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View Full Version : Basic questions concerning UVmaping/texturing workflow etc.

raptor|3D
08-22-2007, 11:17 PM
Hi, I would like to ask several UV maping/texturing questions.
First off this is my first serious attempt at UV maping/texturing so I am sorry if some answers seems too obvious ;).

1.I have got this object (P-51 Mustang) with various separate parts.
I selected all objects in the scene.
I layed out all shells to 0 to 1 region and took UV snapshot.
Then I will paint only 1 texture for all objects/shells at once.
This very texture will be connected to various materials/objects.

Is this good workflow or is it better to take UV snapshot for each object (with coresponding UV shells) separately and paint several textures separately?

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/raptor3D/CGTalk-forums/UV-Q002.jpg


2. I always go for as least amount of texture distortion as possible. Is it OK to have so many UV shells or is this too much per one object?:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/raptor3D/CGTalk-forums/UV-Q02.jpg

Are there any additional disadvantages concerning a lot of seams or is it OK as long as I eliminate them using 3D Paint? By the way I have got just Maya´s built-in 3D Paint so it won´t be so easy :).

3. Is there any way (particulary in Maya 7) to automatically scale all selected UV shells so their scale ratio is the same as the scale ratio of corresponding objects in the scene? Is it even possible to do this within any app? Otherwise I have to select a UV shell and scale it according to other shell while checking the scale of the test texture in the viewport and so on and so on.When I have got many shells to "calibrate" its kind of tedious.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/raptor3D/CGTalk-forums/UV-Q001.jpg


4. I almost exclusively use Unfold in Maya for UV maping. I even barely use projections. I just define cuts and then hit Unfold. So far this workflow works great for me and I get good results and almost no distortion. It´s strange I haven´t seen it mentioned in some great tutorials - just Relax UVs etc. Are there any drawbacks when relying on this technique?

Thanks a lot in advance for replies and sorry for my English.
Marcel
08-23-2007, 01:11 PM
In my experience using one texture for the whole object is much quicker than multiple textures. You save a lot of time because you only have to save, reload and tweak one image. You can still make different shaders but use the same texture for materials like for example chrome.

Unfold UV's is a huge timesaver as well, but be carefull with distortions. If you want to have decals or straight lines on your texture then I'd go for planar projections. You can always fix up distortion in an projection selectivly afterwards with unfold UV's. Another idea would be to add the decal as a second texture layer.
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08-23-2007, 01:11 PM
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