UV mapping complex objects

# 1 12-08-2011 , 12:11 AM

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Join Date: Jul 2011

Posts: 44

Hey guys so Im wondering how to uv map this somewhat complex vehicle. the way im doing it is just planar mapping every single surface but this is terribly annoying and time consuming and the map is getting confusing. is there an easier way to do this?

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# 2 12-08-2011 , 07:40 AM

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Location: Michigan, USA

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That is really not that complicated of a surface. For the main body side, top and bottom planar projections and you could probably get away with sewing the top and sides together to avoid a seam. The tires and the turret would be cylindrical projects. Unfortunately, laying out UVs is a tedious and labor intensive process and there are not a lot of shortcuts. Try laying out the uvs for a model with 1.8 million polygons and probably just shy of 2000 parts. That is complex.

But I am not a great texture painter so I do not always UV my stuff. Although is a typical pipeline is it sthe models responsibility to layout the UV's, but there are folks on the forum that might be able to give you some better advice.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 3 12-08-2011 , 09:20 AM

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Location: Australia

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Im with ct payathus...its not complicated....UV it in sections and it will be fine. You wont find any shortcuts really when it comes to mapping UV's man...it is a long and tedious process. Map the body, then the wheels etc in bits and try to group them in your UV window so you know what is what.

cheers bullet

bullet1968

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

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# 4 12-08-2011 , 11:24 AM

The thin red line
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I do it slightly different I automatic map first then do other projections when needed also use the unwrap tool a lot.............dave

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# 5 12-08-2011 , 11:52 AM

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dunno if I would smooth unwrap dave?? being a machine etc...on the same subject (yes I know you have said it before dave but I couldnt get it to work) can you actually texture UV sections and have them export??? I couldnt see a way?

cheers bullet

bullet1968

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

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# 6 12-08-2011 , 08:15 PM

The thin red line
Join Date: Aug 2009

Location: England

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No Bullet I dont use smooth on some thing like this, unwrap is good some times you can use it on a whole shell borders not pined but most of the time you have to unwrap part of a shell at a time, if you know how you want your borders spread you can move them then do a unwrap with borders pined, to bake out a colour map try rendering, lighting/shading, batch bake (mental ray) I do confess to not doing much of this as I do all my textures in photoshop and mudbox...........dave

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# 7 18-07-2016 , 06:19 PM

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Join Date: Feb 2016

Posts: 6

Bonus tools

The plugin bonus tools allows you to auto unwrap UV's by simply defining the UV seams. Download bonus tools at https://apps.autodesk.com/en/Detail/...ng=en&os=Win64
The minor problem it does create is that the UVs are not well laid out. Which you must do manually. user added image

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UV mapping complex objects

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