[3ds Max] Is there a way to select polygons by view for UV Mapping?

Ruflse

So I have this camera which I want to divide in front, back, sides, top and bottom. I don't have much experience creating UV's for hard surfaces, so the only ways of doing it simple that comes to my mind are using seams or selecting the polygons from each view manually, but that would take a lot of time for more complex surfaces and there has to be a better way.

I've tried using Box Map projection and selection tools, but what I want to do is select the polygons that are visible in each viewport and make a planar map from each selection, unless someone could tell me a better method (any advise on UV mapping is really appreciated).

Thanks in advance.

Eric Chadwick

Get to know your polygon selection tools. In the UVW Unwrap modifier panel, there are some options to control viewport selections. Ignore Backfacing is a good one to use in your example.
http://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2017/ENU/?guid=GUID-EA10E59F-DE7F-497E-B399-6CF213A02C8D

You can also use Element selection to select a single piece, then switch to Polygon selection and use the Alt key to deselect polys you don't want.

Select By Region has some good tools.
http://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2017/ENU/?guid=GUID-E371C8DA-9664-4284-9AFA-826EF4544144

Window/Crossing Selection Toggle is another very useful one.
http://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2017/ENU/?guid=GUID-35216345-561C-460D-82AD-00E4C2F6716E

etc.

musashidan

Also, there is select by angle threshold in unwrap mod.

Max 2017 unwrap selection is much better.

Then there is Miauu script Easy Peel which is very useful.

The way you are attempting by selecting by view is a very sloppy way of unwrapping. Unwrapping is a very important part of the process and shouldn't be avoided. It is certainly worth your while learning to unwrap properly as this will greatly affect your baking/texturing process. Why spend all that effort on creating a great model and skimping on the uv stage?

It's actually a very easy process once you learn a solid workflow. When yo do you should have that model unwrapped in 30 minutes or so. Unwrapping symmetrically and duplicating identical mesh elements after unwrapping them can speed up the process.

Ruflse

I still don't get ignore backfacing in 3ds Max. The help of Autodesk says  "when on, prevents the selection of sub-objects not visible in the viewport", but when I try to select the front face it ends like this: 



It selects polygons in the back of the object that I'm pretty sure aren't appearing in the front view, why is this?

Eric Chadwick

It doesn't do any occlusion. It will select all faces that are facing the front view, regardless of whether they are behind others.

Ruflse

Eric Chadwick said:

It doesn't do any occlusion. It will select all faces that are facing the front view, regardless of whether they are behind others.

The definition that Autodesk gives is a little misleading then

So this is what I have right now (the chunks aren't correctly disposed and scaled yet). Is this a good way of doing it? I made planar maps for each part that I consider important.



Should I make planar maps for the individual parts of the camera like this, including front and sides for each relief?

Eric Chadwick

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Texture_Coordinates#UV_Tutorials_.26_Threads