Which edges would you mark as seams for this shape if the texture is going to be bark-like following the shape of the curve (the squares of the bark should not twist around the curve).
Any good UV mapping technique in this case?
Which unwrapping methods have you tried?
Cut it as if it were a straight cylinder. Due to the geometry, this method twists the uv around the object. Tried the two extra cuts visible in screenshot but it is still not good.
‘Follow Active Quads’ is the obvious one. That will avoid twisting, but will stretch the texture where the tube is fatter and compress it where it is thinner.
Best wishes,
Matthew
OK follow active quads is the best, as Matthew said while I was making unnecessary graphic hyper-bole <-( little pun there). But as long as you have nice straight lines and you mark one of those as a seam the ‘unwrap’ option should give you much the same result. Your error was probably to mark a seam and then choose cylindrical which ignores the seam and causes a big mess for anything that is not a vertical cylinder. To use FAQuads you have to be in face mode, select all and then deselect one and reselect it making it the active. The dialog should give you two choices about the quad shape and you should pick one or the other depending on how skinny and distorted your quads are. The quad you choose should be the most square one you can find…
