3ds max unwraping resources?
mod
I'm looking for any info on how you guys go about unwraping your meshes in max, mainly mechanical type stuff.
I've got a pretty good workflow for doing this in modo, just selecting edges and using the unwrap tools. But i'de like to know what you guys use in max. Do you use pelt, or some other method?
I've got a pretty good workflow for doing this in modo, just selecting edges and using the unwrap tools. But i'de like to know what you guys use in max. Do you use pelt, or some other method?
Replies
But overall I hate Max's UV tools. I find them cumbersome and lacking.
Found here.
http://www.luxinia.de/index.php/ArtTools/3dsmax
I like to use flatten then I stitch things together with with stitch in edge subobject mode. I would use unfold more if it wasn't buggy.
Pelt in Max should just work like crazybutchers script. You plot seams and it unfolds things, but with Pelt it doesn't. With Pelt you have to go and play with springs then straighten shit out. Getting symmetrical uvs with that thing is a pain in the ass.
So it sort of like what Tumerboy said, they are clunky. In 2009 they improved them but I have not used the new tools, so I can't comment on those.
Alex
Then I've got some hotkeys for aligning stuff vertically/horizontally to make pieces perfectly straight if necessary, and then just lay it out manually.
Out of interest, Tumerboy, what do you find "cumbersome and lacking" about Max's UV tools, and compared to what app? A lot of the time I've found that people who don't like UV'ing in Max just either have missed certain shortcuts/workflows, or just need to get one script and then they love it
When it comes down the the actual uv tools, both apps do fine and I have no real preference.
Tools > Flatten Mapping, and Stitch the edges/pieces together, relax, arrange.
- I guess one advantage would be that the pieces normally come out aligned horiz/vert.
- The disadvantage, is the pieces are fractured based on angle and often scattered all over the place.
It's hard to remember with out actually working on anything right now, I'll try to take note next time I get frustrated with it.
I know one area that bugs me is kind of what you guys were talking about, with the integration between the model and it's UV space. I can bring up the UV editor, and when I select faces or whatever in it, and they show up back in the viewport. But I can't center on them like I could in normal sub-object mode. This isn't that big of a deal, but once in a while I find myself having select some random face in the UV editor, not knowing where the hell that face belongs, and having to search the viewport for a while before I find it, instead of just being able to click on the viewport, and hit Z.
Edit: Another thing that I honestly can't remember using anywhere, but would be very helpful, and doesn't seem like it would be THAT difficult, would be an easy way to ensure all of my UV islands are using the same Texel Density. Just a one button "Scale Islands to equal Density" or something would be awesome.
I honestly haven't used anything BUT max for a number of years now, so even though I do believe there are things Maya and others do better in UV Layout, at the moment I would probably be far slower in those other packages, simply because I'm out of practice with them.
On another note, EQ, many people herald the helpfulness of things like Roadkill and Unfold3d for UV help. I keep hearing how awesome roadkill is, so I downloaded it, and just had no idea what the fuck I was doing in there.
Here are the ones I use, align average horizontal and align average vertical. Works on vert selections. They where originally created by James Haywood as part of his HUGE script pack, Haywood tools.
While you're script hunting also check out Neil Blevins scripts.
I have them bound to keys. There are quite a few of these types of scripts floating around, I'm sure some are better then others.
I have been years and more years using UVW mapping in Max and i hate its tools. There isn't anynothing more complete than modo's uvw tools. With the new interactive relax, programs such as unfold 3d have passed to History for me.
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=52415
Thanks MoP, Vig & Eric
Since you're on a roll, is there any magical script that will keep my UV's from spinning around into twisted bizarre shapes when I relax them? Don't get me wrong, I use Relax a lot, and often get good results from it (especially by face) but I often have to manually position a bunch of stuff FIRST, then relax it some.
Oh yeah, it's a software-architecture issue, but keeping it open basically allows a community to create/share a great wealth of tools. Just like with Mel.
Oh dont worry i wont be touching max anytime soon, i've been talking to people about weapons etc that they make it max and it always seem to be a huge chore for them to create uvs, where in modo uvs are a pretty quick task, so i started up this thread to try and see if max has comparable tools, i mean it has to right?? So many people use max theres gotta be some good resoucres for it.
While we're on the subject, anyone know of an equivalent to preserve UVs for Maya? That would rock.
Out of interest, what is the best thing about Modo when it comes to unwrapping, and how would you describe your usual workflow?
I took a look at some of the vids on the luxology site today, the "auto-align UV pieces" tool seems like something I'd use, gonna see if I can do a script like that for Max.
After using Maya for all my recent work stuff, I have to say the only things I find advantageous over Max are the fact that the UV editor is integrated right in (and tbh clicking one extra button to throw on an Unwrap UVW modifier, with the benefits that brings - being able to stack them etc isn't all too much of a detraction from the Max workflow), and Maya's Map UV Border function, which is really good for some shapes and rubbish for others.
I guess I'll have to get the Modo trial and see what everyone is going on about being so cool, because from watching the vids there are only a couple of features which Max/Maya don't have, and those seem like they'd be easy to script into the workflow.
A lot of the time when I see people complaining about Max/Maya workflows being slow or cumbersome, it's because they don't really understand the tools and how to best make use of them. Different workflows for different apps, play to the strengths of the app, rather than trying to use another old workflow and ignoring (or failing to understand) the newer better tools.
1. Select edges, run unwrap tool, tweak settings if needed, also tweak edge selection if getting really weird results.
2. A lot of times you'll get oddly scaled/warped results from just the unwrap, so i'll run relax on it afterwards and
that works about 99% of the time.
2b. If i need more control than that, i'll use the interactive relax(pin points, etc)
3. Run an auto-align on it, and use the edge snapping tools to straigten out lines/tweak etc, or soft-move peices around for custom tweaks.
I'll usually do a few simple objects at a time, at slowly build up the entire mesh, making sure they all are pretty consistant texal wise, then when all pieces are done manually pack them together, modo has auto-pack but the only thing its reallu useful for is lightmap uvs.
Is there any app that has any good auto-stacking? Maya's isn't very good either
For a few projects I found that creating an artist friendly set of UV's was great, and then created an engine friendly UV set and baked the first set to the second making the final texture. So instead of struggling to find a balance I just worked around it.
It also like to rotate pieces for really no good reason. If its a box, what you thought was the top isn't. You can turn off rotation but then it does a worse job.
For square stuff, its great... It also works great on selections and its spacing option can be handy. But nothing really beats a little time arranging pieces.
Out of interest, what result does just running the "unwrap tool" as you say, have? Sounds like you define seams by edge selection, and then what, it breaks all those edges and does a quick flatten/relax/unfold/layout?
In Max I'd just define the seam edges, Break those UVs, and then go straight to the Relax step... is there anything extra that the "unwrap tool" step does other than just breaking the seam edges?
Agreed that I've never seen a good auto-layout thing for anything other than lightmapping. There are some that do an ok job, but I've never seen anything that would match doing it manually.
I just downloaded CrazyButcher's LSCM script, and I can already say that's going to be immensely helpful. Thanks to Sage for posting the link, and of course CrazyButcher for making it!
Just my 2 cents. XSI unwrap tools are alright as well but i think anything that doesn't have a similar approach to Modo, Blender or Silo is a waste of time.
Alex
If I'm custom unwrapping an object, I use the Mapping > Normal Mapping > Box Mapping (With Normalize Clusters Checked), in the Edit UVWs window, as my starting point. Then I just Display > Show Vertex Connections, and Options > Preferences > Vertex Snap (I normally uncheck Grid and Edge Snap). Then I load up chuggnuts, align/rotate my verts as I go, make sure my snaps are turned on and go to town. I'm not a fan of using pelt for mechanical objects, but meh...to each his/her own. I also have 'S' mapped to Snap in the custom UI options...it can make things go a lot faster. All in all, this is how I tackle most of my unwraps. Works well for me.