Week 14 - UV Unwrapping

 

Week 14 - UV Wrapping 

What Have I Learned This Week?

  • UV Maps: A UV Map (U and V representing the Horizontal and Vertical axes in a 2D space) is the translation of a 3D mesh into 2D information.
  • UV Unwrapping: The process of making a UV Map. This is the process of "unwrapping" the 3D mesh to stylise and add textures. 
The Process of UV Unwrapping:
  • 3D Cut and Sew - Unwrapping an object is creating special edges on the mesh called "Seams". When modelling seams will automatically be created and need to be removed by selecting 'Camera-Based' in the UV menu. To use 3D Cut and Sew, make sure Edge Mode is on and select the edges you want to 'Cut' or Seam, hold CTRL and click to remove seams made. 
  • Hard and Soft Surfaces: Applying seams is relevant to if the edges are of a Hard or Soft surface. A hard surface is usually a sharp change in angle then a Seam should be applied to separate the surfaces. Hard surface models are usually relatively simple to Cut and Sew compared to Soft surfaces due to their refined shapes with very clear edges. Organic models are usually very deformed in shape, making very morphed and unrefined edges than can be complicated to add Seams and where these cuts go. This makes soft surface edges very unclear to where edges are and can make UV unwrapping a very challenging task. 
When the appropriate seams are applied, these segments become UV shells. Selecting all these shells and selecting Unfold in the UV editor will unwrap them (Hold the right mouse and select UV > UV Shell). Unfolding shells will separate them as a flat view so that textures can be applied. Using Orient Shells will straighten the shells vertically or horizontally. Using Layout will organise the Shells within the map. 

Additional Tools
  • Cut - Separates selected edges.
  • Sew - Welds selected edges.
  • Merge - Merges separate UV shells. 
  • Move and Sew - Attaches UVs along selected borders and moves them into the UV editor.
  • Stitch Together - Sews two selected edges together in a specified order.
The UV maps can be saved as images in UV Snapshot. I do not know why my Snapshots come out like this as I cannot find any settings for it and have not altered with anything. 

Fixing Unusual UV Shells: Unusual UV Shells are deformed in their shape and can cause issues when adding texture. To fix their shape you need to use unitize.
Using Unitize - repositions the UVs of selected faces across the boundary of the UV texture space. Every face on the shell will become unitised and unwrap separately. The edges contained within the shell need to be selected by holding CTRL and RMB and selecting To Edges > To Contained Edges. You can now use UV Editor > Cut/Sew>Move and Sew, however, if the UV Unwrapping is a cylindrical shape, then you need to deselect a row of edges on one side before this stage. The orientation can be sorted by selecting the shell and using Hold Shift and RMB > Unfold> Unfold along  U or along V. 
When doing the handle of the hatchet, the holes on the handle need to be cut out before Unitising because unitising with the holes will produce very deformed shapes. The holes can be removed around the edge loop using Cut and Sew. The Hole Shells can be moved and the handle shell can be unitised accordingly. As it is a cylindrical shape is it important to deselect one row of edges along the side of the handle. As the handle was clipping into the blade you must use CTRL +1 to isolate the objects. I was forgetting to do this and as a result, was not deselecting all the edges needed and was not getting the desired results. After the handle shell is fixed, select the edges of the cut-out holes and use move and sew, which will reattach the holes onto the handle shell. 



















To improve my 3D skills forward, I need to practise more with laying out my UV maps. This is due to a lot of wasted space on my Maps. This isn't necessarily bad but not every mesh needs to have a UV matching in size like I have done as when it comes to texturing, each part has a different texture. I also need to make sure each UV is spaced out better so they are not overlapping.



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