Need UV/Unwrap Help

xerozebra

Hey, first time posting here. I've been modeling for a few years now, but I've been too busy to work on anything for a few months, so I'm pretty rusty. I started a new project yesterday, just a simple model that I planned on texturing and rendering. I completed my model fairly quickly, but unwrapping it has been a nightmare. Never been my strong suit but I can still get the job done. I've tried what feels like 100 different things and I keep getting the same result when I import my model into Substance Painter. It's probably a very simple solution or fix, but I need a new (and/or more experienced) set of eyes on this to tell me what I'm doing wrong here. 
Here's the part of the model that seems to be giving me the most trouble. It's possible my issue is with the way I've created my geometry (like I said, rusty). 
Here's my latest attempt at an unwrap, nothing acts wrong at this point.

This is what it looks like when I import into Substance, and this is what I can't fix. Any ideas? Thanks everyone.

Alex_J

I think the problem is in the topology and your normals/edges, not in the UV's. 

Try unlocking the normals, hardening the edges, and then see how it looks. Also rework the topology so that you don't have long stretches (on the border.)

TheGabmeister

You're using 3ds Max right? It might have something to do with the export settings. Try checking/unchecking the settings for the normals and smoothing groups to see if there's a difference.

xerozebra

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

I think the problem is in the topology and your normals/edges, not in the UV's. 

Try unlocking the normals, hardening the edges, and then see how it looks. Also rework the topology so that you don't have long stretches (on the border.)

Reworked some things and it helped a lot, thank you!

TheGabmeister said:

You're using 3ds Max right? It might have something to do with the export settings. Try checking/unchecking the settings for the normals and smoothing groups to see if there's a difference.

This really worked as well, unchecked both of those settings and it seems to have helped tremendously. Still some manual edits to do but both of your advice seems to have gotten the major issue fixed, thank you so much!

Alex_J

Glad to have helped.

Read about the edge smoothing (maya) / smoothing group modifiers (max) to understand why that shading issue occurs. It's a prretty common thing -- easy to fix once you know it but understanding how the normals work is pretty important for a lot of reasons.