Ok, I’ve been doing some uv unwrapping and in general Blender’s unwrapper is just plain awesome. However, I’m running into a problem with trying to properly work with UVs after the unwrap.
A simple example. A sphere. If I do a single edge loop seam and unwrap, I get strangle bubbly set of UVs. In Maya I have tools for straightening edges so I get get to a result where the uvs for a sphere can end up in a perfect box shape, but in blender I have no idea how I would go about it. Being able to straighten out a set of curved uvs is a pretty important tool so I was wondering if blender had any solutions for that?
i suppose my example was TOO basic. Mainly I’m looking to tips (or tools) that work well for manipulating Uvs in the uv editor. Tools that can assist in straightening out curved or wavy uv shells.
Aha!! Found em! Also, going off the suggestion from Modron, i noticed that I could straighten out curved uvs by selecting them, lining them up in ortho mode and doing spherical projection that way too, then using the align/straighten tools for cleanup. I never really bothered messing with spherical projection for anything but straight spheres before, lol.
Thanks guys! I feel like an idiot for not noticing the align tools before.
The best way to unwrap a sphere, I have found, is to not start with a sphere. Start with a cube, add a subdivsion surface modifier and apply it. Then when you unwrap simply select an active face and choose Follow Active quads. This eliminates a lot of the squishing that happens at the poles.
If you have not checked out Michalis’s Sculpting with UV’s threadcheck it out here.
I learned a lot about UV mapping by reading and trying out the technique.
