Complex UV Layout in Maya
Over the last couple of years UV layout in Maya has changed for the better. In this course we're going to be taking a look at some of those changes as we UV map an entire character
# 1 07-06-2017 , 10:07 PM
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Total Senior Moment: UV perception and Reality

Good day, evening or morning.

I have to pose this question on a very simple shape, a rectangular plane, with just a wee smidgeon of thickness.
So let's begin.

I have been modeling, shaping, and uvng objects in a scene and I came to a "rug", let's just say, and I was looking at the uv from both a camera based and automatic. The original jpg file is oblong, like a rectangle, not square, however, when I look in the UV Editor, the file image is square in the grid as are the uvs.

Now, question, I told you freegin senior moment, do I need to "shape" the uvs to look like the rectangular shape in my scene or? And why did the jpg, that is clearly rectangular in Photoshop, turn square in the UV editor?
I will need to "paint" some of the info in PS, and a few other things, maps etc, so I wanted to make sure this is what I should or shouldn't do.

Thanks!

Forgive this old man's ramblings.user added image


Last edited by srlake314; 07-06-2017 at 10:08 PM. Reason: missed info
# 2 09-06-2017 , 05:58 PM
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Ideally the UVs are arranged to be proportional to their corresponding faces or as close as possible in order to eliminate or at least reduce distortion. The 2D placement node’s default settings will cause the image to fill the 0-1 UV space so non square textures will be stretched. I did a video on its settings for another member. In short, the Coverage, Translate Frame and Rotate Frame control the scale, position and rotation of your image in the U and V directions so you can use these to set the image to the original or desired proportions. As for camera based projections, I’ve taken to using the planar projection instead with the camera option selected. The planar projection has the option of keeping the UVs proportional with the “keep image width/height ratio” check box, so I don’t have to fiddle with non-uniformly scaling the UVs so much.user added image


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# 3 12-06-2017 , 03:37 PM
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You are awesome! Thanks. I remembered while reading your post, somewhere in the back of my disconnected brain synapsis, that the 0:1 made things square. Thanks for the link to that video. Very helpful. Maybe something will stick in my brain LOL.

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