Script to align UV shells to model position in world/local space?

mrgesy

Hey guys. Is it possible to find/create a script that takes unwrapped, randomly rotated UV shells and aligns them in the UV square according to the model's position in 3d space? I can do this by hand by rotating all the UV shells so that if I put a checker map with arrows, they all point/flow in the same direction along the model. Without this, all the arrows would just be pointing in different directions and I can't apply seamless gradients/camouflage to the model. Hope I explained it well.

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mrgesy

Sorry, I'm using 3ds max and need maxscript to make this.Here's some images. In the first picture, the shells are rotated the wrong way and I had to rotate them so they all face the same direction in relation to the model's geometry. The shells should be aligned on the X axis. Imagine doing this for over 400 elements. I've been looking for automated ways to accomplish this.

mrgesy

No ideas anybody?

Revel

I don't think there is a way though, since the mesh is in 3d space (XYZ coord) and UV is on 2d space (UV coord, if we ignored the W coord), max wouldn't know how to interpret the additional axis.

throttlekitty

Does max have a planar UV projection like Maya does, and are all the models as boxy as what you're showing? If so, you could project from the top, mark and unfold the seams and have angled UV shells.

mrgesy

throttlekitty said:

Does max have a planar UV projection like Maya does, and are all the models as boxy as what you're showing? If so, you could project from the top, mark and unfold the seams and have angled UV shells.

Yeah it does, but the models are complex parts of tanks and sometimes projecting just creates a mess. I usually UV them properly and then rotate them to face the +X axis. At least if I could find a way to align them only on this axis and ignore the other axes, it would be great.

throttlekitty

mrgesy said:

throttlekitty said:

Does max have a planar UV projection like Maya does, and are all the models as boxy as what you're showing? If so, you could project from the top, mark and unfold the seams and have angled UV shells.

Yeah it does, but the models are complex parts of tanks and sometimes projecting just creates a mess. I usually UV them properly and then rotate them to face the +X axis. At least if I could find a way to align them only on this axis and ignore the other axes, it would be great.

Yeah that would be a pain. You could try using a projected texture and bake that down, but I gotta ask why having a camo pattern aligned a certain way is important?

TheGabmeister

Hello. I was wondering if there's a way to do this in Maya 2018.6.

Currently, what I do is I Unfold the shells and then manually align them by either using Orient Shells or Orient Shells to Edges. Afterwards, I check the direction by using a checker map with arrows. Maybe there's a more efficient way of doing this?