Hey guys,
can anybody tell me if it is possible to correctly UV map SubSurf object? UV mapping only works with faces (of rough object) and after transforming object to its subdivided form texture placement changes and distores. I do not wish to convert SubSurf object to mesh to keep the UV mapping tweaking as easy as possible.
Thanks and keep Blending!
Silbert 
I’ve been having the same issues, but as far as I can tell, it’s a tradeoff. Subsurf and lose detail, use a high poly mesh and gain detail but it makes for a difficult mapping.
I think there is a way to convert a sub-surface mesh to an actual mesh (I don’t remember the hotkey), this might provide correct UV mapping, but I’m not sure. I don’t know if anyone knows the keyboard shortcut or not?
Alt-C converts to real mesh.
Martin
You can’t do that. Your image will always be mapped to the faces of the ‘cage’. Tweaking will in fact be easier and more accurate if you convert the cage to a mesh.
If your object is very low poly you can assign a different material to each face (or if not you can use groups of faces). Convert to a mesh and then apply your uv’s by selecting materials from the 1 mat 1 block in F5.
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Ok, I kinda got it to work. Make a mesh with UV mapping, subsurf it, then hit alt-c, move the non-subsurfed mesh to a different layer (just in case). The new mesh will keep the uv mapping. If you cant get it to work I’ll make a .blend with an example.
Ok, figgured out how to pack textures into a .blend file. Layer 3 is the light setup and camera, layer 1 is the converted mesh, layer 2 is the subsurfed mesh prior to converting. So render with either 1&3 or 2&3 to see any differences in quality. It isn’t that noticable. The texture is a goofy sorta lowfi brushed metal.
Thanks all of you!
I have the same problems with UV mapped sub-surf (note the projected textures on a sub-surf DON’T have that problem).
The trick is to keep the desity of the sub-surf mesh as balanced as possible around the edges where the texture deformation is happening.