I currently have multiple UV maps on one object but I want to combine them so that the object just has 1 UV map. I don’t want to unwrap again since the mesh is complicated and it would take a long time, so I would like to know if there is an alternate method. This could involve merging all UV maps or copying the UV data between maps all onto one. Is there a way?
I am in a hurry just now. Will try later if it works but I would do this:
- Break your object in several objects (each one has the faces that have same UVs)
- Rename the UVs in each object to have same name
- Join again all the objects in only one object. I think this will create only one UV
Also I remember there is a script or already present in blender, to create a common UV from several objects.
Also there are a copy UVs script:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/UV/Copy_Paste_UVs
If anything of this works I will take a look later.
Yes, I tested and it works.
Do this:
Imagine your object has three UVs maps.
Duplicate the object until you have three copys of the object (one for each UV map)
In first object delete the second and third uvmap. Select all the faces of the UV and now choose Select inverse in the menu and delete the faces. So your first object has only the faces of the first UVmap.
In the second object delete the firs uvmap and the third uvmap and delete all the faces that are not in the uvmap.
Same for third object: delete first and second uvmap and in the uvmap that remains delete the faces in the object that are not in the uvmap.
So you have three objects and each one has only the faces that are in the uvmap. Each object has only one uvmap. This uvmpa doesn’t need to have the same name.
Now place the cursor in the first object (select the object, shift+S and choose cursor to selected). Now select the second object, shift + S and choose object to cursor. So first and second object are in the same location. Do the same with third object so all the three objects are now in the same location. Now select the three objects and choose join in the menu and you have now only one object and all the uvmaps merged in only one uvmap. You will need now to weld the vertices (remove doubles).
Done!
Hi and thanks for the information. Before posting here I found that copy/paste UV’s extension for blender but it didn’t seem to work. It seems that you can only copy UV’s from one object to another, so I kinda did what you said and split the object into parts. At first I tried to merge them again (with the UV maps all named the same) but it actually created a new UV map with a .001 suffix automatically. In the end I found that I could select all of the vertices from the new object, copy the UV from there, go into object mode, select the original object, go into edit mode, select the appropriate vertices again (since the new object was simply a duplication of these) and paste the UV data onto the UV map that I wanted. Still a pretty convoluted process, it’d be a lot smoother if there was a ‘merge UV maps’ option, or if the copy/paste UVs thing worked within 1 object. But regardless, I’ve got everything in one map now like I wanted, thanks for the help! 