How would you map this?

AnimeAngel

Hey all. So it has been a while since I have done mapping or anything other then characters and I need to UV and texture this gnarled tree. Unwrapping it seems rather daunting and also seems that if I straighten any of the UV I will get alot of stretching. I could try vertex paint but I dont want the poly count to go to high as it is only a prop.
Normally I would likely just unwrap it, but this is for an Art test and I want it to be perfect. Thus why I am asking for opinions.
So how would you UV and map this ?

Mark Dygert

Pelt mapping (point to point seams), a lot of relax, maybe some stitching. But I'd probably optmize it a bit before jumping into UV'ing. But that depends on what its going into and how many polys I actually think I can knock off.

Oh and you could trim the dead space out of those images and save us all some bandwidth and it would keep the forum formatting...

AnimeAngel

Ah pelt mapping. Haven't used that one yet, likely why I didn't think of it. I will look into it. Thanks Vig

Mark Dygert

Autodesk put together a good video tutorial, it should get you moving in the right direction.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=5903856

If you have 2009 you MIGHT be able to spline UV map parts of it... but really I think pelt is the way to go for something that crazy.

ghib

This is the kind of thing that Headus' UVLayout was made for. Silo also would do a decent job on this.

AnimeAngel

Well trying to place some of the seams is a bit of a challenge as it is hard to get a clear view of the edges I want to make seams out of. I want to hide part of the geometry but it won't let me.
Plus, I am still getting moderate amounts of distortion. Even after relaxing it quite a bit I can't seem to get rid of all the distortion. I could prolly just work around it while painting but is there any other way to get rid of some of that distortion?
Also is there any way to delete a seam once you made it? Accidentally made an extra loop I didn't see it till to late and now I can't get rid of it.
Headus would be nice but I don't have the cash for another software piece and the demo won't let you save. Would be nice though...

AnimeAngel

Well found that if I stack a Edit Poly modifier on top of my Unwrap that I can hide geometry that gets in my way. But then have to toggle it on and off to view selection of faces.

SHEPEIRO

i find with complex object slike this its easier to split the model up into components unwrap those then stich back ogether and adjust the layout of UVs after

System

Hold down ctrl on the seams you make to remove them. To start, turn off map and pelt seams so that every edge you click is the only one visible. Also you may want to check the box for thin seam display as the thick seams get in the way if you have alot of edges close together.

It depends on how you want to texture this really, personally I would break off greenery chunks in uvw to isolate the bark then stitch parts together as necessary for texture blending.

Mark Dygert

In addition to what GCMP and Shep said, it also helps to planar map the whole thing to start with, it gets rid of all the seam edges.

AnimeAngel

Thanks guys! some useful tips there. Almost done with unwrapping it now. Got rid of most of the distortions by breaking it down to the small pieces possible. This gives me quite a few seams but I hid most of them and I will have to be mindful of the others when I start painting.

Instead of separating everything out, which was my first instinct too, I used an edit poly on the top of the stack to hide geometry when I was done with or it was in the way. I also found that collapsing the stack periodically would clear the seams I had made, which was very helpful when they get to be numerous.

I will post screens of the UV job in the WIP section when I have them.