Can someone pelase explain the difference between stretching and compression?

#1

Hey all,
I have been learning about UV’s in Maya and know that the red areas are UV’s that are stretched and the blue areas are UVs that are compressed but what does it mean by stretching and compressing? Like why when I scale UV’s up does it compress the UVs?? shouldn’t that stretch them not compress them? Confused,

#2

Imagine putting a picture on silly putty. When you stretch the putty, the picture gets stretched. When you compress the silly putty, the picture gets squished. That’s exact what’s happening when your uvs get compressed and stretched. The only difference is that compressed UVs = stretched texture, and stretched uvs = compressed texture. The ideal is to have texture with no stretching or compression, but doing that requires lots of seams, so uving stuff, especially organic stuff, is all about a balance between getting as little stretching / compression with as few seams as possible.

  • Neil