Advice with mirroring and overlaying UVs
polycounter lvl 5
I'm not sure if I've posted about this before, but I would like some advice/suggestions on how to mirror/overlay certain elements? Really awkward elements. For instance, fingernails on a character. I've tried retopologising one and then duplicating it over to other fingers in 3DCoat, but sadly, the mesh gets a bit messed up and then the geometry is no longer the same, so transferring a UV doesn't work. I've also tried to use alignment tools in Max and Maya, with a duplicated version of an unwrapped mesh, but they never align correctly.
What methods do others use? What would be the best approach for individual and awkward elements that might be at an angle?
Thanks
Replies
Maybe you could copy and paste UVs. In the UV window, select one of the shells, rclick> copy. Select another rclick>paste and it'll hopefully fit and snap one to the other.
Yeah, I've tried that method before too, but it always gives weird results with the cuts. :-\
Copy-pasting never works, it always gives you broken uv seams like in that image. Something to do with vertice index order not being the same on the two pieces of geometry.
I would grab all four fingernails (lets say we're using the thumbnail as the base) roughly overlay them onto each other, ensuring their orientation is all correct. Then drag select each clustered grouping of vertices and scale down so they all perfectly stack. Then use vertice-snaps to drag/snap onto the thumbnail UVs.
Time consuming, but easy, especially since these fingernails aren't really heavy on geo.
Hmm. That’s an interesting approach. I didn’t consider that. Thanks. I’ll give that a try and see. :)
Darn it. Was really eager to put that to the test, but in typical Max fashion, I can't seem to get the vertex snapping to work in the UV editor. :-\
EDIT: Never mind. It doesn't appear to work in Freeform mode, only Move.
Bugger. Had high hopes for that method. Not sure if I've snapped a vertex or two in the wrong place, but they're still showing distortion. :-\
If the geo is different across the finger nails, of course there'll be some distortion if its matching the same UVs. It'll just have to be a compromise/small distortion for the gains of saving UV space.
However, both look distorted, so make sure the original nail geo and uvs are nice and relaxed/pelted before you overlap them with vert snaps
Yeah, I made sure they were. I used Reset Peel, Relax, and Pelt Mode for each one.
Trapezoid quads will always show some uv distortion when trying to map them to a square uv.
The distortion happens because you're mapping a trapezoid to a rectangle. Those quads are really two triangles, and the triangles get distorted differently, so you see that dodgy seam along the diagonal.
You can add more geo to make the trapezoid more like a rectangle, or you can make the UVs more like a trapezoid.
Okay. To be honest, I should add a subdivision or two to my current arm and fingernail meshes. I'll see what happens if I give them more geo and adjust their shape.