Is there any easy way to straighten UVs in Maya?

IgorP · May 2020

I recently got hammered by Maya's UV tools. I had to spend more than 10 sec unwrapping a cylinder with bevel because Maya does not have proper straighten tools (i am refering to Straighten Selection from 3ds).

So i am asking you, where does Maya hide such tool? Why can't maya straighten 12 faces in a loop? Why it requires manual fixes, that will be broken by next unfold anyway. Why Straighten UVs tool does the opposiste? What the hell is wrong?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/2a/zrxxyht6a183.gif

This is the model maya can't handle, impressive.

Flmn · May 2020

Just select one of the UV loops and use straighten shell instead of straighten UVs.

Ghogiel · May 2020

Can you even select UV loops in Maya? It's a bit of a gripe, as mesh edge selection obviously doesn't repect that edges are split on the UV. I'm a bit of a noob to maya but I've only got UV verts and shells

Flmn · May 2020

Select first UV and then double click where you want loop to end. At least that's how I do it for a long time.

Ghogiel · May 2020

I probably worded that badly. I meant edges, I can select UV verts.

Alex_J · May 2020

for fast selections use the ctrl marking menu to make conversions from one componnet type to another. You can double click an edge to select entire ring, then convert to UV's. It only takes a small gesture movement once you know how to do it.

already mentioned but straighten shell is what you want to use here.

throttlekitty · May 2020

It's a dumb solution, but what I usually do here is insert a temporary edge loop on the inside of the ring, run straighten on that loop then delete it. Trying to run straighten on a uv border selection usually gives a shit result. Even though I usually have to clean up doing it the first way, it's usually closer to what I want.

Benjammin · May 2020

Why not just do a cylindrical unwrap to begin with, pin the central faces, then unfold? Or just do a slight manual scale of the outer bevelled edge.
I'd be interested to know if the max version of the tool does anything different/better when fed the same UVs.

Really fighting the urge to ramble about how spoilt the young people are, and how things were in my day...

Ghogiel · May 2020

Benjammin said:

I'd be interested to know if the max version of the tool does anything different/better when fed the same UVs.

It's not a perfect tool, has issues, but max straighten UV would definitely just work on a shell like that. Stuff like that is only thing you can be sure it'll work on mind you..

Taylor Brown · May 2020

throttlekitty said:

It's a dumb solution, but what I usually do here is insert a temporary edge loop on the inside of the ring, run straighten on that loop then delete it. Trying to run straighten on a uv border selection usually gives a shit result. Even though I usually have to clean up doing it the first way, it's usually closer to what I want.

That's exactly what I find myself doing a majority of the time on more problematic uv islands

Is there any easy way to straighten UVs in Maya?

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