Arranging / packing multiple UV chunks (automatically)?

C86G

Hi guys.

I´m wondering if there is some magic I haven´t heard about to arrange/pack multiple UV chunks into one map.
For example when you have unwrapped a hard surface model that now consists of a large amount of small UV pieces/chunks. So far I arranged and packed them by hand, but sometimes this takes looooads of time.
The standard packing from textools and max is not as good as I wished.


Any ideas?

huffer

This: http://polycount.com/discussion/145328/uv-packer-ipackthat/p1

C86G

Reading that thread already : )

Looks like demo only, right?

AtticusMars

It's in beta, you can buy it from Steam or Gumroad.

C86G

I´m playing with the Demo.
Any info on how many single UV islands it can handle? The program works nice but when I load too many single UV parts it literally does nothing.

musashidan

'Pack Together' in the unwrap mod can be handy to alleviate some of the manual packing workload. Just select groups of small islands, 'pack together' into as square an arrangement as you can, and repeat. This ensures 1:1 for final manual packing. Far from automatic, but can be useful.

PolyHertz

Textools uses the built in max packer, which is junk.
PolyUnwrapper I've heard good things about but haven't tested it myself.
Headus UVLayout has a packing system iirc (been years since I last used it)
3D-Coat has a decent UV packer, though it doesn't give you as much control as you may want.
IPackThat does the best job overall, and is easy to use, but still seems to have some major bugs.
UV-Packer made by the Unwrella guys is also pretty good (though I'm not sure if it's supported anymore).