Hi! If the question is "split UVs at hard edges?", the answer is yes, UVs must be split at hard edges. But edges at UVs split don't need to be hard. A search should bring up a few more threads on this topic. Depending on the mesh, if each face had its own UV shell, it would foremost be a waste of texture space due to the…
That image you put is actually really helpful, thank you. You mention it being beneficial to split uvs at hard edges but I dont understand what is the downside to unwrapping as one island for hard edges? If more shells are costly on rendering wouldnt it be better to avoid it? I suppose il have to try some more researching.
And to add to the above : there is nothing wrong with unwrapping a cube as 6 islands. That's part and parcel of the whole hard edge approach. To our dear friend Jake Gyllenhaal : what about trying things out ?
A recent example, if that helps. See point#2 https://polycount.com/discussion/234499/mini-tutorial-baking-seamless-normal-maps-for-gltf One important thing to note: splitting UVs on hard edges is only really necessary if you’re baking normal maps.
Hey I know its dumb but do I unwrap this how I have or have each face as a seperate thing? I only mention because someone said to have uvs stop at hard edges, so wouldnt that mean I have loads of single faces, which Ive also been told to avoid. The highpoly has beveled edges btw.
"If more shells are costly on rendering wouldnt it be better to avoid it?" IMHO this is a case of taking an assumption (which isn't necessarily wrong of course) and running with it without really putting it in context. We've all seen polygon density affecting performance : importing a sculpt into a regular 3d program can…