How to unwrap a curved pipe?

Lerrp

This is the model: 

I use maya. I'm curious about what the best practice is for unwrapping cylindrical objects with a curve in them. I have been told I should gridify everything non organic. But I notice when I do this on a cylindrical curve I get distortion in the map. Below are some examples of options I have tried (with maya's distortion coloring turned on):


Straightened Grid 
Natural Unfold
Gridify and then unfold along one direction


I am also not sure if I should leave the curved section attached to the rest of the uvs, which would look something like this: 


Basically I am just looking for a best practice I can use as a rule of thumb across all similar hard surface cylindrical forms. 

Thanks!

sprunghunt

I would usually do the gridify and then unfold in one direction. Having curvy edges on the long end tends to make bad seams. 

Kanni3d

Deal with the minor distortion, and reap the benefits of having a straightened UV (first image)

Andreicus

Camera based protection to clear up the seams, put a seam that run along the tube in a position where it would not be seen by the camera, put another one in the middle edge ring where the pipe makes the curve, unfold. 

You should get straight uvs without distortion. If it doesn't become straight automatically, try using the Straighten UVs tool on the shell.

The Straighten+unfold along one direction is also good if you don't get distortion.

Having straight uvs is essential if you must bake the mesh from an high poly model or if you must apply a label otherwise it won't matter. 
You can use the low poly as high poly in substance, bake the maps that you need and you won't notice any artifacts. 

Obscura

I would unwrap it straight.

Alex_J

Do all of them and put your textures on each one. Real fast and easy to test out. What looks best? There's your answer.

It will change depending on how clsoe asset is to camera, what resolution the textures are, how noisy they are, etc. Most of the time with items like this I'd do your third screenshot. If its a small piece of a larger scene and the seam is hidden, just make it straight for better packing.

Go on artstation and find winning models from their contest with marmoset viewers. Get up close and inspect. You'll find lots of minor distortions and texel density inconsistencies that simply don't matter for the presentation shot.

HAWK12HT

for small pipes I ll go with straight for something in closeup / composition shot (too noticeable) I ll relax. Alternatively you can unwrap straight pipe and bend later. Also why you have non uniform edges on curve? if its just a simple curve get all even space edges for much better smooth curve result.