Here is a quick tut, (kind of quick I’ll assume you’ve had atleast a little bit of unwrapping practice.) The goal is to create a uvmap for a head that will be easier to paint than just using the default unwrap. To do this we’ll combine the default unwrap, lscm, and from view unwrapping.
Here is the head used for the tutorial
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jgphillips/web/lumishead.blend
Step 1. Get a model of a head like the one below.
- Unwrap the front facing faces.
Below you will see that I’ve selected the faces that I would consider to be almost perpendicular to the front view. (note that I’ve also grabbed all the faces on the side of the nose and under the nose, but I’ll take care of them later.)
While in front view, by hitting 1, move the mouse cursor into the 3d viewport hit U and select “Project From View”
Below you can see how I’ve selected faces around the nose that aren’t front facing. Now with the faces unwrapped move the cursor into the UV port and hit A, then P to pin all the unwrapped vert locations.
Deselect the front faces (important). Next we’ll want to do the same but for the faces that are on the side of the head. Hit 3 to get a side view and follow the same steps as above up to pinning the verts.
You’ll notice that I’ve left a line of polys between the unwrapped faces This is the area where the errors will be kept later (but we will fix them soon). Position the unwrapped verts till they are relatively in a decent position as shown below. (hint if you don’t zoom at all between unwrapping the front and side polys then the unwrapped faces will be proportional to each other which helps)
Now select all faces and unwrapping them using “unwrap” instead of “project from view”
You get something similiar to what below…I hope.
Now to fix the problem areas.
First, the faces around the nose can’t be painted on if we leave them as they are. So I suggest creating a little room for them. Start by grabbing the lower verts and moving them downward a little ways.
You’ll see below where I’ve moved them. Now select the verts outline the nostrils and unpin them (alt-P)
Use “unwrap” again to give you a good estimate of the best place to place them, minimizing stetching.
Next we’ll need to fix the area that transitions between the front and side faces. Start by unpinned the outer edge of verts from the side polys. (I chose the side because I sooner have the front of the face setup more like a flat plane than the side.)
“Unwrap” all faces again to minimze the error between the side and front faces.
Next load up the test grid. The test grid will show you were stretching will still be a problem. You see it where the squares don’t look correct. Such as the ear.
Usually I’d separated the ear and part of the hair to make the overall area less. But then this tut wouldn’t be so quick. Hope you liked it. I use this method to start all of my unwrapping because it give quick good results. Then go through and spend a little bit of time making it better. But thats just pushing and pulling little by little to minimize the stretching by hand. Maybe one day the relax script will work the way it should then things will be even easier.
