Mirroring UVW's from the center

Jpeppa

Hello everyone!

So I was watching this video on hand painting techniques and was curious how to "mirror UV's from the center"

If you notice how he creates his leather straps, the wrappings are seamless.

I cannot find anything on the internet on how to do this, not sure if it's just too specific of a request for a google search.

If anyone could help me out, I would really appreciate it. (I am using 3ds Max)

Here is the link to the video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xye_ceIpyRo"]Fantasy weapon texturing tutorial with photshop - YouTube[/ame]

Thank you!

Noors

Well he just mirrored his 3d model. The uvs of both sides are overlapped so the texture looks symmetrical. It's a common pratice to economize texture space (and time).
You unfold one side of a model, add a symmetry modifier, and you're good.
Usually for symmetrical stuff, you model with a symmetry modfier on anyway.

Jpeppa

Hrm, that thought did cross my mind, and while I haven't tried it yet with my current model, I imagine that it would result in a similar situation that would be equivalent to having two seams running down the side of the handle.

Noors

That's what he has. He only unwraped one side. You can clearly see the 3 strips and top and bottom of the handle beeing half of an hexagon.
Unwrapping completly the handle could be also done ofc, for a more realistic purpose, but then you need to paint in a 3d software to make a perfect seem (or trying tediously to match in photoshop) or/and bake a highpoly model, etc...It's more work, and more texture space

Jpeppa

Oi, when you said the top and bottom of the handle being half a hexagon... it clicked... lol

Well, looks like I'm off to redo some unwrapping! Thank you!