UV on instances

Lokiseven

Hello !

Does anyone know how i can keep UV on instance objects even when i have to attach one of them to a different model ?

The thing is when i have all objects separate and they are on instances everything works like a charm.
But... in final version of my model everything have to be combined and those objects what were instances have to be moved by 1 on UV tile.
I know i can put unvrap UV modifier on top of all objects before attaching them but then some functions in UV editor wont work properly like rescale UV island which i really need.

Till now i was attaching objects plus one object from every instance, laying out UVs, and then copying/mirroring elements which were on instances. But i wonder if there is better way to do this

Looking forward to hearing from you guys !

musashidan

Not sure exactly what your problem is but an instanced object with uvs will retain the uvs as the data is baked when you attach or collapse the object.

Lokiseven

yes, but i would like to retain the uvs AFTER attaching one object from instances to another object so when i modify UV, instances will have the same UV somehow... <span></span>

Bartalon

If you're using Max, then you should be able to use a Reference object rather than an Instance object.  References work similarly to instances, as any changes made to the original model will affect reference models; however, reference models may continue to be edited without those changes reaching back to the original model.  This way, you can offset UV sets by 1 on your reference meshes prior to attaching.  Note:  Instanced modifiers are displayed as bold.  Although I don't think instancing/referencing can be retained if you attach/detach pieces.

musashidan

If you mean you would like to retain the instance ability after attaching then you can't.  Once and instance is collapsed or attached it is no longer an instance.

Another workflow you might want to look into is just cloning the shared uv parts after you've  baked. So instead of offsetting in the uv editor you just clone the parts at the end of the process and they will automatically share uv space and whatever texture is applied.

Lokiseven

@musashidan
Offsetting UV is not such a big problem, the problem is with cloning parts. Most of a time it is painless proces but sometimes there is so many parts to clone, rotated, mirrored, moved in not straight line etc... and that is my problem  

For now thank all of you for responds, ill try different approach. Before i attach everything to main object ill flatten UVs(as usually i do) then attach and layout everything properly and then ill pick one of instances, match UV of it to the attached part so all instances should follow with this and finally i can attach everything all together.

If you think it wont work for some reason please tell me, so i dont waste my time on this

cheers!