Help texturing Energy Drink Can model

I am EXTREMELY new to blender and I only know just a little bit with 3ds max… I am working on designing a custom label for an energy drink so I have this model with a mock-up of red bull but the label is getting distorted at the top. I included an image of what the label is doing…http://rhopper.net/images/projects/can.jpgI put a solid straight black line so you can clearly see what it is doing at the top of the can

how would i go about fixing this distortion? I figured its messed up with the texture mapping somewhere but I don’t know what to do to fix it…any help would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks!

Since you have probably already identified the problem area, how about posting a picture of your wire frame model and a copy of the image texture you are using? The problem is either that you have made a very strangely shaped UV map or that you made the model itself in some strange way, but without more information I cant tell you which it is.

Are you using seams and unwrap? When you are editing the UV map, those polygons that are distorted need to be scaled up/translated/rotated until the distortion is no more.

I’d do it like the folks who print those cans do…

First of all, there is an obvious seam on one side of the can. And there’s a seam at the top and at the bottom because those areas of the can aren’t painted. Start by making those three seams.

When unwrapping the cylinder, use a “cylindrical projection” (o’course) with the camera positioned at a straight-on side view. This should produce a clean mapping that is entirely free of distortion, due to the nature of the object.

just move your UVs at the top to the left or right, and the image will shift.