I'd just like to take this opportunity...

[Pi Mu Rho]

...to say how much I absolutely, completely and utterly despise unwrapping meshes.

Thankyou.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Gotta do it while you build the model, bit by bit. Helps to use Lightwave instead of Max too It's got a neat little endomorph trick where you morph a flat version for setting up the UV map without messing up the model and can then go back and edit it on a point by point basis and reorganise the UV without the original being harmed by adding new polygons. It's also got UVSpider and other plugins and scripts for getting weird shapes mapped correctly.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Yeah unwrapping meshes is just a complete and utter wank.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

With Max, you can't even think about modifying the mesh in any way once it's been unwrapped without it resetting the UVs. Pain in the arse.

And stop pimping other packages, Fenric - you know I'm not going to switch

 

[Recoil]

Well, if you're going to skin.... I can do the unwrapping.. my way

 

[Some0ne]

Well, if you're going to skin.... I can do the unwrapping.. my way

which is.....?

 

[The Dark Elf]

With Max, you can't even think about modifying the mesh in any way once it's been unwrapped without it resetting the UVs. Pain in the arse.

And stop pimping other packages, Fenric - you know I'm not going to switch

hehehe, but using max is like using public transport, you know there's a better way

eg: in Lightwave. Build a model, give it an endomorph, unweld all points and then take it apart, lay the pieces out, use set value to make sure their all flat and not at angles, generate a planar UV map then tweak until your happy. Output the UV wireframe, paint onto it. Done Weld the points (Ctrl+W) and your actual model is never changed.

Or write a script that does all that automatically, handy for objects with lots of polygons (there's one knocking about from years back called AnimeHair I think) which flattens out all the polygons at the click of a button. But that is similar to Atlas mapping (discontinuous) though unlike atlas it takes polygon sizes into account so they all stay the correct size compared to others in a model.

 

[pur3r4ge]

Maya has fairly well regarded UV unwrap tools, and it still sucks. Worst part of modelling.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

The main thing that bothers me is that I can't hide faces when UV unwrapping. It's not an issue with relatively simple models, but it causes no end of problems with complex ones. Guess which type I'm working on?

 

[The Dark Elf]

The main thing that bothers me is that I can't hide faces when UV unwrapping. It's not an issue with relatively simple models, but it causes no end of problems with complex ones. Guess which type I'm working on?

Can hide them while UV mapping with Lightwave (sorry) :E

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

The main thing that bothers me is that I can't hide faces when UV unwrapping.

You mean in the UVW edit window? You can hide them, either by selecting just the set of polygons that you're currently working on by selecting it's ID at the bottom (hides all other sets), or by selecting the vertices you want hidden and clicking the hide button (closed eye) at the bottom of the window.

UVW Mapping sucks, but I don't have any problems when I do it. The way I do it I don't have to clone and detach parts and flatten them out, and then try to tell it to morph it back to the original, etc...

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

When I do that, it hides the vertices, and not the faces in the 3d view

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Oh.

I just UVW map, Unwrap, and then hide (get back into editable mesh mode, and click on the hide button) one set of polygons (left side of grip, etc.) at a time, when I'm down to the last set, I unhide it all, and apply the Unwrap modifier to the entire object and organize/arrange the parts.

I also apply the checker texture (10x10) to the object before starting, this shows any distortion as I unwrap the object, and shows the parts that I've already done and makes it easier. (The parts that aren't done will be either black, or the checker texture will appear messed up.)

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Hmm, I hadn't considered doing it that way (I hate going back down the stack). I'll give it a try next time, thanks.

Yeah, I use the checker pattern too - definitely makes life easier.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Hmm, you shouldn't have to go back through the stack...

 

[evil^milk]

has anyone tried skinning in milkshape before? it's laughably easy and i never had any problems using the texture editor in milkshape. give it a try, i think i'll skin my models in milkshape and model them in xsi.

to give you an idea of how easy it is, here's a weapon model i created for tfc last summer: