CGTalk - UVs: transfer UVs

kiko

05-06-2003, 10:50 AM

Hi,
is there a Max feature similar to Maya's transfer UVs?
I have a textured model and I need to create an in-game lo-res version, I'll be doing this by merging verts manually.
What's the best way to preserve my UV mapping?
The model arrived to me with the stack collapsed into an editable mesh.
Should I add an UVW unwrap, save it and load it into the tweaked low-poly mesh, perhaps copy and paste the unwrap modifier?
Will adding an edit mesh on top of the unwrap modifier allow me to merge verts without screwing up the UVs.

Thanks in advance.

mouj

05-06-2003, 11:23 AM

Howdy !

First of, what exactly does 'transfer UVs' ?
Then, i might appear dumb or something here, but how can one possibly be merging vertices and so on, and keep the original uvs ?
If there is a way to do this then please tell me !!
Anyway i'd say yes, apply an unwrap to your mesh, save uvs, then collapse and start merging vertices, but when you'll be applying an unwrap again and loading, i don't quite know how it is going to behave ...

mouj

kiko

05-06-2003, 12:09 PM

here's an example of Transfer UVs (spanish, though the pics are self-explanatory):

http://www.3dyanimacion.com/tutoriales/tutoriales.cfm?estado=ver&titulotutorial=Texturización%20UV&codigo=7&tutorialID=25

where you have a hi-res model, then reduce the poly count to get a simpler/less overlapping UV layout to be used as template for painting, then transfer the UVs from the low res to the hi-res model.
I believe the opposite can be done too (transferring UVs from a hi-res model to a low res)

thanks

gaggle

05-06-2003, 01:47 PM

Saving and loading I suspect might get you the desired result. I've.. never personally been able to transfer UVs in Maya without the verticecount and everything being pretty much completly alike. I'm not sure I understand the theory behind the tutorial you provided a link for, definitely something I'll have to do some testing on.

Anyway, the first thought I had was that if Maya has a feature you'd like to use, export the model, do the job, and then export back into Max? I hate, I HATE!!, MAX R5's UVW Unwrapper, so I always do my UVing in Maya whenever I possibly can.

Stroker

05-06-2003, 04:29 PM

I think MapThief will do what you want. It's a Chuggnut(.com) script, but I'm getting 404 on it. You can get it from ScriptSpot(.com).

Now, I haven't actually tried it.
If you try it, I would like to hear about it.

kiko

05-06-2003, 06:01 PM

Thanks for the replies,

I've downloaded that mapthief script but doesn't give the results I need, it seems to do a box mapping or something, get an error when I fiddle with the bias settings. The chugg page is down like Stroker said, so I'm gonna have a hard time figuring out how to use it.

Gaggle, I have yet to try loading the .UVW file, I'm afraid I might have screwed any chances of it working since I've been detaching elements for easier editing and then reattaching'em, I assume that will affect the verts ID's, who knows.
I might try bringing the whole mess into Maya and see if I can get it to do what I claim it can do:)

Thanks

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