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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

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# 1 26-10-2011 , 08:30 PM

The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002

Location: Seattle, WA

Posts: 8,245

Hey, guys, just wanted to show off my new stuff now that my latest game released. Updated at my website here: https://www.mtmckinley.net

Here's a couple:
user added image

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 2 26-10-2011 , 11:31 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

Great Stuff Mike....

good to see this type of games work as opposed to Space Marines and Mechs....

And the site is to the point...no fuss.

Jay

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# 3 27-10-2011 , 12:15 PM

Senior Software Developer
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Nice Mike, What engine is the game using?

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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# 4 27-10-2011 , 03:19 PM

The Maya Mountain
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Thanks!

It used Unreal 3

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 5 27-10-2011 , 06:40 PM

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Mike question for youuuu. The anti aircraft gun, I noticed that the wireframe shots (mainly the second one) wasn't triangulated like some of the other stuff, I even saw a fair bit of n-gons, was that like the pre-bake high res version or something? I'm a bit curious as how the game asset stuff works.

- Genny
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# 6 27-10-2011 , 07:05 PM

The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002

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The 2nd wireframe image was of the high resolution mesh that was used to bake the normal maps. The first wireframe image is the low-res, in-game mesh. Both show n-gons, mainly because most modern game engines will automatically triangulate a model when it is imported. The main time you need to worry about that is if the engine triangulates it incorrectly and the surface shows triangulation artifacts. if it doesn't, it's fine.

Here's those images for those who don't want to have to navigate the site to see what we're talking about.

user added image

Low Poly

High Poly

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 7 27-10-2011 , 07:28 PM

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I didn't know engines did that, I thought it was on the artist to triangulate beforehand. Are the game engines' triangulation algorithms usually safer/better than that of modeling packages? Sorry I'm full of questions today <3

- Genny
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# 8 27-10-2011 , 07:33 PM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

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yeah, and how does that work with deformation?

nice guns btw. user added image

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# 9 27-10-2011 , 07:44 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

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It wont mate. Characters would be done properly.

Also render engine like MR triangulate at render time, that what the calculation crap is while you wait for it to compute 'Final Gather Rays' for example. Thats why it takes so bloody long. Renderman works differently though as it calculates in Lines/chunks....hence it being faster, it still triangulates just better at it LOL

J

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# 10 27-10-2011 , 07:52 PM

The Maya Mountain
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Oh, yeah, I'm coming at this strictly from the environment art perspective. Characters and the like you'd want to do properly to have the best control.

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 11 27-10-2011 , 07:58 PM

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So would it render faster if you triangulated before hitting render?

-stwert

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# 12 27-10-2011 , 08:21 PM

Acid44

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My boss would stab me if I had a huge face like that as anything but quads D:
Different engines and fields though, don't think ours automatically triangulates, not sure though

Like the site, straight to the point. What happened to the tutorials though? Was looking for your blueprint set up tutorial a couple weeks ago for a friend :p

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# 13 27-10-2011 , 08:50 PM

The Maya Mountain
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So would it render faster if you triangulated before hitting render?

Originally Posted by stwert

This stuff is for a realtime game, so there isn't any rendering involved.

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 14 27-10-2011 , 10:39 PM

EduSciVis-er
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Oh I was wondering about what Jay said about MR and renderman.

-stwert

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# 15 27-10-2011 , 10:42 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

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I was just using these as examples of triangulation....also because of the aforementioned deforming too......its all up there^ read and it will make sense

Jay

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