UVAutoRatio 2.0 Pro UV-tool Plugin for Maya Released

Castor

Hi everyone. I have not been here for some time now , but I would like to drop by and announce that Pro version of UVAutoRatio is out. This is very useful tool for any uv mapper and it is certainly worth while checking it out. Saves me a lots of time!

Pro version is supposed to be commercial , but sounds cheap.. and there is even free version and maybe a trial versio for Pro if you ask them.

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UVAutoRatio 2.0 Pro UV-tool Plugin for Maya Released

Artists in the film and games industry spend hours manually scaling the texture coordinates of models to get them in the right proportion. This is not a particularly fun job. Wouldn't it be great if this tiresome task was automated? Enter UVAutoRatio Pro: the tool that automates all texture ratio tasks while still keeping the artist fully in control.

UVAutoRatio 2.0 Pro has been designed by artists, for artists. This new version is a huge improvement over the first release and it's thanks to the support and ideas of all the users. The most requested feature: support for UV shells is now supported, allowing the tool to operate across multiple objects and multiple UV shells. The new faster algorithm means even extremely high polygon scenes can be processed within seconds. The compact user interface keeps the artist in control, while providing a smooth and intuitive workflow.

Visit www.uvautoratio.com for downloads and more information.

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achmedthesnake

watched the vid, nice work - helps cut substantial uv/unwrapping times, though i was wondering if renderhead has put any thoughts into the other autodesk platform - 3dsmax?

CrazyButcher

MoP made such a maxscript already for 3dsmax, just look back a few pages in this subforum

MoP

Yeah mine is free for 3dsmax ... although it is slow for highpoly meshes, it is fine for pretty much all game art

I thought there was already a free script that does this for Maya (I think it was incorporated in the Zen Tools script pack?), but if there isn't, I'll probably write a Maya version of mine just for practise. Not sure how I can speed it up though, I guess they have some clever algorithm that costs £40

rooster

hm looks cool, for 40 quid i was hoping for it to automatically lay them out too

Castor

Humm , I think Maya has automatic layout already.

The plugin work really fast for very very high polygon model with lots of uvshells.
Also I think the power to set the target of texel ratio is rather nice.
Very useful when you have already done some part of the model and later you need it to be the same texel ratio to that . Or need to be the same texel ratio to some other model from other scene files.

Found it to be very useful for background work , lightmap , ambient occlusion map etc.

PaK

I can't understand the workflow of this tool. If it was really designed by artists for artists....those artists like clicking too many buttons.

I did this in MEL, and mine takes shells into account as well. If Crystal Dynamics didn't own it, I'd share it for free.

-R

rooster

castor, i guess you havent tried using mayas layout hehe.
ill give the free version a spin

Castor

From the video, it looks like it took 2 click of buttons on the plugin , 1 to set the ratio and then 1 for apply to objects... not sure how much simpler it can get? And when you set the ratio , next time you want to do... is just click on the apply to object or shell button? I don't find it difficult at all. How is you script work Pak? and how is it easier?

I think all other buttons are for the extras ... and options... preferences etc.

I think Renderheads commercialised it for mainly companies. 40 pounds sounds like a day pay for a junior artist and if this plugin saves some time of work everyday I think big studio who does not have the tech of their own will laugh at the price. Hehe

PaK

I came off rude, I apologize. I am having issues with controlling my asshole behavior and I need to fucking grow up, sorry.


1.) My script uses the edge border command to find shells

2.) I find the surface area for all the shells and does a simple calculation to find the scale factor

3.) scale each shell to maintain a consistent texil ratio.

1 button does it all. It's crazy fast. if I could share it, I would, but I can't. I have an idea to add an overlapping and mirroring feature so that similarly sized shells with identical UV layouts can share (good for diffuse, not lightmaps)

-R

MoP

PaK: That sounds like what my Max script does, although it sounds like you're just comparing UV surface area to come to an average?
Mine actually checks the surface area of the geometry polys and their corresponding UVs, so the scaling is actually done relative to the average of the UV area and polygon surface area. Which is probably why it's a bit slower

I was meaning to port it to MEL anyway, so I'll probably try your steps there and see what the result is like.

Castor

ya sounds like MoP 's version is similiar to the what UVAutoRatio does.

Whargoul

Maya has it in the Unfold tool (turn scale on) and if you want it to just scale and not try to unfold your UV's, turn the iterations to 0. The next Maya has a dedicated function for it in the layout UV's tool I think.

MoP

LOL! So someone's written a script and is charging £40 for it, when it's a standard Maya tool?

Also, thanks for pointing this out Whargoul, I'm used to Max's equivalent of "Unfold" automatically re-scaling stuff to be consistent, I can't believe I missed that checkbox. Now I don't have to write that MEL script either, awesome!

rooster

niceuu tippuu!!

Whargoul

I think right now in Maya, it only allows you to turn the iterations down to 1, so it will change the shape a little when rescaling - but if you run the same command manually you can change the iterations parameter to 0 and it preserves your exact shape. Or make a custom window for it I do like the one feature in that plugin where you set the scale by picking one object, though. Pretty handy! I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to come up with something like that for Maya's built-in one though.

PaK

Mop: My surface area calculation is using polyEvaluate (I believe the flag is -wa) and it gets the surface area of the polygons.

I havent actually worked on it in over a year so i forget the particulars. my artists are a fussy bunch and insist on doing their shit another way, witha different script they had me write that twists up the UV's. Artists are a crazy and fussy bunch...I'm embarrased to call myself one every-so-often.

I'm probably going to kill a few before I die.

-R

Whargoul

Oh yeah, yesterday I updated my script. Now it does exactly what the plug-in promises to do, using Maya's built in tools, for free. Hahahaha! Not sure if I can post it since I did it at work (I might re-write it since it's so simple), so here's the rundown:

To get the scale value, for the user's selection (I use face selection):
float $totalFaceArea, $totalUVArea;
for each face

$totalFaceArea += `get the area from face` (script I have)
convert face into UVs
get UV co-ords of UV points
$totalUVArea += `calc area of UVs`;

return sqrt($totalFaceArea/$totalUVArea); (this might be $totalUVArea/$totalFaceArea instead)

This updates the scale slider in my window, and the action button just calls:

unfold -iterations 0 -scale $scale;

Or something like that. I didn't know Maya has a surface area command in polyEvaluate, I'll have to check it out, that will probably make my script even faster

Poof! Save yourself 40 bucks or whatever outrageous shit he's charging.

MoP

80 bucks. So unnecessary!