Advice for UV/Workflow problem in character (Maya)

#1

Hi,

I’m fairly new to the world of CG, but am aiming to produce a character template for a generic male in which I can take and adjust for different projects.

A few days back I was pretty tried and decided to rush the UVs which has ultimately lead to some awful sets of UVs. My workflow at the moment is currently:

Make a low poly model in maya > UV unwrap > Sculpt in Mudbox > Export Normal maps and edit in ps then go onto texturing/rigging etc

Now it has come to the texturing I’m just not sure how I can sort the UVs out without undoing all the time it took for me to sculpt.

Could anybody offer any advice on a way I can adjust this now and be able to texture my character without any problems? Also any other tips would be appreciated!

Here are some links to my UV maps and models as they currently are: http://imgur.com/a/5eb3C, if you require anymore images just let me know.
Thanks!

#2

Don’t use Mudbox so I am not sure on the feature set. So what I suggest may have some holes in it…

First off you should be able to redo the UV layout for you base/lowest subD mesh. Once the new layout is done you can import that mesh into Mudbox. As long as you didn’t change vert positions the model should look just the same. But you new UV layout will be applied in Mudbox.

What I am unsure of it any texture maps you may have painted in Mudbox. In Zbrush is all vertex color, so I can swap UV layout without issue. If I recall and map painting in Mudbox requires UV from the start.

One option would be to take your existing model/texture maps into Maya. From there user Transfer maps to bake the texture over from the old model to the new model/layout you did. You could even do a transfer in Zbrush if you have access to it. From here just load the texture maps back into Mudbox.

That should leave you with you new layout & texture with your existing sculpt.