how do you make the UV map all nice after extruding the face along a curve, i always get that one face on the UV editor and the extruded edge i have to UV manually, very painful, any tool or technique?
Yeah, something like that would be really handy. We do alot of trim faces for alot of the environment art here, and something that'd unwrap along a loop, or something like that would be fab.
Don't have too much time to comment on it, but what you guys are probably looking for is a Loft tool's UV'ing capabilities. It does a decent job, you have to play around with it for a bit though.
Lot's of studios have proprietary tools that'll help out with the UVs furthermore after a loft. Don't have time to go in depth. Anyone else know any more about this?
(Keep in mind. This is one of those things that has no super easy fix. It's always going to be a pain in the dick.)
Can only speak about 3ds Max, but Loft is a good start if the mesh is pretty straightforward.
But for weirder shapes, or mesh created by someone else, Texture Layers has been really awesome. Their spline UV system is pretty good, you can project a cylinder UV along any spline, or you can project a planar UV along it (which can optionally twist too). Not a cheap plugin, but probably worth it (I got it for free, as a beta tester).
Wow, that'd be a damn usefull tool Eric. Anyone happen to know of something that lets you do similar things in Maya though? We don't use Max.
Also, another way to do this easier is (in some cases) to create an straight object with the right amount of sub divisions, map that, then to deform it into the shape you are going for. Doesn't always work, and doesn't give the control of extruding along a curve, but you can use the extra time saved in mapping to tweak it out.
Don't know Maya, but another method could be to copy the mesh, deform it into a straight shape, UV that, then use the original as a morph target to reverse-deform the copy.
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Lot's of studios have proprietary tools that'll help out with the UVs furthermore after a loft. Don't have time to go in depth. Anyone else know any more about this?
(Keep in mind. This is one of those things that has no super easy fix. It's always going to be a pain in the dick.)
But for weirder shapes, or mesh created by someone else, Texture Layers has been really awesome. Their spline UV system is pretty good, you can project a cylinder UV along any spline, or you can project a planar UV along it (which can optionally twist too). Not a cheap plugin, but probably worth it (I got it for free, as a beta tester).
http://www.mankua.com
Here's a really old screenshot of the splinemapping in action on a tree trunk of mine. Some stretching, but quick to tweak afterwards.
Also, another way to do this easier is (in some cases) to create an straight object with the right amount of sub divisions, map that, then to deform it into the shape you are going for. Doesn't always work, and doesn't give the control of extruding along a curve, but you can use the extra time saved in mapping to tweak it out.