Max's mirror uvs

Ged

This is just a small question, Im used to cinema 4D more than max and I use both but there are some things I can do faster in c4d so I was wondering if theres an equivalent in 3dsmax 8.

1. Rotate incremental values instead of 24.98, 179.45, in cinema I hold down shift while rotateing and it locks rotations to 0.5 degress. ?
2. is there any keyboard shortcut for the inset tool?

thomasp

1. look up snaps. angle snap is what you want. you should be able to bind the toggle to a hotkey or i think it's an icon in the default interface
2. make your own (customize->customize user interface->keyboard->Inset (Poly)

Ged

thanks alot thomasp, works a charm , I just assumed things were set up to do this by default. Nearly done with my character now, just gotta do the head and belt.

Ged

Hey Ive come up against another problem now and Im not sure how to solve it.

Ive got a modifier stack like this

+unwrap uvw
+symmetry
+editable poly

Ive just finished unwrapping half of my model because I assumed that the symmetry modifier would make the texture appear on the other half automatically but Ive found that symetry has made it possible to map on both halves of the mesh.

Im guessing I should have put the unwrap uvw before the symetry in the modifier stack
How can I fix this and use the unwrapping Ive just done without having to start over?

Ghostscape

put another symmetry on top.

Or right click the mesh, convert to poly, and then stick a symmetry modifier on it (convert to poly will collapse the history).

Whenever you collapse the stack down, UVs are preserved.

Ged

I tried putting another symmetry on top but then isnt it making 2 of the same model? and when I put the extra symetry on top how do I test that the uv map is correct, put another unwrap?

I tried converting to poly and putting a modifier on that and then adding an unwrap but when I click on edit it only shows the uvs I didnt want and all the ones I do want are gone.

heres a screenshot, the stuff in red is the stuff I want to go away, the stuff not circled is fine.

Ged

oh I think Ive found a solution, collapse it and then delete the half I dont want then unwrap then symmetry?

rybeck

I guess you got it now...
Let's say, the half you did unwrap is "good mesh (or poly)" and you want to keep it. After you finished the unwrap, collapse the stack, and select the other half you DIDN'T unwrap, and delete it. Now you should have only "good mesh" contains unwrapped UVW map. (to confirm this, apply another UVW unwrap, and see from UVW editor) All you need to do from here is apply another symmetry modifier on "good mesh." Now you should have a model sharing UVW map perfectly mirrored along the symmetry plane.

Hope this helps.


JK

Ged

thanks rybeck thats exactly what I did in the end. It wasnt helping me that the uv editor was framing only the 1x1 uv space and only when I zoomed out could I check if the uvs I had done where there, so that added to my earlier confusion. Everything is fine now and Ive started on textures