DrEvizan
09-05-2009, 06:50 AM
most modelers will tell you that the best to unwrap a tube that has been deformed and is all twisted up, is to do it before deforming it at all. THIS IS NOT THE WAY!
This is a technique I stumbled upon in my journeys for unwrapping any tube, so long as it has a regular quad mesh. This seemed so obvious and simple to me that I can't possibly be the first to figure it out, but in the case that I am, I will take full credit, and expect everyone who uses it to put a watermark of my name in your renders :)
Step 1 - In Maya, select all of the faces of your cord, hose or piece of twisted-ass tubular mesh.
Step 2 - Go to your UV Texture Editor window and from the polygons menu, select "Unitize"
Step 3 - Back in your Perspective view, select all the edges of your tube EXCEPT FOR ONE EDGE LOOP THAT RUNS ALONG ITS LENGTH.
Step 4 - Return to your UV Editor, and hit the "Move and Sew UV Edges" button.
What you should end up with is a grid that is perfectly lined up with your UV grid. Obviously, most of the time you will need to scale this grid in one way or another, and in some cases you may need to move a few rows of UV's to match any non-uniformity, but there's 90% of your work done for you.
The End
-Doug
This is a technique I stumbled upon in my journeys for unwrapping any tube, so long as it has a regular quad mesh. This seemed so obvious and simple to me that I can't possibly be the first to figure it out, but in the case that I am, I will take full credit, and expect everyone who uses it to put a watermark of my name in your renders :)
Step 1 - In Maya, select all of the faces of your cord, hose or piece of twisted-ass tubular mesh.
Step 2 - Go to your UV Texture Editor window and from the polygons menu, select "Unitize"
Step 3 - Back in your Perspective view, select all the edges of your tube EXCEPT FOR ONE EDGE LOOP THAT RUNS ALONG ITS LENGTH.
Step 4 - Return to your UV Editor, and hit the "Move and Sew UV Edges" button.
What you should end up with is a grid that is perfectly lined up with your UV grid. Obviously, most of the time you will need to scale this grid in one way or another, and in some cases you may need to move a few rows of UV's to match any non-uniformity, but there's 90% of your work done for you.
The End
-Doug