Tutorial: 3ds Max Unwrapping Techniques

[Rawk777]

The copy paste trick doesn't work well for me. Some faces becomes weirdly inverted, even if the two pieces have the same configuration, on the same object. Maybe thats because its different parts of the same objects .

Does it always work the way you want retardedmonkey ?

[andrei313]

It doesn't always work. It only works when the parts have been cloned. I think it has something to do with the way the app gives numbers to the verteces. If you clone something you'll have the same pattern... if you build the same part twice, make it look the same there is a possibility that it won't work. Mirror or symmetry never gives good results even when modeling so forget about good UVs after you use those... What I do is try Copy Paste and if it doesn't work I just delete the parts that I haven't UVed yet and clone the one that I did to replace them.

[XaKu]

im having trouble.. on the tutorial when u scale the checker texture the red selection thing goes just to the edges so u can see what your are doing.. on mine it stays solid so when i do scale i cant see what im doing.. any help please!

[XaKu]

ok seeing as no1 seems to understand my query i will post a screenshot.. hope this explains my situation!

[Blackjack]

Press F2 and it will only highlight the edges of the poly.

[XaKu]

omg your a life saver.. was seriosuly annoying me lol!

[retardedmonkey]

Originally Posted by Rawk777

The copy paste trick doesn't work well for me. Some faces becomes weirdly inverted, even if the two pieces have the same configuration, on the same object. Maybe thats because its different parts of the same objects .

Does it always work the way you want retardedmonkey ?

Andrei is right on If you are going to be using the copy/paste make sure that you are doing on the SAME EXACT piece. It is good to get into the habit of deleting everything that is duplicated or will just be pasted on the uvs. So if you have a wheel duplicated 7 times, you dont need all seven wheels...it is better to delete all the wheels except one and just duplicate them.

The copy/paste will not work if-

A. You do not have the full element selected. You must have the same exact selection on the target object as you did on the object you are copying.

B. If the geometry has been cut, or new edge loops put in. I find it quite rare for it work after changing it in that way.

C. If you have used mirror/symmetry. Those 2 will screw you over....the way to fix that is to delete the symmetry modifier > unwrap > reapply the symetry modifier.

As I said though, typically I will just collapse the uvw modifier and just duplicate the part instead of copy/pasting.

[geodav]

just found this place and what a tut, one of the best ones i've seen in a long time, the bit that really got me was right at the end when you started mentioning doing normal mapping on that model, i mean all i've read so far says that all uv's must be unique now you say thats not true, ok i realise it depends on the game engine (UT3 for me soon) but if i can do it your way that would save so much uv space.
Do you plan doing a video tut on normal mapping you generator (please)

ps this site is now on my tut list at various forums

[ColdRolled]

great tutorial, thanks for taking the time and posting it! i learned quite a few tricks that i didn't know about before

[retardedmonkey]

Geodav - Yeah you dont really need to have all the UV's unique. Over half of my models share space with each other. The only downside to this is if you forget to either delete that part of the model, or move the uv's for normal mapping/rendering out an AO map, you will get weird results.

Anyway glad you guys liked it