Decent UV Packing Script/Tool?

MattLichy

Hey,

So, I've been having to do hundreds of objects worth of UV3's at work for Lightmaps lately, and I've been using 3DS Max's Packing system to help with some of it.

But as I'm sure alot of you know.. it's kinda crap... Or at least, isn't that smart alot of the time. It will often leave big gaps open, or arrange pieces in odd ways.


I am wondering if anyone has found a good method/script/tool to help with this? So far I've just been doing flatten mapping, or whatever the object calls for, then use Pack, and then have to manually adjust the UVS by 30-50% most of the time to get something decent.

I was just messing with the Headus UV Layout demo, and it's a pretty awesome tool. But I don't think that tool will work well for hard surface, boxy type objects... Unless I am missing something.. But I do like its packing setup.


Thanks,

-M

tristamus

Hey there...

Yeah, I've heard nasty things about a lot of 3d packages' UV'ing mechanics....especially maya and 3ds max's.

However, I'm a Maya user, and I do still use them, AFTER I've had a pass through Headus UV Layout.

Headus is really great as it has one of the best packing functions around. I also use UV Master in Zbrush, as it is extremely simple to learn and get working correctly.

You say you need uv's for boxy type objects? Well...what exactly is the problem you're having? Planar mapping etc should work fine..

I guess I should say it all depends on what you're making but, generally, I always have an easier time with Maya's tools for doing boxy stuff. But since your a max guy, don't think that info is much use to you atm lol...

It's hard to say man. I'd just give Headus a go, learn it, give it a few hours, and you'll see that it works quite well, and works in conjuction with anything else (max, maya, uv master, etc.)

r_fletch_r

I cant recall the feature name because I havent used Headus in over a year (work has taken me elsewhere) but there is a feature for automatically unwrapping boxy objects. It is located near the weld tools. Edit (What Kary Said. its called Segment)

kary

http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=98

Take a look at the segment section. Might help, the packing setup (with the boxes that keep things together) is a very good solution. Wonder why more companies aren't doing that.

megalmn2000

Hey!

Take a look here: http://www.raylightgames.com/2010/05/sneakpeek-xrayunwrap-15-rc1/

It's call the X-Ray Unwrap, a real time saver!
You'll just need to select your seams and they'll unwrap your mesh automatically. I've been using it and it helps a lot!

And it only cost 13 euros!

NordicNinja

I've been having a lot of luck going between Blender and ZBrush. Marking UV seams and the default unwrap function in Blender and then importing the model into ZBrush and using UVW master with the "use existing UV seams" selected. I find that this is an easy and quick way to get decent UVs without the need for a whole lot of manual work.

MattLichy

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions.

I will have to keep messing with UVLayout. I really dig it, just need to learn more. But it sucks its like 300$ for the pro version. I don't think Turn10 would pick it up , but it's possible.


Unwrapping the stuff isnt the issue when I asked about this. I just am looking for a way to pack the shells quicker and efficiently with less manual labor. But I dont think there will be anything anytime soon that will do what I want. But hopefully will get close.

rodrigocox

ssup Matt

I think this should solve your problems,
http://www.texturebaking.com/

kinda expensive, but works great...

SICKERMAN

I mostly use 3ds max uvs tools and Headus Uv layout. Headus is great to work with symmetrical stuff, especially if you want some to be symmetrical, like the arms, but that you want the whole head. (as an exemple).

Max or Maya's uv tool are pretty easy and straight forward to understand once you get past the coldness of the softwares.

And the pelt mapping tool is really nice.

Quick tips: If you want to use the relax tool and it's goes no where, try using it on specific part of the uv, like the nose or ears (damn you ears! ^^)

If you want a nice tutorial for 3ds max uv tools, you could always buy this baby here, really helped me when I first started:http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/155/Character-Texturing-for-Production

But do try Headus UV Layout, it's not really expensive and is worth the time, really easy to understand, but you do need to know the shortcuts (C for Cut, W for Weld, D for Drop.... and Shift F for flattening and Relaxing... cant really be easier)

J0NNYquid

I'm having a similar issue. I need to unwrap 1000's of individual pieces of a vehicle for lightmap baking, and I need something better than 3ds Max auto-unwrap and pack tools, they make too many small islands. I doubt I'll be able to get the powers that be to swing a license for Headus unfortunately. I'm on the hunt for something that can quickly do 100's of UV's per sheet, and pack them without leaving the huge empty spaces and miniscule UV islands of 3ds Max. I stumbled upon one a while ago, I'll try and find it, but until then....any help is appreciated.

Found it. Anybody used this yet? http://www.posavec.eu/uv-packer-open-beta-get-it-now/

Either way it's free so I'll give it a shot.

Stromberg90

Not open beta, bought it myself some time ago to do lightmap bakes, works ok for some meshes, but for me it cause more problems than helping, breaks my uv's, crashes or sometimes collapses them

WarrenM

Headus is really, really nice. The packing features alone -- being able to group islands together, lock them as overlapping and other things -- are just invaluable time savers. Being able to quickly flatten pipes and other things into rectangular islands is also great.

My only complaint with it is that it's 2012 and I have to carry around a USB dongle to use it.

.morph3us

rodrigocox wrote: »

ssup Matt

I think this should solve your problems,
http://www.texturebaking.com/

kinda expensive, but works great...

i made a test once with default max against flatiron.
flatiron only got 3% more uv space than the default one...

cupsster

FlatIron & Unwerella, UV Layout

CheeseOnToast

Headus is really, really nice. The packing features alone -- being able to group islands together, lock them as overlapping and other things -- are just invaluable time savers. Being able to quickly flatten pipes and other things into rectangular islands is also great.

My only complaint with it is that it's 2012 and I have to carry around a USB dongle to use it.

Agreed, headus is great and getting better. I think he could lower the price significantly though and ditch the dongle thing entirely. I'd rather pay £50 - £75 for a node-locked license than £220 for a dongle based one. The multi-seat licensing is a bit convoluted and manual as well.

ivanzu

Blender has built-in lightmap unwrapping tools and they work fine.

Caetano

ivanzu wrote: »

Blender has built-in lightmap unwrapping tools and they work fine.

The lightmap unwrapping, as well as any unwrapping method in Blender uses bounding boxes instead of the face shapes to pack them. Also every face that has a rectangular bounding box is deformed into a square bounding box, unless the rectangle is very thin, so I would more call that TERRIBLE !

Throbberwocky

Hi,

there is an addon for Blender which delivers excellent results in my opinion:

• UV Pack Master: The free version with basic features
• UV Pack Master Pro: The full featured version

It is super fast and has a bunch of useful features.

gandhics

3dsMax 2017 Packing is not bad...

oglu

this thread is five years old... now near every tool does have a decent packer.... 

musashidan

Max's non-convex algorithm is actually very good and fast.