Unwrap a tall prop with cylinder shape.

sergio · Sep 2014

I don't find a decent way to unwrap this prop without overcome the canvas.
As you can see in the image here's my uv, some parts are very small, and have a huge space to fill.
This object will have textures like normals and diffuse, i don't want distortion in the texture.
Low Object for a mobile game.

cryrid · Sep 2014

You could use a 2:1 ratio texture, or just split the staff in half.

Chimp · Sep 2014

Yes, I'd split the long cylinder up into 2-3 pieces side by side on the uv map. You shouldnt be curving your smaller cylinders uvs like that, you're going to distort and have trouble, well, more trouble than if they were flat like the long cylinder.

EarthQuake · Sep 2014

2:1 or even 4:1 layout. Don't split the mesh into multiple chunks, then you introduce annoying seams to deal with.

Chimp · Sep 2014

good call

wenglish · Sep 2014

Or, depending on the desired detail of this prop or how far from camera it is (it doesn't look like a "hero" prop) you could split the pole out and use a square tiling texture, UV'd outside of the 0,1 space. But if you want unique detail all along the shaft then do what EarthQuake said and use a wide texture

sergio · Sep 2014

Thanks for your time, i learn a lot in unwrap cylindrical shapes, this prop will only be visible when the robot attack, i don't want a lot of attention in this prop so i apply what Lawless says, here is the result.

Chase · Sep 2014

Question for anyone that uses max to unwrap: When i pack the uvs with the intention of using a 2:1 texture sheet I adjust the uv sheet size in the preferences from being a 1:1 to a 2:1. The whole point of using a 2:1 in this situation is because you have excess uv space. When I set the preferences the uvs still get squished and distorted if I fil up the space. Whats up with that yo?

Mark Dygert · Sep 2014

The UV bounding area in max is always 0 to 1, you can change the dimensions to be rectangular but the UV square still reads 0 to 1. The UV square gets distorted to whatever the default setting is, or whatever the texture map that is being displayed.

When unwrapping non-square materials I will create a custom checker material for those dimensions and apply that to the model. Then the UV editor to display that map as its background (upper right drop down menu). It sets the bounding box to display properly.

OR

You can leave the UV editor default setting as square and unwrap to two tiles, then squish it into the 0-1 space. It will look squished until you apply a non-square texture to it and set it to display that.

OR

IF you need more precision when switching back and forth between square/non-square layout. You can unwrap to two square tiles, then use the "UVW Xform" modifier to squash/stretch the U/V as needed. This will scale it exactly how you need it, instead of just using the scale tool and guessing.

Chase · Oct 2014

Ohh so if I want a 2:1 bake I should use a 2:1 checker pattern for the unwrap and packing of the uvs? In doing so I can then adjust the uv bounding box to be a 2:1 and it wont distort. Or like you were saying in option 2 I could just ignore the stretching and when I bake out the 2:1 or apply a 2:1 texture it will look fine. Just making sure I'm understanding ya

Mark Dygert · Oct 2014

The output dimensions in RTT take priority, RTT doesn't take the dimensions info from the material.

Max will bake to whatever dimensions you set in the Render To Texture window.
If your UV layout is 1:2 and your output in RTT is 1:1 it will be squished.
IF your UV layout is 1:1 and your output in RTT is 1:2 it will be stretched.

The texture assignment is just to get the UV editor to display the correct bounding box.

I already use custom checker patterns for a few other reasons, this is just another positive side effect:

The default checker is procedural which means pixel snap doesn't work, no pixels to snap to...
There are no letters or numbers to easily tell if a shell is flipped or not.
There aren't any circles to help check for distortion, it helps if circles and straight lines work together, both are good at finding different types of distortion.
There isn't a pixel pattern to it to see how big or small pixels are.

Basically the default checker patter is pretty basic and mostly garbage in my opinion.

Unwrap a tall prop with cylinder shape.

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