I can't think of a good reason to do it deliberately outside of an effort to fix baking artefacts but you could work around in other ways that don't screw you later on. It most likely just got borked during an import/export process - how did you get the model?
but you offset the line one next to the mirror line, no? this looks like its mirrored on the center. to get the same, just unwrap one half, then symmetry, then weld the center line
Hard UV shells - do you mean assigning different smoothing groups (in max terms) for each shell? Vertices are already separated there GPU-wise so what's the harm in separating smoothing groups too?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by your first question. ^^; But yes, unwrapping one half and then adding symmetry would've been much easier. ^^; Welding the centre line afterwards would've yielded the same results lol
I recall asking a similar question once before on here and I got a range of replies. I asked if you could add Smoothing Groups AFTER unwrapping or do it BEFORE the unwrapping. I swear the overall consensus was that it’s fine either way, but that doing it before was preferred and the wisest choice.
Well, the thing is, preference does not matter one bit here. It's not about "what do you think should come first", it's about understanding why it is actually being done. I know I am sounding like a broken record but please do take the time to work on something similar to the spherical thingie I've shown as an example. I…
The way I think about it is> hard edges are for mesh shading. Spliting the UV once the only concern about using hard edges is addressed is basically using the button to convert hard edges to UV seams. aka stop using the convert UV seams to hard edges button, you are doing it backwards :#
a lot of times when models go through various import/export process the verts can come unwelded. sometimes duplicated and other strange things. if you can't see an obvious problem to which this is the solution I wouldn't think too deeply into it. If the texture lines up without any seam I think that rules out any sort of…
I'm not trying to convert you to "dirty normal splitter", rather trying to figure out if there is actually a downside to hardened shells. Not saying each UV seam MUST have normal split, but that it CAN. Insisting it should NEVER be split (apart from what is dictated by necessary hard edges) is just as wrong imho. Having…
Hi there, Please re-read my posts above carefully, and also please manipulate actual model examples like a hand or a an analog to that spherical grenade/vial thing. As only thinking about these things will not get you very far - it just has to be manipulated to be grasped. In the case of the hand, it wouldn't matter at all…