Using the unwrap tool on symmeterical models

[toonafish]

I model without a centerline for the purposes that it helps animation( I don't have to deal with an annoying slice of points in the dead center of my model).

I never heard of this, what's the advantage of not having a row of points in the middle of your model ?

[Nemoid]

I model without a centerline too !(despite not being a master like Taron LOL) for me it has an advantage when modelling with box modelling /spinquad techniques. its just easier for me without a centerline. since it's enough for Modo and Lw that the model is simmetric in both sides of an axis, you can avoid points in the middle.

the goodness is that u can drop a centerline if /when you need to, if you loose simmetry or other. in this case i use bansaw in Lw to slice the model at its center, and after deleting half of it and mirroring, i delete the centerline again with bandglue. :)

i think unwrap tool in modo wants to have these points to better perform its action and squash geometry using that axis as a pivot

[Mike RB]

Unwrap works fine on heads like this, just pick a seam in back close to the centerline.

Mike

[swampthing]

Why would you go through all the hassle of modelling without a centerline when you could model with it and remove it at any time by just merging the center polygons? Seems pretty silly to me considering that not having a centerline can affect quite a bit and having one doesn't affect anything.

[Sonk]

Why would you go through all the hassle of modelling without a centerline when you could model with it and remove it at any time by just merging the center polygons? Seems pretty silly to me considering that not having a centerline can affect quite a bit and having one doesn't affect anything.

with or without a centerline, that doesnt affect how good or bad your deformation look during animation. What affect them is, having 4-side polygons in the most active area of your mesh, areas where the edge loop needs to mimic the muscle flow. Those are the things that affect animation..

keeping all quads on a mesh, is kinda a myth.

Spinquad with box modeling(i like to call it,pole modeling) should work just fine with a centerline AFAIK.

[LNT]

well one of the limitations of box/spinquad modeling is that centerline works against it - it joins the selected polygons on either side of it

however,things have moved on quite a bit since lw6 and these days there's hell of a lot more modeling tools and even more kickass character modelers,and most of them model with centerline at speeds previously unimaginable....also in other softwares you cannot even model in symmetry without the centerline cos they use inverted instance method - yet no one has a problem with it and they animate regardless

its arguable whether not having a centerline gives you any advatage at all ( I think not) ,but it sure presents difficulties when mirroring UVs etc because the central loop points belong to their respective halves yet the polygon band they form belongs to neither side really

[Nemoid]

agree. lets say that using spinquad techniques is better without a centerline, but nobody say you can't introduce it when needed, at the end or when you're near finishing of your model. i don't think models without centerlines help in animation, cause i see everywhere models which have it and they don't suffer from this at all.

personally i put a centerline at the end when i completed the head,otr at least its central part then move on to body

there are other cool methods in modelling, like poly to poly using extender tool, creating parts of geometry and then welding, splitting polygons (like in Maya) and so on. i personally don't like modelling with the mirrored instance, but that's more a thing regarding the fact i'm used to box/spinquad technique in Lw way to do.

[crossbones]

Run some of the demos that Taron,Jontakys, Kursad did. When they rigs mouths with bones and muscle bones, that one line down the center would affect things tremendously.

I would like to post simple-pre-zbrush models of mine and see how one can approach using the unwrap tool while maintaining symmtery.

Also anyone using Anything less then all quads can't use Zbrush Effectively. Which can speed up any type of mechanical modeling.

[Nemoid]

yeah ZB wants all quads meshes for sure. that's what i like of box/spinquad modelling : it allows you to have an all quads mesh. :)

[mcewan7]

You can model with a centerline and then merge the two sides along that centerline when you finished modeling. Maybe ;)

[Mike RB]

There you go, just zipper the seam back and forth on the back. No problem.

http://www.elementvfx.com/WebDemo/center_line.jpg

Mike

[crossbones]

You can model with a centerline and then merge the two sides along that centerline when you finished modeling. Maybe ;)

This would mess up the UVs.


Thank you so much for your help! Can you explain why snaked it on to thop of the head in that fashion?

[Mike RB]

to give both "sides" of the unwrap roughly the same amount of polys so that you don't end up with a cheek being the center.

Mike

[crossbones]

JUst going back to my original arguement is there any advantage running the centerline for the sake UV?

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