Identifying errors in Maya uv texture editor

n88tr

I am unwrapping a simple object and need some help.
In my texture editor i turned on "shaded uv display" so i can see where my errors are. I know blue means everything is good but other colors? I want to know what the other colors mean and if there is an error, like I think there are a lot in my pic, then how do i locate them?



Thanks guys

Bartalon

There are only two colors: blue and red. Blue indicates front-facing UVs and red indicates backwards-facing UVs. The orange I can only assume is being caused by backwards UVs blending with the green background of your UV Texture Editor. All you need to do is flip that shell so most of it is blue, then unfold it. You may have to cut seams for it to unfold properly.

n88tr

yeah, unfold helped a lot.
Do you know how i move a face that's on top of another? I'm thinking some form of "cut"?

Bartalon

The second button in the top row of icons in your UV Texture Editor is a "select shell" button which will allow you to snag entire shells while toggled on. Alternatively you can grab a single UV of a shell you want to move, hold Ctrl + RMB, and choose "To Shell" from the radial menu.

If the UV is still welded to another point, choose that UV or edge and then click on the sixth icon in the top row (the one with scissors) to detach that UV/edge from anything it's connected to.

n88tr

Ok thank you so much! UVs have always been a mystery to me but I spent most of yesterday learning about them and it helped a lot.

A small question though. As I unwrap stuff and make sure nothing is stretched, does it matter if my checker pattern matches up edge to edge? I mean a continuous flow?

I'm looking at this tutorial and I don't see him doing a continuous flow with his checker pattern. Sometimes the pattern is quite large but not stretched and on other places of the model the pattern is very tight. Do you know what i mean??

http://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creating-a-futuristic-weapon-in-maya-uv-mapping--cg-15712

and here too. see near the end
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~bailey/Courses/Tutorials/UVMapping/UVMapping.html

Bartalon

No, the checker continuity doesn't matter. All that really matters is that the checkers are the same size relative to the other shells. There are exceptions to this, such as if you are unwrapping a face, you may want to give it more resolution (smaller checkers visible) or if there is the underside or inside of an object that will rarely be seen up close, you can scale those parts down to give them less resolution (larger checkers visible).

The reason why it doesn't matter whether the checkers line up is because the actual texture you'll be using isn't checkers. You'll likely be painting in your own details and will make sure those details line up as you paint them.

When unwrapping complex shapes (pretty much anything besides basic primitives) there will always be a small amount of stretching or deformation in your UVs. It's up to you to decide what is acceptable. Sometimes you will have to scale a shell down slightly to make it fit, or scale one up so you can make the most of your texture resolution. Other times you may want to straighten a shell into a perfect rectangle even though it doesn't unfold that way (a good example being a tire or pants leg) because it makes texturing that surface much easier, despite the slight deformation.

n88tr

Thank you. Really, thanks a lot. UVs are starting to make a bit more sense now.