fast get to sit at home.

I see it happen a lot.
Animation students want to make a short film, or game students that want to make a game on par with the games they love playing, all on their own or with only a few other students. They underestimate the amount of work it takes and they overestimate their abilities. Then they fail with no successes along the way to prop them up because they tried to do something that had a very low chance for success. You might think it's beneath your ability or below what you want to become but small successes have a snow ball effect and have a higher chance of leading you to where you want to be.

Anyway...
If you have some specific examples or models that are driving you nuts you might want to post them and ask how people would deal with them. I've seen a lot of awesome little tips and tricks pop up when people do that. Sometimes those threads spawn scripts or tools because people bash their heads together and find a new way that no one ever thought about.

This is probably the best advice I have actually gotten in a long time in terms of education.

"Focus on quality first and speed second. Speed comes from practice. "

That's actually one thing I feel torn about right now, speed vs quality. I feel like I am taking too long to model, my models for a beginner I guess look okay, but they're taking me forever. I was following a YouTube video on making a shipping container and to give myself more of a challenge I would do some things just a tad differently, the person modeling took 3 hours, it took me probably a total of 2 full days. It looks just as good, I am just not sure it should take me so long, and when something takes a long time I lose interest.

"Careful with taking on large projects, especially early on."

I understand. I haven't started a project yet, I am definitely waiting until I am ready. For now I am just working on assets that can be put into a scene later, instead of making a lot of random things I am trying to stick to industrial objects so in the future I can work on putting them all in one scene. The big project I want to do I know will take at least 500+hrs to complete, probably 1000hrs for me. It will comprise of everything from modeling to importing objects into the game engine, basically creating the entire scene myself, definitely not ready yet. I will still have to learn more modeling techniques, UV's, and creating textures and mixing them using Substance Designer and Megascans, vegetation, speedtrees, and maybe even photogrammetry.

The toughest part is that there isn't a way to ask a question person to person, I have noticed that more and more as I try to push through until I hit that "click" moment. At school I have instructors that help when I have a question or issue in CAD, but self learning at home with game design and totally different programs gets me in ruts more often than I would like... 18hrs of school + this stuff is tough to cram in my brain. In the past 3 months or less I have learned the basics of Max and Substance Painter, just need to learn about UVs more and I guess just keep practicing away, try to hopefully create a fully textured game ready model every 3 days is a start. I imagine in another 3 months of following your advice and practicing I will probably be creating things I never thought I could do.

Thanks!

deatonjc288 · Jun 2018

bump

so this was pretty crappily answered

seems like there is no push for symmetrical uv unwrapping tool? anybody wanna explain how you do symmetry in gimp with uvs that are twisted and poorly organized
the software is only 1500 dollars.. why arent people getting what they paid for?
i would understand if this were 2010 max but come on m8
this is the 4th page on google when i searched 3ds max uv unwrapping tool
so please be constructive
from what i could find as far as symmetry maya is holding the search results back but u might try it if u can figure it out

CrackRockSteady · Jun 2018

renderhjs · Jun 2018

A bit outdated but TexTools for 3dsMax has a Symmetry tool
http://renderhjs.net/textools/3dsMax.html

Mirror

Reflects or flips either 1 side of a UV shell to the other side or average booth sides so that they are in any case identical. This tool comes with 2 modes:

select half the faces of a shell to mark the half to be mirrored.
select 1 edge or a symmetry edge selection to mark the symmetry axis,- will average the verts on booth sides

Youtube Link: uv symmetry

Unfortunately I am not working these days with 3dsMax and the plugin is currently not in development. If you like Blender you can try the new TexTools for Blender

musashidan · Jun 2018

deatonjc288 said:

bump

so this was pretty crappily answered

seems like there is no push for symmetrical uv unwrapping tool? anybody wanna explain how you do symmetry in gimp with uvs that are twisted and poorly organized
the software is only 1500 dollars.. why arent people getting what they paid for?
i would understand if this were 2010 max but come on m8
this is the 4th page on google when i searched 3ds max uv unwrapping tool
so please be constructive
from what i could find as far as symmetry maya is holding the search results back but u might try it if u can figure it out

And this was crappily asked. What are you trying to say? Are you asking about Gimp or 3dsMax having symmetry?

Max Unwrap does have geo symmetry, but not live uv island symmetry(like Textools above)

Mark Dygert · Jun 2018

deatonjc288 said:

bump

so this was pretty crappily answered

seems like there is no push for symmetrical uv unwrapping tool? anybody wanna explain how you do symmetry in gimp with uvs that are twisted and poorly organized
the software is only 1500 dollars.. why arent people getting what they paid for?
i would understand if this were 2010 max but come on m8
this is the 4th page on google when i searched 3ds max uv unwrapping tool
so please be constructive
from what i could find as far as symmetry maya is holding the search results back but u might try it if u can figure it out

The majority of artists don't have issues with the way the tools work, at least not to a point that they would stop making art and go write scripts and tools.

If you have twisted and poorly organized UV's that's mostly a problem with your workflow. How you make something can vastly affect how the UV's come out. If you work in edge loops and rings with collapse and connect then you're more likely to start with something workable.
If you're the type extrude from open edges of geometry, cut and target weld then it's going to be a mess.

Experience tells you that, if you make nightmare geometry, you're uv's are going to be hard to work with.

Expecting someone else to spend their time and effort on a tool that straightens out your mess, just isn't going to happen, especially if you expect it to be given away for free and endlessly supported.

If the problem really hampers your work and nothing exists and its not a problem for other people, is it really on those other people to fix your issue, for you? Dig in and "be constructive", help yourself be a better artist, stop what you're doing and go make the tool/script/whatever, instead of just bitching and moaning.

If you have something specific, you should post it and see what people come up with as a solution.

Best UV Unwrap software for 3DS Max?

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