UV Mapping still a black book! - Page 2 - Simply Maya User Community

# 16 11-02-2012 , 01:19 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012

Posts: 43

Very quick and dirty test on your mesh.

-used photos
-used bump map
-used specularity map

I modified your mesh a bit to go faster and get a better result, even though I think you're going more for a race car type of tyre but you get the idea.
This is a viewport 2.0 image by the way.

Textures from CG textures..

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# 17 11-02-2012 , 01:37 PM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Agree with Jay in every way. UV mapping is really an extension of the actual model itself. I believe ( I try myself)...that when you model you have to think in 2 worlds. One is modelling..the other are UV maps...if your model has weird geo..then so will the maps...more work.

Auto mapping, as Jay has pointed out...its too flawed and cumbersome. I find separating meshes and duplicate as much as you can. Transfer attributes becomes easier as well. Making a duplicate model is easy then apply diffent textures to get a random feel to it..only idiot Surveyors will look for out of place lines (polylines).

As a Surveyor Im am getting close to full comprehend what Jay says. Naming layers...IMPORTANT...naming outliner nams....IMPORTANT. Try Crazybump mate...it does really simple solution stuff. Shameless plug for them...but it really takes the 'brain' out so you can make good imagery of your WIP's.

And as a player of games....trust me...you dont stop shooting baddies to look at the tread on a tyre...or you are dead.

Cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 18 11-02-2012 , 01:39 PM

Maniacal boy king of Babylon
Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: the netherlands

Posts: 1,605

No worries Lecra everyone was where you are now at one point or another.
I still hate doing those damned UV's especially when it comes to complex things where you need to cut and sew.
Doing uv's is more or less the same as when modeling or drawing or sculpting...you have to break things down to their basic shape and do your mapping accordingly, so that the uv's match up.
I always use a checkered image file to see if there is stretching and if there is stretching will it ruin the image or is it concealed?

I have attached 2 images for you ( and everyone else that might like them) ;
One is how I think you should approach this and the other is the file I usually use when doing those UV's.

In a few weeks I will try Unwrella and if I remember I will let you know if this is easierand better than doing it by hand

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My website;
https://www.eyellem.com

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/martin-van-stein/42/a81/b82

Yoda post;
https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...highlight=yoda

Indiana Jones Post;
https://srv01.simply3dworld.com/showt...threadid=29188

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# 19 13-02-2012 , 08:04 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Oct 2011

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Posts: 99

Thanks guy's for your replies and hints,

@Yoruneko
Your quick try looks very good! Unfortunately I can't figure out what you have done to reach such a wonderful tire! I know that you all are prof doing this kind of work. That's why I'm posting in this forum but I don't see the way you took...
BTW, the end product that I'm trying will be a tractor tire as well as implements tires for farming systems.

@ Mastone

Thank you for your hint. This should bring me back on the right path. Maybe one last question from my side:

In your image you suggested to use a planar projection for the sidewall of the tire and a cylindrical for the tread. Can I do both on one UV Map? Using the cylindrical projection after the planar projection I have some pieces of the sidewall also in the unwrapped part. should I separate them and delete them as I have already done the sidewall? That's maybe the confusion I have in unwrapping.

Many thanks all for your answers and hints given. As you can see unfortunately I was not able to male a step forward. This not while your answers are not usefull user added image

but maybe due to my weird connections in my brain user added image

_______________________
KR;Lecra

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# 20 13-02-2012 , 08:32 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

Select the faces on the wall of the tyre and assign a red lambert, then select all the faces on the tread and make it blue. Go to hypershade...click on the red lambert not then RMB and select objects with material. Now you can do the planar projection on the walls and edit the UV's. Do exactly the same process for the blue except use a cylinder projection. Once you have edited those UV's you can then assign a checkered material to the whole thing and you will be able to see the stretching etc n the checker squares.

In essence exactly as mastone has shown you...just using colours to separate to make life easier. Yes you can UV bits and peices and then put them in the UV space...

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 21 13-02-2012 , 08:49 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Australia

Posts: 4,255

here is a zip file with 2 tyre files...have a look and see if you get what mastone was on about

cheers bullet

Attached Files

lecra.zip (188.8 KB, 251 views)

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 22 20-02-2012 , 07:07 AM

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Posts: 99

Hi Bullet1968,

here is a zip file with 2 tyre files...have a look and see if you get what mastone was on about

cheers bullet

Originally Posted by bullet1968

Many thanks for your hints! Sorry for my delay in answering, I was out last week. I will give them another try and have a look at your files. Your support is much appreciated, thank you.

_______________________
KR;Lecra

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# 23 26-02-2012 , 12:48 AM

Maniacal boy king of Babylon
Join Date: Aug 2005

Location: the netherlands

Posts: 1,605

Well I have tried out Unwrella and can honestly say it is not my cup of tea it doesn't really work for me.
I did however find something else when I searched for a quicker way to do uv's, it is in the maya bonustools for maya 2011 ( is probably compatible with 2012 as well):
https://area.autodesk.com/blogs/steve...unwrapping_uvs

Using this tool in combination with the smooth uv tool and some minor manual labour did the trick for me, maybe someone here finds it usefull as well...

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# 24 26-02-2012 , 11:24 AM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

I tell you what is a real god send and it comes for free in Bonus tools...is the auto uv unwrap. It works similar to roadkill but has a small gui and menu to give you options on your unwrap. Worth a look

Jay

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# 25 26-02-2012 , 12:35 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

Posts: 4,472

It looks like that works in maya 2009, not done a full test................dave

Avatar Challenge Winner 2010

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# 26 26-02-2012 , 02:17 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

Well give it a try. The basic unfold and also the proportional face method are the ones I use. The proportional face method is slower as it projects a uv on every face on at a time. When its done it doesnt look much, quite a mess actually, but if you hit unfold it does an awsome job.

Jay

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