What is the best way to uwrap GOOD UVs these days?

Support Materials and Textures
1

And by “good” I mean with minimum distortion, keeping the original shapes for the most part, etc

So far, after doing the seams, I’ve been doing with the best choice I can find from the various alternatives the UV/Image Editor can offer, depending on the mesh (Unwrap, Smart UV Project, Project from V, etc). Then I refine it so more with things like “Minimize stretch, and Average Islands scale”. And manually straighten vertices with the old trick Scale + perpendicular coordinate direction + 0 + enter. But of course this method can take a long time, not to mention it can be tedious too.

I found a couple of seemingly great scripts at BlenderAddonList, like UV Squares, and UV Tool. But maybe due to not being updated they are not working today with 2.75a :frowning: Either way, it occurred to me I may not be looking in the right place after all.

I thought there was a tool in Blender called “Relax UVs” in the UV/Image Editor. But I don’t see it, could it be it was in 3D Studio Max? It used to do a great job, like Minimize stretch, but better.

Any pointers, ideas, suggestions, etc will be super appreciated :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance guys

JDL

2

Add seams to the most appropriate edges to give the ‘best’ unwrap
When unwrapping each island try both ‘Angle Based’ and ‘Conformal’ unwrap options. Angle based usually most suited to organic and Conformal to hard surface objects.
When unwrapped you can start stitching islands together if you wish

If your object uses a subsurf modifier you may want to use the ‘Use Subsurf Modifier’ option in the UV unwrap options to minimise texture distortion

3

Thanks for sharing Richard :slight_smile:
I wished those scripts I mentioned had worked, they looked so promising :frowning:

JDL

4

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.62/UV_Tools
relax UV brush

5

When I’m unwraping a very complex model I used to use smart uv and then stick the islands like I want it to be at the end I select the edges of the resulting islands and make the seams. I dont know if you have been undertand me, :yes: english isn’t my first language.