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Contents
v
Display a texture behind the UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Delete UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Update a texture image after UV modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Use the UV Texture Editor grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Save an image of the UV layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Modify UVs using the UV Lattice Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Modify UVs using the UV Smudge Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Separate and attach UV shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Display overlapping UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Display UV winding order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Layout UV shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Map border UVs to a square or circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Straighten border UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Relax and untangle UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Unfold a UV mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Example: Lay out a UV shell using unfold and relax . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Flip or rotate UV shells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Copy UVs and color attributes between polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 4 UV sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Create UV sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Switch between UV sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Duplicate, rename, or delete a UV set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Assign a texture to a UV set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Copy UVs from one UV set to another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Working with per-instance UV sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Edit NURBS UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
vi | Contents
Edit UVs > Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Edit UVs > Unitize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Edit UVs > Flip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Edit UVs > Rotate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Edit UVs > Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Edit UVs > Align . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Edit UVs > Warp Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Edit UVs > Map UV Border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Edit UVs > Straighten UV Border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Edit UVs > Relax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Edit UVs > Unfold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Edit UVs > Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Edit UVs > Cut UV Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Edit UVs > Split UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Edit UVs > Sew UV Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Edit UVs > Move and Sew UV Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Edit UVs > Merge UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Edit UVs > Delete UVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Contents | vii
viii
UV mapping overview
1
Introduction to UV mapping
UVs (pronounced U-VEEZ) are two-dimensional texture coordinates that reside
with the vertex component information for polygonal and subdivision surface
meshes. UVs exist to define a two-dimensional texture coordinate system, called
UV texture space. UV texture space uses the letters U and V to indicate the axes
in 2D. UV texture space facilitates the placement of image texture maps on a
3D surface.
UVs are essential in that they provide the connection between the surface mesh
and how the image texture gets mapped onto the surface mesh. That is, UVs
act as marker points that control which points (pixels) on the texture map
correspond to which points (vertices) on the mesh. Textures applied to polygon
or subdivision surfaces that do not possess UV texture coordinates will not
render.
Although Maya creates UVs by default for many primitive types, you’ll need to
rearrange the UVs in most cases, because the default arrangement will usually
not match any subsequent edits to the model you may make. In addition, the
location of the UV texture coordinates do not automatically update when you
edit a surface mesh.
In most cases, you map and arrange UVs after you have completed your modeling
and before you assign textures to the model. Otherwise, changing the model
will create a mismatch between the model and the UVs, and affect how any
textures appear on the model.
Understanding the concept of UVs and how to map them to a surface, and
subsequently lay them out accurately is essential for producing textures on
polygonal and subdivision surfaces when working in Maya. Understanding how
1
UVs work is also important when you need to paint textures, fur, or hair onto
a 3D model.
Texture mapping polygon and subdivision surfaces in Maya differs from how
you texture NURBS surfaces.
For NURBS surface types, each surface mesh is defined as a four-sided square
or rectangular patch that has specific U and V directions. For NURBS surface
types the texture coordinates (UVs) that control the placement of a texture
exist by default and are implicitly connected to the control vertices. When
the control vertices get repositioned, so do the positions of the corresponding
UV texture coordinates. Any textures mapped to the surface are also affected
as a result. That is, moving a CV will affect how the texture map appears on
the NURBS surface.
For polygon and subdivision surface types, the shape of surface meshes is
usually much more irregular compared to NURBS surface types. Texture
coordinates (UVs) associated with these surface types do not always exist by
default, and so must be explicitly created, and subsequently modified in most
cases, so that the surface mesh can accommodate a texture map.
UV mapping
The process of creating explicit UVs for a surface mesh is called UV mapping.
UV mapping is a process whereby you create, edit, and otherwise arrange the
UVs (that appear as a flattened, two-dimensional representation of the surface
mesh, over top of the two-dimensional image to be used as a texture as it
appears in the UV Texture Editor.
The UV mapping process results in a correlation between the image and how
it appears as a texture when mapped onto the three-dimensional surface mesh.
UV mapping is a critical skill to master for accurate and realistic textures on
polygonal surfaces.
■ You create UVs by mapping them onto your surface mesh using a variety
of options. For more information see the Related topics section below.
■ You view and edit UVs using the UV Texture Editor. You can display the
texture image as a background image to let you more easily correlate the
UVs to the texture. The UV Texture Editor provides many useful tools for
laying out and manipulating the 2D representation of UVs. For more
information see UV Texture Editor overview on page 8.
Related topics
Creating UVs
In Maya, UV texture coordinates (UVs) can be created for polygon surface
meshes using the following UV mapping techniques:
Creating UVs | 3
The polygon and subdivision surface primitive types in Maya have default UV
texture coordinates that can be used for texture mapping. However, if you
modify the default primitives in any way (that is, scale, extrude faces, insert
or delete edges) you will need to map a new set of UV texture coordinates
onto the modified object to suit your texture mapping requirements.
The best workflow is to map UVs onto a model only when the it is complete.
Related topics
■ When the image for a texture map already exists, the UV mesh (and
possibly the surface mesh) will need to be modified to conform to the
requirements of the image. One example of this is when texture mapping
a games character and the artwork for the texture maps already exist for a
known film actor, athlete, or comic book character. In addition, the image
for the character's textures may be comprised of many smaller separate
■ When you want to reference the same image multiple times for a texture
map you will want the UVs to lay directly on top of each other when
viewed in the UV Texture Editor. This approach is useful and efficient in
situations when the UVs can share the same region of a texture image. For
example, if you had a brick texture that you wanted repeated on several
buildings in a scene you could lay each separate UV mesh in exactly the
same position within the UV Texture Editor. Otherwise overlapping UVs
are generally not desirable and will produce unexpected texture mapping
results. When UVs overlap you can lay them out to not overlap using Edit
UVs > Layout.
■ When the shape of the projected UVs are badly distorted compared to the
3D surface mesh the resulting texture map will be compressed, stretched
or otherwise distorted on the surface mesh in an undesirable fashion. There
are many options for correcting these situations using features in the UV
Texture Editor such features as Unfold and Relax.
NOTE To create a UV mapping arrangement that works best for your model,
you may need to try a variety of mapping techniques, until you find a mapping
arrangement that is suitable. For more information on laying out UVs see UV
mapping tips on page 6.
Related topics
UV mapping tips
Maya provides a number of features that let you easily create and edit UV
texture coordinates for texture mapping your polygon and subdivision surfaces.
The UV Texture Editor (Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor) is the primary tool for
arranging and laying out UVs for optimal textures.
Knowing how to arrange UV texture coordinates is an important skill to master
that depends on whether you are generating a new texture using the UVs as
a guide, or if you are adapting the UVs to optimally fit an existing image. The
best arrangement depends on the types of textures you will apply and also
upon whether you are creating rendered images or models for interactive
games. A full description of UV arrangement is out of the scope of this guide
but you should consider the following guidelines:
The UV Texture Editor displays a grid marking the texture space for UVs. The
working area of the grid begins at 0 and extends to 1. By default, the UV
mapping operations in Maya automatically fit UVs within the 0 to 1
coordinates. While it is possible to move or scale the UVs so they reside outside
of this 0 to 1 region, you should keep the UVs for a surface positioned within
these 0 to 1 coordinates, in the majority of situations.
When the UVs extend beyond the 0 to 1 range, the texture will appear to
repeat or wrap around the corresponding vertices when viewed in the 3D
scene or rendered image. The exception to this guideline is when you actually
want the texture to repeat on the surface, such as a brick texture along the
model of a wall.
Snapping UVs
You can use snapping in the UV Texture Editor to lock your transformations
to existing objects in the scene. This functionality is similar to the snapping
functionality in the scene view.
You can use the Preserve Component Spacing option in the Move Tool settings
when transforming multiple UVs to maintain their relative spacing.
Grid intersections x
Pixels
UV mapping tips | 7
NOTE
■ If snapping is on and you drag an axis manipulator (as opposed to the
manipulator’s center), the manipulator snaps to the nearest point or grid
intersection restricted to that axis (depending on the snapping mode).
Alternatively, you can use Shift + x or Shift + v to snap to the nearest point
restricted by the U or V axis respectively.
Related topics
■ use the standard camera move keys (Alt + the middle mouse button and
Alt + the right mouse button) to track and dolly within the 2D texture
view.
■ press f in the UV Texture Editor to frame any selected items in the 2D view.
UV specific marking menus are available when you work in the UV Texture
Editor. This saves you time and streamlines your UV editing workflow. When
■ When UV texture coordinates are currently selected the marking menu shows
possible UV modification operations (for example, Relax, Unfold, Smudge
Tool, and Lattice Tool are available). While the marking menu is displayed,
simply drag your mouse to highlight the desired item in the menu; the
item is selected as if it were selected from the related UV Texture Editor
location in the menu or toolbar.
■ When a polygon edge is currently selected the marking menu shows possible
UV edge modification operations for the selected component (for example,
Cut UV Edges, Sew UV Edges, Move and Sew UV Edges, and others).
When a polygon face is currently selected the marking menu shows possible
UV modification operations for the selected UV type (for example,
Normalize,Unitize, Layout, and others).
Related topics
UV sets
You can create multiple arrangements of UV texture coordinates for a surface
mesh using UV sets. UV sets are useful when an object requires multiple UV
layouts for different textures (known as multi-texturing).
For example, if you create a brick wall and want to layer spray paint on top,
you can use one texture for the bricks and one texture for the paint using a
layered texture. If the brick texture repeats but the paint texture doesn’t, you
will want different UV layouts (UV sets) for each.
If you are planning to pre-light the surfaces in your scene (also referred to as
light baking), you’ll want to use UV sets to store the shading and lighting color
UV sets | 11
information from the rendered appearance of a polygon mesh directly on the
color per vertex information for the mesh.
Examples
The following examples show UV sets used to texture a brick wall. In both
examples, the UV sets are:
UV sets | 13
Related topics
15
2 Select Create UVs > Best Plane Texturing Tool.
4 Select one or more faces on which you want to map the texture. You
cannot marquee-select the faces—you must select the faces one by one,
or select the faces before using the operation.
5 Press Enter.
6 Select one or more vertices (press the right mouse button on the mesh
and choose Vertex to switch to selecting vertices).
7 Press Enter.
8 Use the UV Texture Editor to view and edit the resulting UVs.
4 Click Project.
5 Use the projection manipulator to control how the plane distributes UVs.
6 Use the UV Texture Editor to view and edit the resulting UVs.
Planar UV mapping | 17
You can also rotate the manipulator by clicking the red crossed lines,
which reveals the Show Manipulator tool. Click the light blue circle
around the Show Manipulator handle to activate the rotate handles.
Notes
■ Planar mapping can create shared, overlapping UVs that can look like
texture borders. Turn on texture border display (in Display > Polygons >
Texture Border Edges) to clearly show texture borders.
■ Shared, overlapping UVs can create seam problems if you paint over them
with the 3D Paint or Paint Fur Attributes Tools.
To avoid these problems, manually separate the UVs with Edit UVs > Layout
> . Set Separate shells to Folds and the Shell layout option to Along U
or Into Square.
Related topics
Cylindrical UV mapping
Cylindrical mapping creates UVs for an object based on a cylindrical projection
shape that gets wrapped around the mesh. This projection is best for shapes
which can be completely enclosed and visible within a cylinder, without
projecting or hollow parts.
Cylindrical UV mapping | 19
1 Select the faces you want to project UVs onto.
3 Use the manipulator to change the position and size of the projection
shape.
4 Use the UV Texture Editor to view and edit the resulting UVs.
Spherical UV mapping
Spherical mapping create UVs using a projection that is based on a spherical
shape wrapped around the mesh. This projection is best for shapes which can
be completely enclosed and visible within a sphere, without projecting or
hollow parts.
3 Use the manipulator to change the position and size of the projection
shape.
4 Use the UV Texture Editor to view and edit the resulting UVs.
Spherical UV mapping | 21
NOTE Projection mapping only works properly on a single object at a time.
If you need to apply a projection to multiple polygonal objects in a single
step, combine the objects into one, apply the projection, and then separate
the parts back out. Otherwise, perform a projection on each object separately.
Related topics
Automatic UV mapping
Automatic mapping creates UVs for a polygon mesh by attempting to find
the best UV placement by simultaneously projecting from multiple planes.
This method of UV mapping is useful on more complex shapes where the
basic planar, cylindrical, or spherical projections do not produce UVs that are
useful, especially on components that project outwards or are hollow in nature.
Automatic UV mapping | 23
The projection manipulator appears centered about the selected object in the
scene view with blue planes that correspond to the number of planes set by
the Automatic Mapping’s Planes option. A light blue color indicates that the
projection plane is oriented facing away from the selected object, while a dark
blue plane indicates the side of the projection plane that is oriented facing
towards the selected object.
The manipulator’s planes are displayed semi-transparent at a scale of 50% of
the actual projection plane so they don’t fully occlude the object when using
the manipulator. Red and green lines appear along the edge of each plane to
indicate the corresponding U and V axes within the UV Texture Editor.
You can move, rotate, and scale the UV projection manipulator just like other
manipulators in Maya. Scaling the manipulator affects the resulting scale of
the projected UVs in the UV Texture Editor.
You can reset any transformations for the projection manipulator using the
Channel Box. When a custom projection object is specified using the Load
Projection option, the projection manipulator gets updated to reflect the
planes specified by the custom projection.
1 Select a polygon object in the scene view that you want to project UVs
texture coordinates.
2 Select Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor to display the UV Texture Editor or
select the Persp/UV Texture Editor layout shortcut from the Toolbar to
view the perspective view and the UV Texture Editor side by side.
When you project the UVs they will appear in the UV Texture Editor’s
2D view.
3 From the Polygons menu set, select Create UVs > Automatic Mapping >
.
The Polygon Automatic Mapping Options window appears.
6 Use the UV Texture Editor to view and edit the resulting UVs.
Related topics
User-defined UV mapping
You can map UV texture coordinates by specifying user-defined planes for UV
projection using the Load Projection option within the Automatic Mapping
feature.
The Load Projection option uses a polygon object that you specify from the
current Maya scene. The object can form a cage around the object or be
comprised of separate faces that intersect each other at its center. The
Automatic Mapping projection manipulator updates when a user-defined
object is specified for projection.
User-defined UV mapping | 25
Criteria for user-defined projection objects
■ The UVs of the projection object determine the shape and location of the
final projection mapping that occurs.
■ You can translate any face from the Load Projection object along its normal
with no affect on the resulting projection.
■ Scaling or rotating any face from the Load Projection object will affect the
resulting orientation and scale of the final UV projection. The projection
manipulator updates when this occurs.
1 Select a polygon object in the scene view that you want to project UVs
onto.
2 Select Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor to open the UV Texture Editor.
The existing UVs for the object appear in the UV Texture Editor’s 2D
view.
3 From the Polygons menu set, select Create UVs > Automatic Mapping>
.
The Polygon Automatic Mapping Options window appears.
NOTE In some instances, the Load Projection object may cause the planes
on the automatic mapping projection manipulator to appear unexpectedly
offset or skewed from the object you’re projecting on. This UV offset is based
on the original UVs for the Load Projection object and doesn’t affect the
quality of the projection.
You can unitize the UVs for the Load Projection object prior to projection
so its UVs reside in the 0 to 1 texture space. While this will make the
projection manipulator appear more centered about the polygon object
it may not provide the UV mapping results you were expecting as the
UVs will be projected similar to having explicitly specified the Overlap
feature.
Related topics
User-defined UV mapping | 27
Confirm UV placement
Confirming that UVs are positioned correctly for a surface mesh is critical if
you want the textures to appear correctly on the surfaces of your mesh. One
method of confirming the UV placement is to assign a shader that contains
a texture with visual characteristics that help indicate how the UVs are
mapping the texture onto the surface.
When you turn on Create UVs > Assign Shader to Each Projection, Maya will
assign a checkerboard texture shader to the mesh as you project UVs. This
provides a quick visual indication of the UV placement.
Related topics
5 Project UVs onto the smoothed duplicate model using any of the mapping
options in the Create UVs menu.
6 Use Mesh > Transfer Attributes to copy the UVs from the smoothed
duplicated back to the original mesh.
Related topics
NOTE The 2D representation of UVs cannot be displayed in the Maya scene views.
1 Select Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor to display the UV Texture Editor.
■ In the scene view, set the selection type to object using the marking menu
and then select the polygon or subdivision surface mesh.
The UVs for the selected mesh are displayed in the UV Texture Editor.
■ In the scene view, set the selection type to UV using the marking menu and
then select any vertices on the polygon or subdivision surface mesh.
The UVs associated with the vertices you selected on the mesh are displayed
in the UV Texture Editor.
31
Related topics
Select UVs
Selecting UVs, UV components, and UV shells is critical to editing the layout
of UVs in the UV Texture Editor. You can select UVs in either the scene view
or in the UV Texture Editor but you can only view and edit the 2D
representation of UVs using the UV Texture Editor.
1 Press the right mouse button over top of the polygon or subdivision
surface mesh and select UV from the marking menu.
UVs for the surface mesh display in exactly the same location as the
vertices so you can select them in the scene view.
1 Press the right mouse button on UVs in the UV Texture Editor to enter
different component selection modes.
This works in a similar fashion to how you select polygon components
with the marking menu in the scene view.
1 Hold Ctrl and press the right mouse button to show items for converting
one type of selection to another.
For example, if you have faces selected, you can convert the selection to
UVs to use the Move tool, which only works with UVs. Use the items in
the UV Texture Editor’s Select menu to select various components:
■ Select Contained Faces: Selects the faces bordered the selected UVs or
edges.
■ Select Shell: Select all UVs in the shell containing the current selection.
This is useful to select the whole piece so you can move, scale, or
rotate it.
■ Select Shell Border: Expands your selection to all UVs along the border
of the UV piece.
You can use Soft Selection to smoothly transform textures on your models
without transforming each UV one at a time. Soft selection works by
transforming a falloff region around your selected region. For more information
see Soft Selection.
3 Click the Toggle isolate select mode button on the toolbar, or choose
View > Isolate Select > View Set.
To switch back to showing all UVs, click Toggle isolation again, or turn
off the View > Isolate Select > View Set menu item.
1 In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle isolate select mode button on
1 In the UV Texture Editor, select the UVs you want to remove from the
isolated subset.
To display only the UVs that have the current image assigned
1 Show the texture (in the UV Texture Editor, choose Image > Display
Image). If more than one texture is associated with the mesh, select the
texture you want to work on using the Textures menu.
2 To only show faces with the current image assigned, in the UV Texture
Editor turn on View > View Faces of Selected Images.
3 To show all faces again, turn off View > View Faces of Selected Images.
3 To show all faces again, turn off View > Contained Faces.
To display only the faces that share the selected UVs or edges
3 To show all faces again, turn off View > Connected Faces.
To... Do this:
Move a UV shell and ensure that it does Use the Move UV Shell Tool.
not overlap other shells.
1 From the UV Texture Editor
menu, select Tool > Move UV
Shell Tool > . (Or click the
Move UV Shell Tool icon on
the toolbar of the UV Texture
Editor.
Flip UVs to flip the texture placement on Use the Flip UVs options.
the mesh.
1 Select the faces you want to flip
texture placement on.
Scale UVs to fit within the 0 to +1 texture Use the Normalize UVs options.
range. 1 Select the faces whose UVs you
want scaled within the 0 to 1
range in the UV Texture Editor.
Move UVs to (0,0), (1,1), (1,0), or (0,1) in Use the Unitize UVs options.
texture space.
1 Select the faces whose UVs you
want to have unitized.
You can use Discrete rotate and Discrete scale to rotate or scale your UVs by
fixed increments. You can modify these increments in the Step size field. This
is useful to restrict the rotation or scale amount to a specific factor.
1 Select the UVs you want to rotate or scale in the UV Texture Editor.
2 Double-click either the Rotate Tool or Scale Tool from the Toolbox.
The Tool Settings Editor appears.
UV Snapping
You can use snapping in the UV Texture Editor to transform UVs with great
precision the same way you can use it to transform components in the scene
view.
Related Topics
■ Rotate Tool
■ Scale Tool
When Snap to Points is on, you can also snap to UV projections along the U
or V axis. A UV projection is a straight line in either the U or V direction from
a UV. This is useful if you don’t want to snap two UVs together, but want
them to line up in the UV Texture Editor.
With the Retain Component Spacing option on, the center of the selected
UVs snaps to the nearest UV projection. The relative spacing of the selected
UVs is maintained. Notice below that the shape of the selected UVs is
maintained and only the center of the selection (the manipulator) lines up
with the circled UV beneath them when translated right.
You can use snapping in the UV Texture Editor to position pivots for rotation
or scaling. This helps to reduce the number of steps in some workflows and
ensures that transformations along existing points are accurate.
However, it’s easier and more precise to move the pivot point to the bottom
left corner and rotate on that pivot.
To rotate around a UV
You can use a similar workflow to scale a set of UVs relative to a specific point.
Change the view of the UVs. Use the camera move keys:
■ alt + the middle mouse button to track
■ alt + the right mouse button to dolly in and out
Zoom in/out to show all UVs. In the UV Texture Editor, choose View > Frame All.
Zoom in/out to show the selec- In the UV Texture Editor, choose View > Frame Selec-
ted UVs. tion.
Make texture borders look thick- In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle Texture
er. Borders button.
Related topics
To... Do this
Display the texture image be- In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle Image but-
hind the UVs. ton on the toolbar or select Image > Display Image.
Set the image ratio. In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle Image Ratio
button on the toolbar or select Image > Use Image
Ratio.
Switch between blended and In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle Filtered Pixels
sharp-edged pixels. button on the toolbar or select Image > Display Un-
filtered.
Switch between showing a Select the mesh object to show a mesh texture, or
mesh texture and a per-face faces to show per-face textures.
texture.
Choose a texture to display (if In the UV Texture Editor, select the texture you want
more than one texture is ap- to work on from the Textures menu.
plied to the mesh). When you are in component selection mode, the
Textures menu lists shading groups assigned to the
selected components.
In object selection mode, the sub-menu lists all shad-
ing groups assigned to the entire mesh.
Crop the image within UV co- In the UV Texture Editor, choose Image > Image Range
ordinates.
> .
If the texture quality is poor or if parts of the texture do not display correctly,
you can modify the display quality with the Hardware Texturing settings in
the Attribute Editor for the material node.
If you are using a file texture, the best display mode for the Texture resolution
setting is Default. (The other settings, such as High, are best for procedural
textures.)
If you experience resolution or cropping problems in the texture image display,
use Image > UV Texture Editor Baking to bake the texture. You must rebake
the texture (using UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154) after making changes
to the texture (File node and place2dTexture node attributes) in order to see
the effect of those changes.
Related topics
Delete UVs
Delete UVs removes UV texture coordinates from the selected face(s). When
you select a face on the mesh that has an assigned texture and delete the UVs,
Delete UVs | 43
the assigned texture doesn’t appear any longer on the face(s) where the UVs
were deleted. You can re-create the UVs for the selected faces (or the entire
mesh) using the UV projection mapping operations.
Deleting UVs removes only the UV texture coordinate data on the mesh and
does not affect the vertices on the mesh.
1 In the scene view, select the face(s) for which you want to delete the UVs.
2 Select Edit UVs > Delete UVs. (If you are working in the UV Texture Editor
you can select Polygons > Delete UVs.)
The UVs associated with the selected face(s) are deleted.
Because the selected faces have no UVs, textures cannot be applied to them
until UVs are re-created.
NOTE When you select one UV in the UV Texture Editor and select Polygons >
Delete UVs, all of the UVs for the face(s) associated with the UV you selected also
get deleted. For this reason, the Delete key on the keyboard does not delete UVs
because of the unique requirements of this operation.
Related topics
■ Creating more texture space for key areas in a texture map. For example,
when texture mapping a face, the UVs surrounding the eyes and mouth
can be scaled larger so there are more pixels assigned to these areas in the
final texture map. If you scaled the UVs within the UV Texture Editor to
optimize the texture space, you can warp the associated image to account
for the modified UVs.
NOTE Warp Image may not produce as high quality an image as you expect.
It may be necessary to perform additional post processing work on the image.
Warp Image requires two UV sets in order to produce a new image (in addition
to the original image). Unless you have previously created a UV set for the
polygonal mesh it is highly recommended that prior to doing any UV editing
within the UV Texture Editor, you explicitly save a copy of the original UVs
for the textured polygonal mesh as a UV set by selecting Polygons > Copy
UVs to UV Set > Copy into New UV Set. In that way you’ll have the original
UV set to revert back to should you require it.
■ From the Polygons menu set, select Edit UVs > Warp Image > .
2 Type the file name for the source image you want to warp in the Source
Image Name field or browse to the location and select the file name.
3 Type the file name for the new image you want created by Warp Image
in the New Image Name field or browse to select a location and image
name.
4 Type the names of the Source and Destination UV sets that you want the
Warp Image feature to reference. If you forget the names of the UV sets,
they can be viewed in the UV Texture Editor by selecting the UV Sets
menu and viewing the UV set names in the drop-down list.
5 Set any remaining options that you want and then click Warp Image.
6 Warp Image calculates the new pixel positions for the new image and
outputs the image to the location you specified.
To view the new texture on your surface mesh you must edit the currently
assigned shader to use the new image. Ensure that you have the correct
UV set applied to the mesh so you see the results you expect.
Related topics
To... Do this
Show or hide the grid. In the UV Texture Editor, click the Toggle
Grid button on the toolbar or choose View
> Grid.
Change how UVs snap. Double-click the Move tool to open its
options panel.
Use the Retain Component Spacing option
to control how UVs snap:
When off, all selected UVs will snap to the
same point.
When on, selected UVs will keep their pos-
itions relative to each other as they move.
Related topics
1 In the scene view, select the mesh or components so their UVs appear in
the UV Texture Editor.
3 Enter a name in the File name field that you want to export to.
8 Click OK.
Related topics
1 In the scene view, select the polygonal or subdivision surface object whose
UVs you want to manipulate.
4 In the UV Texture Editor menu bar, select Tool > UV Lattice Tool > .
The UV Lattice Tool Options window appears.
5 Set the UV Lattice Tool options and then click Apply and Close.
7 In the UV Texture Editor view, drag around the UVs you want to
manipulate. This selects the target UVs for the lattice.
A UV lattice manipulator appears over and surrounding the target UVs.
8 Select the lattice edges or control points that affect the region of UVs you
want to manipulate by clicking them.
Shift-click lattice edges or control points to include them or remove them
from your selection.
9 Drag the selected lattice edges or control points to deform the layout of
the target UVs.
Related topics
3 In the UV Texture Editor menu bar, select Tool > UV Smudge Tool >
.
The UV Smudge Tool Options window appears.
4 Set the UV Smudge Tool options as required and then click Apply and
Close.
5 Select Tool > UV Smudge Tool or click the UV Smudge Tool button
in the UV Texture Editor toolbar. The following occurs:
■ The UV Texture Editor’s view switches to UV mode.
6 If the Middle Mouse Initiates tool setting is off, do one of the following:
■ In the UV Texture Editor’s view, drag to smudge the layout of all your
UVs.
■ In the UV Texture Editor’s view, Shift-drag around the UVs you want
to select and then drag to smudge the layout of the selected UVs.
■ In the UV Texture Editor’s view, drag around the UVs you want to
select and then middle-drag to smudge the layout of the selected UVs.
Related topics
To... Do this
Separate a UV shell along the selected Select Edit UVs > Cut UV Edges.
edges.
Attach UV shells along the selected edges. Select Edit UVs > Sew UV Edges.
Attach UV shells along the selected edges Select Edit UVs > Move and Sew UV Edges
and move the shells together.
> . Turn off Limit Shell Size and click
Apply.
Merge the selected UVs. Select Edit UVs > Merge UVs.
Merge UVs only merges the UVs that share
the same vertex. You can specify an option
for the maximum distance Maya will move
UVs to merge them.
Automatically attach and move small shells. Select all the shells and choose Edit UVs >
After performing a Move and Sew UV Edges operation, you can select the node
(polyMapSewMove) and edit it in the Attribute Editor or Channel Box to adjust
the Number Faces.
■ Use the Select > Select Shell in the UV Texture Editor to select a UV piece
after cutting.
Related topics
1 In the UV Texture Editor, select any UVs or UV shells whose display you
want to appear as shaded.
■ In the UV Texture Editor menu, select Image > Shade UVs > .
The UV Map Shading Options window appears to let you modify the
default settings for color and opacity. For more information see Image >
Shade UVs on page 151.
TIP You can correct overlapping UVs and UV shells using the Unfold and the
Layout features. For more information see Layout UV shells on page 58.
You can also view the texture borders for a UV shell by selecting Display
> Polygons > Texture Border Edges.
Related topics
■ When the normals are flipped on a face of a polygon mesh, the UV winding
order on the face is reversed.
■ Click the Shade UVs icon located on the toolbar of the UV Texture
Editor.
NOTE You can modify the default settings for color and opacity for the Shade
UVs feature by selecting Image > Shade UVs > . For more information see
Image > Shade UVs on page 151.
■ Tangent Space
Layout UV shells
The Layout feature automatically repositions UV shells so they don’t overlap
in UV texture space and maximizes the spacing and fit between them. This is
useful for ensuring that the UV shells occupy their own separate UV texture
space. For example, if you are applying Fur to a surface, the UV texture
coordinates on a given shell must not overlap.
In general, you should keep UV shells separated for convenience and clarity.
It is not absolutely necessary to keep UV shells separate. For example, you
may want the UV shells to overlap so different faces use the same region of a
texture.
NOTE Before using Layout you should already have performed the necessary
UV projection mapping or Automatic Mapping. That is, the Layout feature will
only arrange existing UV texture coordinates, it will not create them.
1 Select the objects or faces whose UVs you want to lay out.
2 Select Edit UVs > UV Texture Editor to display the UV Texture Editor.
4 In the Layout UVs Options window set the following options depending
on your required outcomes:
■ Set Layout objects to Per Object (overlapping) (default) when you
require multiple object’s UVs to overlap within the UV texture space.
■ Set Prescale to Object to maximize the spacing and fit between the
UV shells.
■ Set the Shell Stacking option to adjust the spacing between UV shells
by specifying how the bounding shape for the UV shells will be
described. In general, the UV layout will have more space when the
Bounding Box option is set, and less space when the Shape option is
Layout UV shells | 59
set. When the Scale Mode is set to Uniform the shells are scaled to
make optimal use of the UV texture space.
5 Click Apply to perform the layout operation or Layout UVs if you want
to perform the operation and close the Layout UVs Options window.
Related topics
1 Select one UV on the shell whose border UVs you wish to map. The UV
you select will represent the lower left corner of the square or circle border
map you wish to make.
The UV you select is important as it will determine where the UV shell
will be mapped to the 0,0 origin of the UV texture space. If the resulting
UV border mapping appears skewed, you may wish to undo it, and select
another UV and map again.
4 If the UV mapping appears correct, you can use the Relax UVs feature to
untangle the interior UVs on the shell.
Related topics
Related topics
Relax a UVs to untangle and even out the spacing between UV coordinates
on a shell. Relax is useful for untangling interior UVs in combination with
the Map UV Border feature. You can begin by mapping the UVs to a border
(either a square or a circle) then relax the UVs to even out the spacing of the
UVs.
You can relax UVs using the Smooth UV Tool or the Relax feature, each with
their own applications.
The Smooth UV Tool allows you to view the affected UVs as you relax them.
This is useful for making precise visual adjustments. You can also use this tool
to relax either the entire UV shell or only a subset of UVs on it.
While both the Smooth UV Tool and the Relax feature allow you to pin the
borders of your UV shell so they don’t move, the Relax feature has additional
options that let you pin selected or unselected UVs while relaxing all the
others. The Relax feature always applies to the entire shell.
2 Select Tool > Smooth UV Tool or select from the UV Texture Editor
toolbar.
Two small controls appear at the bottom-left of the selected UVs.
3 Click the box labelled Relax and drag the mouse right. The further you
drag, the more the selected UVs relax.
NOTE You can move the Unfold and Relax controls by dragging the yellow target
icon at the top left of the controls.
With the Smooth UV tool you can choose to relax the entire mesh or only
part of it. However, you cannot use it to relax multiple UV shells at once.
Additionally, there may be instances when you need more control over some
aspects of the relax process. For example, when relaxing UVs you may want
to pin specific UVs. You can do this with the Relax option.
1 Select one UV on the shell whose UVs you want to untangle (relax).
If you are using the UV Texture Editor, select Polygons > Relax > .
Related topics
Unfold a UV mesh
The Unfold feature lets you unwrap the UV mesh for a polygonal object while
attempting to ensure that the UVs do not overlap. Unfold helps to minimize
the distortion of texture maps on organic polygon meshes by optimizing the
position of the UV coordinates so they more closely reflect the original polygon
mesh. For example, if the initial shape of the UVs cause a patterned texture
to distort, you can use the Unfold feature to minimize the distortion because
it attempts to maintain the UV’s relationship relative to the original polygon
mesh.
You can access Unfold by:
■ selecting the Smooth UV Tool (Tool > Smooth UV Tool in the UV Texture
Editor).
Unfold a UV mesh | 65
■ selecting Edit UVs > Unfold from within the Polygons menu set or from
within the UV Texture Editor by selecting Polygons > Unfold
Unfold setup
Prior to using the Unfold feature you should consider the following:
■ The UV mesh must be cut in a manner that allows the Unfold feature to
freely unwrap the UV mesh.
Unfold a UV mesh | 67
Locating the edge cuts requires some planning, in advance of the actual
cuts, to obtain the best unfolded result. The better the edge cuts, the better
the correlation between the original polygons and their corresponding UV
mesh. In addition, you should anticipate that the polygon edge cuts will
result in texture mismatches along edges, and locate edges on the model
where they are least visible. For example, make edge cuts under the arms
or on the back of the legs of a character.
1 Ensure the polygon model you are working with has UVs. To do this,
perform an initial UV mapping operation on the mesh to produce a UV
texture mesh (for example, using Create UVs > Cylindrical Mapping).
NOTE The shape of the UV texture mesh is not critical at this stage because
the Unfold feature will modify it.
2 In the scene view, determine the locations where you will perform edge
cuts on the UV texture mesh using the 3D polygonal model as a reference.
Dollying and tumbling the scene view helps you with this task.
For additional tips on determining edge cuts, see UV unfolding workflow
tips on page 70.
TIP When editing UVs you can use the perspective view and the UV Texture
Editor, side by side, to locate and select or deselect the polygon vertices,
edges, and UVs. To do this, right-click on any layout shortcut in the Toolbox
and select Persp/UV Texture Editor from the drop-down list.
3 In the scene view you can select vertex edges that lie in a contiguous line
by double-clicking one of the edges on the line. You can also select a path
Once you are satisfied with the cuts you’ve made, you are ready to unfold the
UV shell.
1 From the UV Texture Editor, select a set of UVs. Any UVs you leave
unselected will be pinned when you unfold the mesh.
2 Select Tool > Smooth UV Tool or select from the UV Texture Editor
toolbar.
Two small controls appear at the bottom-left of the selected UVs.
3 Click the box labelled Unfold and drag the mouse right. The further you
drag, the more the selected UVs unfold.
NOTE You can move the Unfold and Relax controls by dragging the yellow target
icon at the top left of the controls.
With the Smooth UV tool you can choose to unfold the entire mesh or only
part of it. However, you cannot use it to unfold multiple UV shells at once.
Unfold a UV mesh | 69
You may also want to control specific aspects of the Unfold operation. You
can do this with the Unfold option.
1 In the UV Texture Editor, select the polygon UV mesh, and then selecting
2 Select the options you want and then click Apply and Close.
When you are satisfied with your final unfolded result, use Polygons > Layout
as a final step to ensure the UVs are laid out as you require.
The following workflow tips can be useful in helping you achieve your desired
final unfolded result.
Related topics
While it is possible to unfold a complete UV mesh for one model in one piece,
an alternate approach might be to cut the UV mesh into smaller sections and
unfold portions of the mesh separately. With this strategy you can more easily
control regions of the unfold by pinning and so on. You’ll need to determine
where you can safely cut the mesh, and later re-sew the UVs if required after
the unfold operations are complete. Which approach you take will be
determined by the complexity of the mesh and your individual production
requirements.
The edge cuts should be located on the UV mesh in such a way that the UV
mesh would lay flat if it were unfolded. Edge cuts are important because they
allow the UV texture coordinates to freely unfold with as little distortion as
possible during the Unfold operation.
The edge cuts should also be located in areas of the UV mesh where they will
stay mostly unseen in the final rendered images. This reduces the possibility
of the viewer seeing the texturing artifacts that can result along texture edges.
You can quickly select a path of edges using the Select Shortest Edge Path Tool
(Select > Select Shortest Edge Path Tool).
The Edge Loop tools can be useful for quickly inserting edges into the mesh
in locations that are not obvious to the viewer.
It is critical to view and select border edges in both the scene view and the
UV Texture Editor. Turn on the display of texture borders by selecting Display
> Polygons > Texture Border Edges. This displays the UV borders on the
polygon mesh as thicker lines so you can see your progress as you cut the UV
edges.
Pinning
Depending on where you initially cut the edges of the UV texture mesh, you
can pin specific locations or regions of the UV texture mesh to create temporary
anchor points to use with the Unfold feature. For example, with a polygon
mesh of a quadruped, you can select the vertices along its spine beginning at
the tip of the nose and ending at the tip of its tail (assuming this has not been
cut), then align these vertices to a vertical axis or horizontal axis within the
UV Texture Editor. When you perform the next Unfold iteration, turn on the
Pin Selected UVs option in the Unfold UVs Options window so the selected
UVs remain anchored while the Unfold operation proceeds. The UVs will then
Unfold a UV mesh | 71
unfold in relation to the area you pinned. If you create QuickSets of the UV
components involved, your pinning operations will proceed more quickly.
Pinning is useful for ensuring areas don’t move during the unfold. It’s also
useful when you have some regions unfolded to your satisfaction, and need
to maintain those regions while performing additional unfold iterations. When
necessary you can pin a shell’s border edges. In this way you can use the
Unfold feature while the shell border is pinned to unfold the shells’ interior
UVs.
In general, you get better results when pinning extreme points on the mesh
and respecting the polygon object’s symmetry whenever possible.
When using the Smooth UV tool to unfold, any unselected UVs are
automatically pinned.
Aligning UVs
Use Edit UVs > Align to snap UVs to match any vertical or horizontal lines
that would naturally occur on the texture.
Aligning UV edges that run down the axis of symmetry can be used to your
advantage. For example, the line of UVs that run down the spine of a
symmetrical four-legged animal. You can select and align these UVs and then
pin them so they act as a benchmark for further unfold operations.
The UV Lattice Tool in the UV Texture Editor can be used to modify a region
of a UV shell before performing further Unfold operations.
You can use the Smooth UV Tool to relax or unfold an entire UV shell into
the UV space. You can then use the same tool to fix small imperfections in
the shell.
The following workflow provides the following benefits:
1 Create a mapping for your object by selecting Create UVs > Planar
Mapping from the Polygons menu set.
In this case, a planar projection from the front (the Z Axis) is appropriate.
In other cases you must determine the best projection to start with.
5 Select the central UV at the top of the forehead and in the UV Texture
Editor, select Polygons > Unfold > .
The Unfold Options window appears.
9 Use the Scale Tool to scale the UV shell into the 0,1 texture space.
14 Select the Move Tool and move the border UVs to the edge of the 0,1
texture space.
The Snap to grids option ensures that the UVs snap to the border precisely.
With the Smooth UV Tool you can use your eye to judge how much the UV
shell should relax. However, whether you use this method or the Relax option
(Polygons > Relax), it is unlikely that the UV shell will be perfect.
If you turn on the Shaded UV Display , you can see small imperfections
in your relaxed shell. For example, the UV shell around the eyes and corners
of the mouth for this model cause the shell to overlap itself.
2 Turn off Pin Borders and then select Apply and Close.
4 Drag the Unfold control to the right until the UV shell no longer overlaps
itself.
3 Choose the direction to flip, and whether to flip within the bounding
box of the selection (local) or across the texture space axes (global).
4 Click Apply.
Related topics
1 Select the polygon face whose attributes you want to copy and choose
Mesh > Clipboard Actions > Copy Attributes > .
2 In the Copy Clipboard Options window, set the attributes you want to
copy (UV, Shader, and Color) and click Apply and Close.
NOTE You can set the options so that one or more attributes get copied to
the clipboard.
NOTE You can also clear the attributes contained on the clipboard by
choosing Mesh > Clipboard Actions > Clear Clipboard.
Related Topics
1 Select the object, then select Create UVs > Create Empty UV Set > .
2 In the Create UV Set Name box, type the name of the empty set and click
Create.
3 Select the new UV set (see Switch between UV sets on page 84).
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
83
Switch between UV sets
You can easily switch the UV sets that get applied to your polygon model.
■ In the scene view, press the right mouse button on a mesh and choose UV
Sets > UVsetName.
UVsetName indicates the list of UV sets.
■ Select Create UVs > Set Current UV Set. In the window, type the name of
the UV set you want.
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
84 | Chapter 4 UV sets
■ Switch between UV sets on page 84
To... Do this
To assign a texture to a UV set. Click the UV Set in the left column, then
click the texture in the right column so it’s
highlighted.
To remove a texture from a UV set. Click the UV Set in the left column, then
click the texture in the right column so it’s
not highlighted.
Temporarily keep textures from appearing From the Edit menu above the list of tex-
in software renders. tures, choose one of the following:
■ Ignore Texture: hides the selected
texture.
■ Use Texture When Rendering: uses the
selected texture.
■ Isolate Texture: hides all textures but
the selected one.
■ Use All Textures When Rendering.7
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
2 In the UV Texture Editor, open the Polygons > Copy UVs to UV Set
sub-menu and choose a UV set.
86 | Chapter 4 UV sets
Notes
■ When polygon UV sets are copied with history, the source UV set is linked
with the destination. Any changes made to the source UV set by using
construction history, will influence the copied UV set. To avoid this issue,
delete construction history after copying the UV set.
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
1 Select a shape.
8 Right-click on an instance and select the UV Sets > UV Linking... Use the
Relationship Editor to connect any of the per-instance sets to the color
of the shader.
88 | Chapter 4 UV sets
2 Create a small polygonal plane on the ground plane and from the
polyPlane node, set Subdivisions Width and Subdivisions Height to 16
each.
3 Select the polygon plane and select Edit > Duplicate Special > .
4 Set Geometry Type to Instance and select Apply twice to create two
instances of the small polygonal plane (the instances will appear overtop
of the original).
6 Create a directional light (Create > Lights > Directional Light) and position
it pointing slightly down and towards the cylinder and planes.
8 Open the Shadows section and turn on Use Depth Map Shadows.
10 Render the scene using the mental ray renderer. Your render should look
something like this:
1 Select the three polygonal plane instances and in the Polygons menu set,
select Create UVs > Create Empty UV Set > .
2 In the Create UV Set Options dialog box, create a UV set named Sidewalk
and select Per Instance Unshared. Then click Create.
4 Select all the polygonal plane instances, and create UVs by selecting
Create UVs > Planar Mapping > and selecting:
■ Fit Projection to: Bounding Box
5 Click Project.
90 | Chapter 4 UV sets
You’ve now created a per-instances UV set whose UVs don’t overlap in UV
space. (You can use the UV Texture Editor to confirm this and move UVs if
necessary.)
2 In the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/shading > Batch Bake (mental
ray) > .
■ Bake shadows: on
7 At this point, you can delete the light in your scene since its shadows
have been baked to the UV textures on your polygonal instances.
Deleting UV sets works slightly differently now that there can be UV set
families shared between instances.
For example, a per-instance set family named myMap has two child sets. One
is applied to multiple instances (instances a, b, and c) and one is applied only
to instance d. It is the current UV set. If you select instance d, and select Delete
Current UV Set, only the map on instance d is deleted. (The other UV map is
used by unselected instances and is not deleted.)
If you then select instance a and select Delete Current UV Set, the UV set is
unshared from instance a, but still exists on instances b and c. To delete it
92 | Chapter 4 UV sets
altogether, you can then select instances b and c and select Delete Current
UV Set.
Limitations
1 In the scene view, select the NURBS surface that you want to create and
edit explicit UVs for texturing.
2 Ensure that the construction history for the NURBS surface is deleted by
selecting Edit > Delete All by Type > History.
Deleting construction history prior to making any UV edits ensures that
subsequent updates to the node dependency graph do not remove the
UV edits you make to the explicit NURBS UV set. Do this only when you
are sure you will no longer be required to edit the model (Save a copy of
the model that contains construction history in case you need to revert
back for any reason).
3 Turn off construction history while you work on the NURBS UVs using
the Construction History on/off icon on the Status Line.
5 In the UV Texture Editor, right + click in the 2D view, and select Edit
NURBS UV mode from the marking menu that appears.
A UV set for the NURBS surface is explicitly created and displayed in the
2D view of the UV Texture Editor. The NURBS UV set created is based on
the topology of the NURBS surface.
7 Select the UVs you want to modify in either the scene view or in the 2D
view of the UV Texture Editor.
8 Using the transformation tools from the Toolbox (Move Tool, Rotate
Tool, or Scale Tool), edit the position of the NURBS UVs in the UV Texture
Editor.
Notes
■ Modifying the NURBS surface topology in any way (that is, inserting an
isoparm on the NURBS surface) after the explicit UV set has been modified
will overwrite the unique NURBS UV set. The explicit NURBS UV set will
be updated to take into account the changes to the topology, but any UV
modifications will be lost.
■ The explicit UV set created with this feature is unique for each NURBS
surface. That is, unlike polygon and subdivision surface types, it is not
possible to create multiple NURBS UV sets for a given NURBS surface.
94 | Chapter 4 UV sets
■ The Maya renderers (software, hardware, mental ray for Maya, and so on)
do not support explicit NURBS UVs. They are only capable of rendering
the implicit UVs for NURBS.
■ Construction history is not supported. That is, a user should plan their
texturing workflow to occur after all edits and modifications to the model
are complete. Changing the topology of the model after the NURBS UV
set has been edited will overwrite the UV edits whenever the node
dependency graph updates.
Related topics
Bounding box This option works best when you are mapping UVs to all or
most of an object’s faces. It snaps the projection manipulator to fit within the
object’s bounding box. With this option on, you must choose one of the Project
from directions to establish the orientation of the projection manipulator.
97
on the grid would have most of its faces pointing along the Y axis, while a
horse model standing on the grid would have most of its faces pointing along
the X or Z axis.
Choose the Camera option if most of the model’s faces point somewhere that
is not directly along the X, Y, or Z axis. This option positions the projection
manipulator based on the current active view.
Keep image width/height ratio Turn this option on to retain the width to
height ratio of the image so that the image does not distort. Turn it off so that
the mapped UVs fill the 0 to 1 coordinates in the UV Texture Editor.
Create new UV set Turn this option on to create a new UV set and place the
UVs created by the projection in that set. Type the name of your UV set in
the UV Set name box.
You can use the manipulator handles to interactively adjust the UV map that
gets projected or enter values to change the Projection Center, Rotation and
Scale using either the Channel Box or the Attribute Editor. These values
correspond to the manipulator handles that display when you map your
texture onto the polygon.
Projection Center The projection center defines the point of origin in the X,
Y, or Z axis from where you can project a texture map. By default, this is the
center of the selected faces in the X, Y, or Z axis.
Rotate Type a value to rotate the projection in the 3D view around the X, Y,
or Z axis which subsequently rotates the texture.
Projection Width Sets the width (U) of the projection relative to the 3D
projection axis.
Projection Height Sets the height (V) of the projection relative to the 3D
projection axis.
Rotation Angle This value changes the angle at which UVs are rotated in the
2D window. Drag the slider or enter a value to rotate the image.
Image Scale This value represents the width (U) or the height (V) of the 2D
map relative to the 2D center point.
Related topics
Create new UV set Turn this option on to create a new UV set and place the
UVs created by the projection in that set. Type the name of your UV set in
the UV Set name box.
You can use the manipulator handles to interactively adjust the UV map that
gets projected or enter values to change the Projection Center, Rotation and
Sweep using either the Channel Box or the Attribute Editor. These values
correspond to the manipulator handles that display when you map your
texture onto the polygon.
Rotate Type a value to rotate the projection in the 3D view around the X, Y,
or Z axis which subsequently rotates the texture.
Horizontal Sweep Use the slider or type a value to scale the projection around
the polygonal object in the horizontal direction. This value corresponds to
the Projection Scale Aperture handles on the manipulator. For instance, pull
the Projection Scale Aperture handles all the way around the object until they
meet. This is equivalent to entering 360 in the box.
Vertical Sweep Use the slider or type a value to scale the projection around
the polygonal object in the vertical direction. This value corresponds to the
Projection Scale Aperture handles on the manipulator. For instance, pull the
Projection Scale Aperture handles all the way around the object until they
meet. This is equivalent to entering 360 in the box.
Image Center This value represents the center of the projected UVs. Changing
this value translates the center accordingly.
Rotation Angle This value changes the angle at which UVs are rotated in the
2D window. Drag the slider or enter a value to rotate the image.
Image Scale This value represents the width (U) or the height (V) of the 2D
map relative to the 2D center point.
Related topics
Create new UV set Turn this option on to create a new UV set and place the
UVs created by the projection in that set. Type the name of your UV set in
the UV Set name box.
You can use the manipulator handles to interactively adjust the UV map that
gets projected or enter values to change the Projection Center, Rotation and
Sweep using either the Channel Box or the Attribute Editor. These values
correspond to the manipulator handles that display when you map your
texture onto the polygon.
Projection Center The projection center defines the point of origin in the X,
Y, or Z axis from where you can project a texture map. By default, this is the
center of the selected faces in the X, Y, or Z axis.
Rotate Type a value to rotate the projection in the 3D view around the X, Y,
or Z axis which subsequently rotates the texture.
Horizontal Sweep Use the slider or type a value to scale the projection
horizontally around the polygonal object. This value corresponds to the
Projection Scale Aperture handles on the manipulator. For instance, pull the
Projection Scale Aperture handles all the way around the object until they
meet. This is equivalent to entering 360 in the box.
Vertical Sweep Use the slider or type a value to scale the projection vertically
around the polygonal object. This value corresponds to the Projection Scale
Aperture handles on the manipulator. For instance, pull the Projection Scale
Aperture handles all the way around the object until they meet. This is
equivalent to entering 360 in the box.
Image Center This value represents the center of the projected UVs. Changing
this value translates the center accordingly.
Rotation Angle This value changes the angle at which UVs are rotated in the
2D window. Drag the slider or enter a value to rotate the image.
Related topics
Planes Selects the number of planes for the Automatic Mapping projection.
You can choose a projection mapping based on shapes with 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 12
planes. The more planes used, the less distortion occurs and the more UV
shells created in the UV Texture Editor. The number of planes that appear on
the Automatic Mapping Projection manipulator directly relates to the number
of planes set in this option.
Optimize for:
Sets the optimization type for the automatic projection.
Less distortion Projects all planes equally. While this method provides the
best projection for any face, you may end up with more shells. It is particularly
useful if you have a symmetrical model and you want the shells of the
projection to be symmetrical.
Fewer pieces Projects each plane until the projection encounters a projection
angle that is not ideal. This can result in larger shells, and fewer of them. This
is the default.
■ Keep the Less Distortion setting but delete history on the object (Edit >
Delete by Type > History). This action assigns UVs directly to the surface.
Load projection
Lets you specify a custom polygon object to be the projection object for
automatic mapping. You must initially create the polygon object in object
space (X, Y, Z). The Load Projection object must exist in the current scene.
The projection object can form a cage around the object or be comprised of
separate faces that intersect each other at its center. The faces of the projection
object must have UV texture coordinates. It is recommended that you use
separated faces. You can separate the faces for a polygon primitive using the
Mesh > Extractfeature. NURBS and subdivision surfaces are not valid surface
types for use with Load Projection. The maximum number of polygon faces
that can be specified for a projection object is 31.
You can translate any face from the Load Projection object along its normal
with no affect on the resulting projection. However, scaling or rotating any
face from the Load Projection object affects the resulting orientation and scale
of the final UV projection. Changing the UV texture coordinates on the
projection object also affects the resulting UV projection mapping that occurs.
The Automatic Mapping projection manipulator updates to reflect the change
in orientation whenever this occurs.
Projection object Identifies the currently loaded projection object in the
scene. You specify the projection object by typing the name of the projection
object in this field. Alternatively, the name of the projection object will appear
in this field when the desired object in the scene is selected and the Load
Selected button is selected.
Project both directions When Project both directions is off (default), Load
projection projects UVs on polygon objects whose normals point in roughly
the same direction as the projecting plane of the Load Projection object. When
Project both directions is turned on, the alignment of normals on both sides
of the projection faces determines which objects will receive a projection from
a particular projection plane. That is, the normals are projected outwards from
both sides of the Load Projection object and the surfaces whose normals align
are evaluated accordingly.
Shell layout
Sets where the laid out UV shells will lie in UV texture space.
Overlap Overlaps the resulting projection within the 0 to 1 UV texture space
in the UV Texture Editor. Overlap is useful when the UV texture shells need
to share the same texture. When the Load Projection option is turned on,
Overlap becomes the default layout.
Into Square Positions the shells within the 0 to 1 texture space. This is the
default.
Scale mode
Sets how the UV shells will be scaled within UV texture space.
None Performs no scaling.
Stretch to Square Stretches the shells to fit the 0 to 1 texture space. The shells
may become distorted.
Shell stacking
Determines how the UV shells get stacked in relation to each other when laid
out in the UV Texture Editor.
Bounding Box Creates a rectangular bounding box around each UV shell,
then stacks the shells based on the borders of the bounding boxes. The UV
shells will have more space between them when this option is set.
Shape Stacks the UV shells based on the boundaries of each individual shell.
The UV shells can be more tightly arranged to fit into any available spaces
when this option is set.
Spacing presets Maya puts a bounding box around each piece and lays out
the shells so that the bounding boxes are very close together. If the shells end
up positioned exactly next to each other, two UVs on different shells can share
the same pixel and when painting with the 3D Paint Tool, overscanning can
also cause the paint to spill onto the adjacent shell.
Percentage space If you select Custom beside Spacing Presets, enter the size
of the space between bounding boxes as a percentage of the map size.
Create new UV set Turn this option on to create a new UV set and place the
newly created UVs in that set. Type the name of the UV set in the UV Set
Name box.
Create new UV set Turn this option on to create a new UV set and place the
newly created UVs in that set. Type the name of the UV set in the UV Set
Name box.
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
NOTE It is important that you either select all faces before invoking the tool, or
set the selection mask explicitly to Polygon. Otherwise selection problems can
occur. Use the Best Plane Texturing Tool on on shape at a time. You can still use
vertices from a different shape to define the plane.
Related topics
Related topics
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
Create UV Set name Type a name for the new UV set in the text field.
UV Set Sharing You can choose to share this UV set (every instance has the
UV set), Per Instance Shared (all selected instances share the new UV set), or
Per Instance Unshared (all selected instances get a unique UV set).
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
UV set name Type the name of the UV set you want to switch to in this text
field.
Related topics
■ UV sets on page 11
New UV set name Type the name of the UV set you want to switch to in this
text field.
Related topics
Related topics
Related topics
Collectively Select Collectively to normalize the UVs for all selected faces
collectively. That means the texture coordinates for all selected faces are
“collectively” fit to the 0 to 1 texture space. This is the default.
Each face separately Select Each face separately to normalize the UVs for
each selected face separately. That means the texture coordinates for each
selected face are fit to a boundary of 0 to 1.
Related topics
Create new UV set Turn this option on to automatically create a new UV set
on the object to hold the unitized UVs. Enter a name for the new UV set in
the UV Set name box.
Direction Set the direction to flip the UVs of the selected shells: Horizontal
or Vertical. The default is Horizontal.
Related topics
Rotation angle The angle by which the UVs are rotated. The UVs rotate about
their average center.
Related topics
Map size presets Sets the Grid U and Grid V options to common square texture
sizes.
Change the Grid U and Grid V sliders or enter values to use a different or
non-square size.
Grid U The number of grid lines horizontally (in the U dimension of texture
space).
Grid V The number of grid lines vertically (in the V dimension of texture
space).
Move UVs to
The options available are:
Pixel border Snaps UVs to the nearest grid intersection.
Pixel center Snaps UVs to the nearest midpoint between grid lines.
Align selected UVs to Sets whether the selected UVs are aligned to the left
(minimum U), right (maximum U), bottom (minimum V), or top (maximum
V).
Related topics
These are the descriptions for the options in the Warp Image Options window.
Source image name Specifies the name and file path of the image that is
input for warp modifications.
New image name Specifies the name and file path of the final image that is
output from the warp calculations.
Background mode
Background mode determines how colors are interpolated at the texture edges.
When warping an image, occasionally some of the pixels along texture edges
are missed. As a result, areas of the polygon mesh may not be properly covered
as the background color shows through. The Background mode and
Background color options helps manage this situation by allowing you to
Fixed color Uses the color specified in the Background Color setting.
Background color Specifies the color used for the Background mode. This
can also be useful if you want to import the file texture into an image editing
software application, and want a special key (color) to select the background
for processing.
File format Specifies the image file format for the new image that is created
as a result of the Warp Image modifications. File formats include PIX, ALS,
IFF, TIFF, CINEON, EPS, GIF, JPG, YUV, RLA, SGI, TGA, and BMP.
Source UV set Specifies the polygon UV set that is referenced for warp
modification.
Destination UV set Specifies the polygon UV set that is used as a target when
determining where to modify the final warped image.
X resolution Specifies the X-axis resolution for the resulting warped image
in pixels. The default X resolution is 256.
Y resolution Specifies the Y-axis resolution for the resulting warped image in
pixels. The default Y resolution is 256.
Include alpha Specifies whether the alpha channel is incorporated into the
Warp Image calculations. When the option is turned off the Alpha channel
information is discarded.
NOTE Tiling a warped image has implications if the wrapped UVs overlap with
other UVs as a result. The Warp Image feature will have trouble determining where
the pixel should be assigned in the areas of overlap and unpredictable results will
occur in the final image. For that reason, UVs should be laid out so they do not
tile. If they must tile, they should tile without overlapping.
Related topics
Preserve original shape Determines how closely the border mapping will
match the selected Border Target Shape. Use the slider or enter a value between
0 and 1 to control the blend of the existing UV border with the specified
Border Target Shape. A value of 0 produces a UV border mapping that is closest
to the specified target shape (Square or Circle). A value of 1 produces a border
that closely represents the world-space relationships between edges, but can
result in concave areas along the border—these will produce overlapping
interior UVs once relaxed.
Related topics
Curvature Pushes the selected border area outward or inward by the specified
amount. A value of zero forces the edge to be straight. Each Curvature unit is
.01 on the UV coordinate scale.
Maya curves the border outward or inward depending on whether the value
is positive or negative. However, you cannot tell in advance whether to use
positive or negative. With the polyStraightenUVBorder node opened in the
Channel Box or Attribute Editor, try positive and negative values and check
the results in the UV Texture Editor.
Preserve length ratio Controls the size of UV texture edges when straightened.
Set to one, Maya preserves the original edge lengths. Set to zero, Maya averages
the lengths. Values between zero and one change the length proportionally.
Blend original shape Affects the shape of the straightened border by blending
it with the original border shape. You can use this setting to constrain the
effect of the above two settings. Set to one, Maya keeps the original shape and
overrides the other settings. Set to zero, Maya does not consider the original
shape when straightening. Values between zero and one proportionally blend
the original shape with the curvature created by the other settings.
Related topics
Pinning
Use the following options to relax only selected portions of the UV shell.
Pin UV border Turn this option on to maintain the position of the border
UVs. This is the default.
Pin unselected UVs Turn this option on to maintain the position of the
unselected UVs. This option is useful for relaxing only the selected UVs.
Edge weights
Select how the UV relax operation affects edges.
Uniform Attempts to make all of the edges the same length. This is the default.
Related topics
These are descriptions for the options in the Unfold Options window.
Weight solver towards A bias setting that determines the weighting between
two unfold solver types: local and global.
When Weight Solver towards is set to 0 (default) a local solver is used for the
unfolding calculations.
When the Weight solver towards is set to 1 a global solver is used for the
unfolding calculations.
When the Weight solver towards is set anywhere between 0 and 1, the
unfolding results are based on the combined solver calculations.
A Weight Solver towards setting of 0 is recommended for the majority of
unfolding operations and provides the quickest results.
Some polygon configurations can cause the Unfold feature to produce an
undesired tapering effect on the unwrapped result. For example, the tapered
Optimize to original
Specifies which polygon comparison method is used for the unfolding
operation. This setting is only available when the Weight solver towards setting
is greater than 0 and can be biased towards two comparison methods:
Face area Compares polygons by comparing the area of individual UVs to the
original faces of the polygon mesh.
Edge length Uses a method that compares the length of the edges of the UVs
to the face edges of the original polygons.
When the Face area/Edge length bias setting is set to 0.5 (the default) both
methods of comparison have equal weighting in determining the final result.
In general, this is a good starting point for the majority of unfold calculations.
Polygon meshes with high areas of curvature can have better unfold results
when the bias is set towards Face area. This setting minimizes the buckling of
the texture map in the areas of curvature. However, if the bias setting is set
fully towards Face area, a shearing effect on the texture can occur as a result
of the calculations attempting to work within the constraints specified by the
Face area bias.
Pinning
Use the following options to unfold only selected portions of the UV shell.
Pin UV border Maintains the position of the UVs along the poly shell’s border
edge during the unfold operation. Use this option when you want the shell’s
border edge to be unaffected by the unfold operation.
Pin UVs
Lets you perform the Unfold operation but pin specific UV combinations.
Pin selected UVs Maintains the position of only the selected UVs during the
unfold operation.
Pin unselected UVs Maintains the position of only the unselected UVs during
the unfold operation. This is the default setting.
When this option is on, Unfold repositions all of the selected UVs during the
unfold operation and the unselected UVs remain pinned.
Unfold constraint
Specifies how the unfolding of the UVs will be constrained as they are
unfolded.
None The UVs will unfold freely in any direction during the unfold operation.
Vertical The UVs will be constrained in the vertical direction as they appear
in the UV Texture Editor.
TIP You can stop the unfold calculations at any time by pressing Esc.
Rescale Resizes each final unfolded UV shell to match the Scale Factor once
the unfold calculations are complete. It accomplishes this by first determining
the surface area of the polygon mesh in object space (XYZ), comparing it to
the unfolded UV meshes' surface area, and then scaling the UV mesh by that
value.
This option is useful when multiple shells are unfolded and you require them
to have a similar scale between them.
Scale factor A ratio value that determines the amount of Rescale. A Scale
Factor greater than 1 results in the UV mesh being scaled larger, whereas a
Scale factor less than 1 results in the UV mesh being scaled smaller.
For example, if a polygon mesh had a unit size of 1 in the scene view, a Scale
factor setting of 0.02 would result in the corresponding UV mesh having a
unit size of 0.02 in the UV Texture Editor.
Keep history When Keep History is turned on, the Unfold feature
automatically recalculates the UV texture coordinate positions for the shell
whenever the polygon model’s mesh is changed. This provides an effect where
the texture appears to be distorted inwards or outwards along the surface when
the mesh is deformed.
Turning Keep History on can result in long computation times when the
polygon object is animated thereby affecting interactive performance. It should
be turned on only when you specifically want this special effect to occur and
are aware of the impact on interactive performance in your scene as a result.
The default setting is off.
The following example demonstrates how changing the Weight solver towards
option in combination with pinning and aligning UVs helps to control the
unfolded UV layout and the texture mapping that results.
■ The top and bottom rows of UVs are aligned and a final unfold operation
is performed with the Weight solver towards option set to 0 with the
borders pinned.
Related topics
Prescale
Scales the area of the UV Shell proportional to either the surface area of the
selected objects in object space or world space before laying out the UVs.
Prescale is usually combined with Uniform Scale mode to scale UVs from
multiple objects into a single UV region.
Prescale is only available when Layout Objects is set to Single or Multiple
Objects (non-overlapping).
None No prescaling occurs.
Folds Separates only shells where the surface normals of overlapping shells
point in opposite directions. This method is faster, especially for larger models.
However, you may be left with overlapping UVs.
All intersecting Separates all shells where the UVs overlap. This is the default.
TIP If your model is symmetrical (for example, a character’s face), you can save
texture space by turning this option off and superimposing the UV shells so they
occupy the same texture space.
Shell Layout
Specifies where the UV shells will lie in UV texture space.
None Does not lay out UV shells after they have been cut. Some shells may
lie on top of others.
Into Region Positions the UV shells to lie within the 0 to 1 texture space. This
is the default setting.
Scale mode
Select how you want the UV shells scaled within the UV texture space.
None Performs no scaling.
Uniform Scales the shells to fit the 0 to 1 texture space without changing the
aspect ratio. This is the default.
Stretch to region Stretches the UV shells to fit within the 0 to 1 texture space.
The UV shells may become distorted as a result.
Shell stacking
Determines how the UV shells get stacked in relation to each other when laid
out in the UV Texture Editor.
Bounding box Creates a rectangular bounding box around each UV shell,
then stacks the shells based on the borders of the bounding boxes. The UV
shells will have more space between them when this option is set.
Shape Stacks the UV shells based on the boundaries of each individual shell.
The UV shells can be more tightly arranged to fit into any available spaces
when this option is set.
Rotate
Allows the UV texture shells to be rotated in order to better fit the UV texture
space.
None Specifies that the UV shells will not be rotated.
Spacing presets Layout UVs creates a bounding box around each UV shell
and then lays out the UVs so that the individual bounding boxes are positioned
close together. Sometimes when the borders of two UV shells are positioned
very close to each other, the two UV shells may end up sharing the same pixels
on a texture map.
When this situation occurs, a portion of one texture may bleed onto another
or may wrap incorrectly on the surface, resulting in visual artifacts. When
painting a texture, overscanning can also cause the paint to spill onto the
adjacent piece.
To avoid this situation, you’ll want to specify a spacing preset to ensure that
there is at least one pixel separating the individual UV bounding boxes. Select
a preset that corresponds to your texture map size. If you don’t know the size,
select a smaller map, which will result in a larger spacing between adjacent
shells in the UV space. (The smaller the map in pixels, the bigger the UV
spacing must be between bounding boxes.)
Select Custom to set the size of the space as a percentage of the map size (in
the Percentage space box) and enter a distance value that is appropriate for
your texture map.
Percentage space When the Spacing presets is set to Custom you can specify
a distance measurement to specify the space between bounding boxes as a
percentage of the map size.
Region Preset A set of common settings for Scale U, Scale V, Offset U and
Offset V. The following table outlines the presets.
Label Scale U Scale V Offset U Offset V
Scale U Lets you set the scale of the UV mapping in the U direction. You can
use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model
upon which your texture is laid out.
Scale V Lets you set the scale of the UV mapping in the V direction. You can
use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model
upon which your texture is laid out.
Offset U Lets you set the UV mapping so that each UV is a specific distance
in the U direction from its default position at the lower left corner of the UV
layout region. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define
the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.
Offset V Lets you set the UV mapping so that each UV is a specific distance
in the V direction from its default position at the lower left corner of the UV
layout region. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define
the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.
Related topics
There are two options for moving and sewing UV shells: manually or
automatic. The default Move and Sew UV Edges behavior is to manually select
the edges you want to join and then execute the feature. When the Limit shell
size option is turned on, smaller shells are moved and sewn automatically to
the larger ones based on the Number of faces setting value.
Related topics
Limit shell size When this option is off, Move and Sew UVs only moves and
sews the selected edges.
When this option is on, Move and Sew UVs automatically moves and sews
together any selected shells below the size set in Number of Faces.
Number of faces When Limit shell size is on, this setting specifies the
maximum number of faces in each shell. Larger numbers result in fewer shells.
After performing a Move and Sew operation, you can select the history node
(polyMapSewMove) in the Channel Box and adjust the Number of Faces until
you achieve the results you want.
Threshold Set the Threshold value to set the maximum distance within which
selected UVs will be merged. Any UVs in the selection that exceed this distance
will not be merged.
Related topics
Related topics
Related topics
139
■ Display UVs on page 31
Polygons menu
Copies the selected UVs for a selected face to the clipboard so they can be
copied (pasted) to another face. See Mesh > Clipboard Actions > Copy
Attributes.
Pastes UVs that were previously copied to the selected face. See Mesh >
Clipboard Actions > Paste Attributes.
Creates a new, empty UV set on the current object. You can then create the
UVs in the set using one of the mapping/projection methods. See Create UVs
> Create Empty UV Set on page 107.
Lets you select a specific UV set. See Create UVs > Set Current UV Set on page
108.
Lets you rename the currently selected UV set. See Create UVs > Rename
Current UV Set on page 109.
Deletes the currently selected UV set. See Create UVs > Delete Current UV Set
on page 109.
Scales the UVs of the selected faces to within the 0 to 1 texture space. See Edit
UVs > Normalize on page 110.
Places the UVs of the selected faces on the boundary of the 0 to 1 texture
space. See Edit UVs > Unitize on page 111.
Flips the positions of the selected UVs. See Edit UVs > Flip on page 111.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Assigns UVs to the faces you select based on a plane computed from vertices
you specify. See Create UVs > Best Plane Texturing Tool on page 107.
Moves every selected UV to its nearest grid intersection in texture space. See
Edit UVs > Grid on page 114.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Aligns the positions of the selected UVs. See Edit UVs > Align on page 114.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Moves UV borders to the edges of 0 to +1 texture space. See Edit UVs > Map
UV Border on page 117.
Untangles the border of a UV texture shell, such as an edge that loops around
itself. See Edit UVs > Straighten UV Border on page 120.
Spreads out all UVs to make them easier to work with. See Edit UVs > Relax
on page 121.
Lets you unwrap the UV mesh for a polygonal object while the feature attempts
to ensure that the UVs do not overlap. See Edit UVs > Unfold on page 123.
Attempts to rearrange the UV shells into a cleaner layout, based on the settings
in the Layout UVs option box. See Edit UVs > Layout on page 129.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Separates UVs along the selected edges, creating borders. See Edit UVs > Cut
UV Edges on page 134.
Separates UVs from each other along the edges connected to the selected UV
points, creating borders. Shortcut for the texture editor’s Edit UVs > Split UVs.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Attaches UVs along the selected borders, but does not move them together in
the texture editor view. See Edit UVs > Sew UV Edges on page 135.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Attaches UVs along the selected borders, and moves them together in the
texture editor view. See Edit UVs > Move and Sew UV Edges on page 135.
This item is also found on the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See
UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Merges together separate UV shells. See Edit UVs > Merge UVs on page 136.
Removes the selected UVs from the mesh. You will need to re-map or re-project
the UVs in order to map textures onto the affected areas. See Edit UVs > Delete
UVs on page 137.
Saves an image file of the current UV layout. You can then paint on this image
in a painting program or use this image as a background reference layer for
texture work in an image editor such as Adobe® Photoshop®. See Save an
image of the UV layout on page 48. An option window appears with the
following controls:
File Name You can save the file anywhere inside or outside of your project.
Maya automatically assigns the file extension based on the image format you
select.
Size X, Size Y Sets the dimensions of the exported image. Use the same
dimensions you want for the file texture you are about to create. If you are
not sure, use the default size; you can scale the exported image later in your
paint program.
Keep Aspect Ratio The aspect ratio is the ratio of Size X to Size Y. With it
turned on, you can change one size slider and Maya automatically adjusts the
other size value to keep the same ratio. If you need to change the aspect ratio,
turn off this option temporarily and adjust one of the sizes.
Color Value Sets the color of the UV patches in the exported image. The
background of the snapshot is black; therefore, the Color Value should be
white or another contrasting color. You can click the box to open the Color
Chooser.
Anti-alias Lines Controls whether lines in the output image have anti-aliasing.
Image Format Use an image format that your paint program can read. If you
require an alpha channel while painting, use TIFF or a similar format.
Subdivs menu
The items in this menu are used for editing UVs on subdivision surfaces.
Separates UVs along the selected edges, creating borders. See Edit UVs > Cut
UV Edges on page 134.
Tries to move the UVs into a cleaner layout. See Edit UVs > Layout on page
129.
Attaches UVs along the selected borders, and moves them together in the
texture editor view. See Edit UVs > Move and Sew UV Edges on page 135.
Saves an image file of the current UV layout. For more information see
Polygons > UV Snapshot on page 144.
View menu
A UV selection filter that displays only the UV faces associated with the
currently selected UVs in the UV Texture Editor.
A UV selection filter that displays the UV faces associated with the currently
selected UVs as well as the UV faces immediately connected to those UV faces.
A UV selection filter that displays the UV faces associated with the currently
selected texture image in the UV Texture Editor (Textures > filename).
Lets you show only a subset of all UVs, with the ability to add to and subtract
from the isolated subset. See Display a subset of UVs on page 33
Shows or hides the texture coordinate grid. Choose View > Grid > to set
the grid options. See Use the UV Texture Editor grid on page 47
Length and Width Controls the overall size of the grid, measured in UV
coordinates. The Length and Width is set to 1 (one) by default, because you
typically want UVs to fit within the 0 to 1 range and this setting clearly shows
the 0 to 1 range.
Grid Lines Every Sets the spacing between grid lines. Grid lines appear in
increments based on the decimal value you specify. This setting affects where
UVs snap if you use the Snap to Grid feature.
Subdivisions Sets the number of lines between each grid line. By default,
subdivision lines do not show; you must turn on Subdivision Lines for them
to appear.
Shows or hides the texture editor toolbar. See the toolbar section below.
Pans and zooms the texture editor view to show the entire UV set.
Pans and zooms the texture editor to show the selected UVs.
The items in this menu are also available on a marking menu when you are
working in the UV Texture Editor. Press ctrl + the right mouse button to access
them.
Selects the faces contained by the current selection of UVs, edges, or vertices.
Selects all faces that share the currently selected UVs, edges, or vertices.
Selects the UVs along the border of the UV shell containing the current
selection.
Selects the shortest path of edges between two or more selection points (vertices
or UVs). The Select Shortest Edge Path Tool determines the most direct path
between any two selection points and selects the edges in between.
The Select Shortest Edge Path Tool is particularly well suited to selecting a
long and possibly winding path of edges on a mesh when you need to
subsequently perform a Cut UV Edges operation.
Selects the component type connected to the current selection. For example,
if you have faces selected and choose Convert to UVs, Maya will select all UVs
connected to the selected faces.
Tool menu
The items in this menu are also available from the toolbar.
Manipulates the layout of UVs as a group by letting you create a lattice around
the UVs for deformation purposes.
Lattice Settings
Columns Specifies the number of columns for the current lattice manipulator.
The minimum number of columns is 3 and maximum number is 8.
Rows Specifies the number of rows for the current lattice manipulator. The
minimum number of rows is 3 and the maximum number is 8.
Use Bounding Rectangle When on, the current lattice manipulator cannot
extend past the outer edge or boundary of the target geometry.
Snap Settings
The lattice snap settings are relative to each UV affected by the lattice. Pixel
Snap (Image > Pixel Snap) needs to be on in the UV Texture Editor for the UV
Lattice Tool Snap Settings to have any effect.
Placement
Select where control points snap to.
Snap Corner When on, the UV lattice deformer’s control points snap to the
corners of each UV.
Snap Center When on, the UV lattice deformer’s control points snap to the
centers of each UV.
Moves the position of selected UVs and their neighboring UVs to a diminishing
extent that is user defined.
Smudge Settings
Effect Type
Select the way the UVs follow the brush tool.
Fixed Moves the selected UVs in the direction of the UV Smudge Tool brush’s
movements. UVs appear to follow or move with the brush. This setting moves
UVs similar to the way the Soft Modification Tool moves vertices.
Smudge Drags or smudges UVs in the direction of the UV Smudge Tool brush’s
movements.
Falloff Type
Select the way that the UV movement falls off as the brush moves.
Exponential Moves UVs based on the distance they are from the UV Smudge
Tool brush. A UV moves exponentially more the closer it is to the brush.
Linear Moves UVs based on the distance they are from the UV Smudge Tool
brush. A UV moves linearly more the closer it is to the brush.
Constant Moves all UVs the same amount in the direction of the UV Smudge
Tool brush’s movements.
Middle Mouse Initiates When on, middle-drag to smudge the layout of your
UVs. When off, drag to smudge the layout of your UVs.
Lets you select and reposition a UV shell in the 2D view of the UV Texture
Editor by selecting a single UV on the shell. You can automatically prevent
the repositioned UV shell from overlapping other UV shells. See also UV
Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Prevent Overlap The Prevent Overlap setting restricts a UV shell from being
accidentally moved to a position where it would overlap existing UV shells
in the UV Texture Editor view. It is on by default. For example, if you select
and move a UV shell and reposition it to an area that is already occupied by
an existing UV shell, the selected shell will do one of the following:
■ Snap to the closest location possible based on the direction you dragged
the UV shell (when the overlap is small).
Shell Spacing
Specifies the distance the repositioned UV shell will be separated from
other existing UV shells as a percentage of the map size when Prevent
overlap is turned on.
Placement iterations
Specifies the number of times the tool checks between the start and end
positions when translating one or more UV shells in order to optimally
achieve the Shell Spacing distance without snapping back to the original
location. A higher number produces the closest result possible, but takes
longer to complete the move. The number of selected UV shells also affects
the time to complete the move. The default setting is 16.
Let’s you interactively unfold or relax UVs. To use this tool, you must first
select a set of UVs. Then, you can adjust the unfold or relax of the UVs by the
respective control to the right. For more information, see Relax and untangle
UVs on page 63 or Unfold a UV mesh on page 65.
Space Allows you to adjust whether you Unfold or Relax the UVs in UV space
or World space.
Image menu
For more information on using the features in this menu see Display a texture
behind the UVs on page 42.
Shows or hides the texture image. This item can also be found in the UV
Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See UV Texture Editor toolbar on page
154.
Turns off pixel blurring to show exact pixel boundaries. This item can also be
found in the UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See UV Texture Editor
toolbar on page 154.
■ Display areas where UVs and UV shells overlap within the 2D view of the
UV Texture Editor. Regions where UVs and UV shells overlap are shaded
with more opacity when compared to the default shading. See also Display
overlapping UVs on page 54.
■ Displays the UV winding order for UV shells as they appear within the 2D
view of the UV Texture Editor. UV shells that are front facing (that is have
a clockwise winding order), are shaded blue. UV shells that are back facing
Switch between displaying the texture image and its alpha (transparency)
channel. These items can also be found in the UV Texture Editor toolbar for
quick access. See UV Texture Editor toolbar on page 154.
Snap to Center When on, the selected UVs snap to the centers of other UVs.
Use these settings to change how much of the texture appears in the texture
editor.
Minimum U/V and Maximum U/V You can explicitly set the size of the
image by setting these options, or you can select one of the presets.
Grid Size The texture fills the extent of the grid (defined in the Grid Options
window).
Unit Size The texture fills the 0 to 1 (or unit) texture space.
Switches between showing square texture space and texture space with the
same ratio of width to height as the image. This item can also be found in the
UV Texture Editor toolbar for quick access. See UV Texture Editor toolbar on
page 154.
Bakes the texture and stores it in memory. See also UV Texture Editor toolbar
on page 154.
Baked Texture Resolution The resolution used when baking the texture.
Creates an Adobe® Photoshop® texture you can use as a texture map. When
this feature is used, a PSD layer of the UVs can be explicitly created to aid
painting of the texture. For more information, see Use PSD Networks as textures
in Maya and Create a PSD file with layer sets from within Maya in the Shading
guide.
Textures menu
Select which image texture to show in the UV Texture Editor. Select an image
from the drop-down list that appears. If no texture images are assigned the
list appears empty.
Select the UV set you want to edit in the UV Texture Editor by selecting the
name of the UV set from the drop-down list that appears. See UV sets on page
11.
These are descriptions of the items in the UV Texture Editor toolbar. The UV
Texture Editor toolbar lets you readily access many of the frequently used
items that exist within the UV Texture Editor menus. For the features that
have options, you can right-click a button to display its options.
UV Tool buttons
Move UV Shell Tool Lets you select and reposition a UV shell by select-
ing a single UV on the shell. You can automatic-
ally prevent the repositioned UV shell from over-
lapping other UV shells in the 2D view. Shortcut
for Tool > Move UV Shell Tool in the UV Texture
Editor menu.
UV orientation buttons
These items let you edit the orientation and rotation of UVs.
Cut UVs along selection Separates UVs along the selected edges, creating
borders. Shortcut for Edit UVs > Cut UV Edges.
Split UVs Separates UVs from each other along the edges
connected to the selected UV points, creating
borders. Shortcut for Edit UVs > Split UVs.
Move and Sew UVs Attaches UVs along the selected borders, and
moves them together in the texture editor view.
Shortcut for Edit UVs > Move and Sew UV Edges.
UV layout buttons
UV alignment buttons
These items let you work on a subset of UV faces while hiding the rest.
Toggle Isolate Select Mode Switches between showing all UVs and only the
isolated UVs. Shortcut for View > Isolate Select
> View Set.
Add selected to isolation Adds the selected UVs to the isolated subset.
When you click the Toggle isolation button the
selected UVs will be visible. Shortcut for View >
Isolate Select > Add Selected.
Remove selected from isola- Removes the selected UVs from the isolated
tion subset. Shortcut for View > Isolate Select > Re-
move Selected.
Remove all Clears the isolated subset. You can then select
a new set of UVs and click Toggle isolation to
isolate them. Shortcut for View > Isolate Select
> Remove All.
These items let you control the display of images and textures in the UV
Texture Editor.
View Grid Shows or hides the grid. Shortcut for View > Grid.
Display RGB Channels Displays the RGB (color) channels of the selected
texture image. Shortcut for Image > Display RGB
Channels.
UV texturing buttons
UV Texture Editor Baking Bakes the texture and stores it in memory. See
Image > Dim Image on page 151. Shortcut for
Image > UV Texture Editor Baking.
Force editor texture rebake Rebakes the texture. If you turn on Image > UV
Texture Editor Baking, you must rebake the tex-
ture (using Force Editor Texture Rebake) after
making changes to the texture (File node and
place2dTexture node attributes) in order to see
the effect of those changes.
UV edit buttons
UV Set Editor
Create UVs > UV Set Editor
The UV Set Editor lets you create and edit UV sets for multiple polygon meshes
simultaneously.
The UV Set Editor lists only the UV sets for the currently selected polygon
meshes. You must first select the polygon meshes in order to edit the UV sets.
New Creates a new, empty UV set on the currently selected objects. You can
then create the UVs in the set using one of the mapping/projection methods.
This feature is the same as Create UVs > Create Empty UV Set.
Propagate Assigns the selected UV set from the UV Set Editor list to the selected
objects in the scene. The selected UV set becomes the active UV set for those
objects.
Unmapped Selects unmapped faces on any selected objects in the scene. This
aids in visually determining any areas where texture maps do not appear or
appear incorrectly.
163
164
Index
A Bounding box (Planar Mapping
option) 97
Add selected to isolation (UV tool
button) 157
Adobe Photoshop texture, using as texture
C
map 153 camera view, use as planar
align UVs 114 projection 106
tool buttons 156 circle
alpha channel mapping UV border to 118
adjust for UV shells 151 mapping UVs to 60
display 152 Clipboard Actions
include (Warp image option) 116 Mesh menu 80
artwork, mapping onto character 4 Collectively (Normalize UVs option) 110
aspect ratio, preserve when normalizing colors
UVs 111 adding for UV shells 151
assign shader to projection 28 copying between polygons 80
attaching UV shells 52 UV sets for 13
automatic UV mapping 22 components
options 102 UVs, selecting 32
projection manipulator 23 confirming UV placement 28
separating, merging, attaching UV Constrain UVs (Unfold option) 125
shells 52 converting UV selection 33
user-defined projection 25 Copy (UV tool button) 160
Copy UVs to UV Set 84, 108
B Copy/paste faces or UVs (UV tool
button) 160
backdrop image, arranging UVs to 42 Create Empty UV Set 83, 107
Background color (Warp image Create PSD Network (UV Texture
option) 116 Editor) 153
background image, dimming 151 Create UVs Based On Camera 106
Background mode (Warp image creating
option) 115 per-instance UV sets 90
baking Cut UV Edges 134
per-instance UV sets 91 Cut UV Edges (Edit UVs menu) 134
UV texture 153 Cut UVs along selection (UV tool
Best plane (Planar Mapping option) 97 button) 155
Best Plane Texturing Tool 107 Cycle UVs (UV tool button) 160
Bilinear Filtering (Warp image Cylindrical Mapping 99
option) 116 cylindrical UV mapping 19
borders (see UV borders) 122 options 99
boundaries (see UV borders) 63
165 | Index
D Flip
UVs 111
decal sheet, UV mapping 4 flipping
Delete Current UV Set 84, 109 reversed UV shells (Layout
Delete UVs 43, 137 option) 131
deleting selected UV shells 111
UVs 137 UV faces 36
Dim Image (UV tool button) 158 UV shells 79
Display Alpha Channel (UV tool UV tool buttons 155
button) 158
Display Image (UV tool button) 157
Display RGB Channels (UV tool
G
button) 158 grid
displaying in UV Texture Editor 47
UVs 31 reposition UVs to 114
distortion UV tool button 156
of texture maps, minimize with Grid
Unfold 65 UVs 114
E H
edge path, selecting shortest 147 history, keep (Unfold option) 126
edges (see UV borders) 122
Edit NURBS UV mode 93
examples I
brick wall with spray paint on
top 12 Image menu
mapping artwork on games UV Texture Editor 151
character 4 Image Range (UV Texture Editor) 152
UVs needing editing 4 image ratio
warp image applications 45 change in UV Texture Editor 153
weight solver while unfolding images
UVs 126 assigned, viewing UVs with 34
background, dimming 151
creating by comparing UV sets 115
F keeping width/height ratio (Planar
Mapping option) 98
faces minimizing distortion with
selecting 147 Unfold 65
selecting from UV components 33 tile (Warp image option) 117
showing those inside selected UVs or using to arrange UVs 42
edges 35 warping 45
falloff Interactive Unfold/Relax Tool (UV Texture
UV Smudge tool 149 Editor)
file format tool button 155
Warp image option 116 isolating UVs 33
166 | Index
L normalize UVs 110
NURBS surfaces
lattice tool for UVs 49 assigning textures 2
options 148 editing UV texture coordinates 93
layered texture, UV sets 13
Layout
UVs 129
O
layout of UVs (see UV layout) 129 objects, defining for UV projection 26
light baking 11 orientation of UVs, buttons 155
lighting overlapping
information in UV sets 11 UV shells 6
limitations UVs 5
per-instance UV sets 93 UVs, viewing 54
Overwrite existing file (Warp image
M option) 116
manipulator
projection, for automatic
P
mapping 23 Paste (UV tool buttons) 160
Map UV Border 61, 117 Per Instance Shared 87
mapping UVs 6 Per Instance Unshared 87
to a square or circle 60 per-instance UV sets 87
marking menus baking 91
UV Texture Editor 10 creating 90
Merge UVs 136 example 88
Merge UVs (Edit UVs menu) 136 limitations 93
merging Percentage Space (Automatic mapping
UV shells 52 option) 106
meshes (see surface meshes) 29 perspective view
Move and Sew UV Edges 135 displaying with UV Texture Editor 9
Move and Sew UVs (UV tool button) 156 Photoshop texture, using as texture
Move UV Shell Tool (UV Texture map 153
Editor) 150 pinning UVs on border 63
tool button 154 Relax option 121
moving Unfold option 124
UVs 35 Pixel Snap (UV tool button) 158
multi-texturing with multiple UV pixels
layouts 11 blurring, turning off 151
snap UVs to 152
N switching between blended and
sharp-edged 42
New Image Name (Warp Image Planar Mapping 97
option) 115 planar UV mapping 15
non-manifold geometry planes
merging polygons 136 creating from vertices for
Normalize 110 projection 107
Index | 167
defining for projected UV Relax
mapping 25 UVs 63
mapping UVs 15 Relax (Edit UVs menu) 121
polygon meshes description 63
techniques for UV mapping 3 untangling UVs first 117
transfer UVs between 29 UV tool button 156
unfold 65 Rename Current UV Set 84, 109
unfold and relax example 73 resolution
unfold setup 66 warp image options 116
polygons reversing
assigning textures 2 UV shell 79
copying UVs, colors, shaders UV wounds 79
between 80 RGB channels, display 152
surface meshes, creating UVs 3 Rotate
tasks in UV Texture Editor 10 UVs 113
Polygons menu (UV Texture Editor) 140 UVs diescreetly 37
Delete UVs 44 Rotate UVs (UV tool buttons) 155
Unfold 65 rotating
pre-lighting surfaces 11 UV shells 79
projecting UVs UV shells for best fit (Layout
assign shader 107 option) 132
automatically from multiple UVs, description 35
planes 22 UVs, tool buttons 113
criteria for user-defined objects 26
cylindrical 19
defining planes 25
S
from specified plane 107 Scale mode
insert before deformers (Automatic automatic mapping option 104
mapping option) 103 scaling
insert before deformers (Cylindrical UVs 35
mapping option) 99 scene view
insert before deformers (Image selecting UVs 32
Mapping option) 98 Select menu (UV Texture Editor) 33, 147
planar (one plane) 15 Select Shortest Edge Path Tool (UV Texture
spherical 21 Editor) 147
use camera view 106 tool button 155
projection manipulator selection
Best plane option 97 converting to faces, edges, vertices,
Bounding box option 97 UVs 147
manually adjusting 98 UVs, UV components, UV shells 32
semitransparent display of UVs 54
R separating UV shells 52
Set Current UV Set 108
rectangle Sew UV Edges 135
place around UVs (lattice) 148 UV tool button 156
Refresh UV values (UV tool button) 159
168 | Index
Shade UVs 54 Subdivs menu (UV Texture Editor) 145
description 54 UV Snapshot 48
using¶ 55 subset of UVs, displaying 33
UV tool button 158 surface meshes
UV winding order 55 creating UVs for 2
shaders NURBs 2
assign to projection 107 polygons 2
copying between polygons 80 subdivision surfaces 2
shading techniques for UV mapping 3
storing information in UV sets 11 surfaces
sharing pre-lighting 11
UV sets 87
Shell stacking (Automatic mapping
option) 105
T
shells (see UV shells) 6 texture coordinates (see UVs) 1
shortest edge path, selecting 147 texture image
smudge tool (UVs) 51 modify using UV sets 115
settings 149 texture maps 1
snap UVs to grid 47 distorted 5
snapping for surface types 2
UVs 38 minimize distortion with Unfold 65
Source image name (Warp Image placement on 3D surfaces 1
option) 115 use Adobe Photoshop texture 153
spacing between UV shells 7 texture space, UV 1
Spacing presets textures
Automatic Mapping option 105 assigning to a UV set 85
Layout option 133 flipping 36
Spherical Mapping 100 repeating with UV range 6
spherical UV mapping 21 thicken borders 41
options 100 Textures menu (UV Texture Editor) 153
Split UVs 135 Tiled (Warp image option) 117
Split UVs (Edit UVs menu) 135 Toggle Filtered Image (UV tool
tool button 155 button) 158
square Toggle Isolate Select Mode (UV tool
mapping UV border to 117 button) 157
mapping UVs to 60 Toggle Texture Borders button (UV Texture
stacking UV shells (Layout option) 132 Editor button) 41
Straighten UV Border 63, 120 tool buttons, UV Texture Editor 154
straightening border UVs 62 Tool menu
options 120 UV Texture Editor 147
subdivision surfaces transparency
assigning textures 2 UV sets for 13
editing 145
exporting image of UVs 48
tasks in UV Texture Editor 10 U
U coordinate (UV tool button) 159
Index | 169
Unfold tool button 154
UVs 123 UV layout
Unfold UVs 65 modify 49
unfolding 65 options 129
description 65 UV shells 58
polygon UV texture mesh 70 UV tool button 156
preparing 68 UV mapping
tips 70 automatic (for best placement) 22
tool button 156 cylindrical 19
UV mesh 123 definition 2
Unitize planar 15
UVs 111 production workflow 4
unitizing UVs 111 spherical 21
untangling UVs user-defined 25
at borders 117 UV meshes 4
before mapping 60 reassembling 5
interior 63 transfer UVs between 29
unwrapping unfold and relax example 73
UV meshes with minimal unfold setup 66
distortion 65 unfolding 65
Update PSD Networks (UV tool unwrapping 123
button) 159 unwrapping with minimal
Use Image Ratio (UV tool button) 159 distortion 65
user-defined UV mapping 25 UV sets 11
criteria for projection objects 26 assigning textures to 85
UV borders compare to produce image 115
creating by splitting along selected comparing to create warp image 45
UVs 135 copying UVs to another 86
creating by splitting UV edges 134 creating 83
moving and sewing together 135 deleting 84
pinning to untangle interior 63 deleting current 109
pinning UVs on (Relax option) 121 duplicating 84
pinning UVs on (Unfold empty, creating 107
option) 124 for a layered texture 13
positioning 117 for color and transparency 13
selecting 147 menu (UV Texture Editor) 154
sewing 135 overview 11
straightening 62 per-instance 87
straightening, options 120 polygon mesh, specifying for 108
unitizing 111 renaming 84
untangling 60 renaming current 109
weighting 122 sharing 87
UV components source and destination, warp image
selecting 32 options 116
UV Lattice Tool 49 storing shading and lighting
description 148 information 11
170 | Index
switching between 84 copying UVs from one UV set to
UV shells 6 another 86
automatic mapping 23 Create PSD Network 153
avoid overlapping 6 displaying a subset of UVs 33
changing orientation 79 displaying with perspective view 9
components, selecting 32 dollying and tracking 41
exporting image of 48 editing UV texture coordinates
flipping 111 (NURBS) 93
flipping reversed (Layout grid 6, 47
option) 131 Image menu 151
laying out automatically 58 marking menus 10
layout options 104 menu items 140
merge together 136 overview 8
moving 36, 150 Polygons menu 140
positioning UVs on border 117 Select menu 33, 147
rearrange layout 129 selecting UVs 32
scaling options (automatic separate menus for UV tasks 10
mapping) 104 Shade UVs 55
scaling, stretching, flipping, smudge UV layout 51
arranging 58 Subdivs menu 145
selecting 147 switching between UV sets 84
selecting from UV components 33 Textures menu 153
selecting UVs 32 thicken texture borders 41
separating (Layout option) 131 tool buttons 154
separating, merging and Tool menu 147
attaching 52 toolbar options 154
shading 151 using image to arrange UVs 42
spacing between 7 UV Lattice Tool 49
spacing presets option 105 UV Sets menu 154
stacking options 105 UV snapshot of subdivision
straightening border UVs 62 surfaces 48
untangling border UVs 60 View menu 145
untangling interior UVs 63 viewing items 10
UV Smudge Tool 51 viewing overlapping UVs 54
description 149 viewing UVs 31
tool button 154 Warp Image 45
UV Snapshot 48 UV tool buttons, UV Texture Editor 154
description 48 UV Transformation Entry (UV tool
options 144 button) 159
Subdivs menu 48 UVs 1
UV Texture Editor 8 aligning 114
adjust size of image 152 aligning to grid 114
Align UV buttons 156 aligning, buttons 156
baking 153 arranging 6
Baking (UV tool button) 158 arranging using an image
changing UV shell orientation 79 backdrop 42
Index | 171
automatic mapping 22 snapping 38
best placement 22 snapping example 38
confirming placement 28 snapping to grid 47
constrain (Unfold option) 125 snapping to pixels 152
converting selection 33 splitting along edges 134
copying between polygons 80 splitting along selected path 135
copying to new UV set 108 straightening borders 62
creating 3 tasks in UV Texture Editor 10
definition 1 tips 4
deleting 43 transferring between meshes 29
discrete rotate and scale 37 unitizing 111
displaying 2D texture coordinates untangling at borders 60
with 3D scene view 9 untangling interior 63
displaying a subset 33 viewing in UV Texture Editor 31
displaying if texture image winding order 55
assigned 34 zooming in or out to see 41
distorted projection 5
editing for NURBS surfaces 93
evaluating 4
V
image of shell layout 48 V coordinate (UV tool button) 159
lattice, placing around 148 vertices, create projection plane
layout of shells 58 from 107
mapping techniques 3 View Grid (UV tool button) 158
mapping tips 6 View menu (UV Texture Editor) 145
menu reference 97 viewing UVs 31
moving, rotating, scaling 35
multiple layouts 11
normalizing 110 W
orientation, changing 155
overlapped, viewing 54 warp image 45
overlapped, why not desirable 5 applications 45
overlapping shells 6 description 45
overview 1 options 115
pin (Unfold option) 124 Warp Image
positioning on border of UV UVs 45, 115
shell 117 weight solver
repeating texture 6 Unfold UVs 123
rotating 113 workflow example 126
selecting components 32 winding order of UVs 55
separating, merging and attaching
shells 52 Z
sets, creating 83
sewing along edges 135 zooming
smudge layout 51 to show all UVs 41
172 | Index