All objects on one UV sheet/

Hello all.
I am working on a 3d model of a warrior character. I am having trouble dealing with the UVs. She is made up of several objects. Right now, I have the subsurf and mirror modifiers on most of the objects in the scene.
I do not want to remove these modifiers because I am not sure if I am done tweaking the mesh.

I want the UV maps of each object on the same sheet in the UV window. I want to be able to see the boundaries of each object in the model simultaneously.
I want to take the UVs that are in this window, and export the UV layout and paint the sheet as one sheet, not multiple sheets of each unwrapped object.

How do I do that? Is it possible? None of the tutorials and threads I’ve viewed online show how to UV unwrap a more complex model of multiple objects and put it onto the same sheet. I have only seen the finished UV sheets that have all the objects grouped together.

Am I looking at this problem from the wrong angle?

Thank you for any insight you have into this problem.
-MNR

Hello there.
Go in object mode, select all the objects composing your character and hit “ctrl+j”. This command joins all objects, which are considered as one in the uv layout. Make sure there’s an active objects. It will have a different color than the others. All the objects inherit the active object modifiers. This usually is a problem only if you join an object without mirror modifier to an active object that has it.
This is the only way to have more than an object on the same uv layout. I hope this helps.

Each material hs a different texture, with its own unwrap. Using Ctrl-J and joining won’t make them appear in one mapped image until you either bake to a new UV Layer with a new blank image, or use Projection Paint from one UV layer to another. Looking up both on vimeo and youtueb will get you several results, as well as Google for blenderartists threads on this same topic

I think there’s an add-on called ‘consolidate UV’ or something similar

AFAIK it is not possible to Ctrl-J if you have different modifiers on different model parts; it is, but modifiers will be passed over depending on which part was active during operation. And it is not possible to bake one map while these are separate parts.
So you will have to make a choice and have backup files to get back if that would be needed.

There’s also an option in the UV editor under the view menu for “draw other objects”. That will show a ghostly overlay of other selected object’s UVs. Not perfect, since you can only edit one object at a time and it’s a pain to switch which object you’re on, but easier then saving snapshots out constantly. (note, to switch semi-easily, hold shift when clicking so you don’t deselect the others. Tab out of edit mode, shift-click next object, tab back into edit mode).

Thanks for the suggestions.
Well, the Ctrl + J did work… I was hoping for separate objects though, for easy selection and modification. I don’t have the subsurf or mirror modifier on all of the items.
Umm… are there any 3d programs where you can leave the objects separate while making UVs on the same sheet? I like modelling in blender but this is the first time I’m… doing this kind of UV work. Usually I have just one object.

Edit: Someone else did have this problem. It technically works… but I’m not looking to do this to all of my multiple object characters in all of my scenes… )=
http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-308361.html

Interesting, actually. So technically you could have one sheet and use this sheet on all the UV objects… linked as a material. o_o This may be what I am looking for? I guess? This isn’t working out how I had imagined it would. But lets try this!

Edit: For some reason that function isn’t working. Not sure what I’m doing wrong… though I googled it and it looks like a few people are confused by that too.

I believe the texture atlas addon is built for this purpose. might be worth checking out

It works if:
-you have material with same texture on both (all) objects;
-objects are Shift selected, then last is tabbed in edit mode;
-checkmark in UV editor checked.

<br>Hmm. I checked it out, both googling and youtube, and then tried it for myself. It is confusing me. I did find several difficult to follow youtube vids about this addon.<br>From checking out info on the web and trying it, this is what I gather it does:<br>I think… it makes a duplicate of the mesh, applying the modifiers and um… joining it as one object, and unwrapping along the seam lines you’ve already made. The UV sheet is then built, and you can use it for your separate object mesh.<br>
<br>I might just use the Draw Other Objects… I mean, up until that point, I don’t really need separate solid color materials on my mesh, I just do it for visual indicators. Hmm.<br><br><br>Thanks for the help thus far all.