What's the simplest way to unwrap the humble cube?

Support Basics & Interface
1

I notice thaw when the cube is selected in Edit mode, there are a number of options offered for unwrapping:

  • Smart UV project: am not sure how this works
  • Lightmap Pack: this produces a stepwise pattern of 6 squares
  • Follow Active Quads: a length-based option yields the familiar T-shape
  • Cube projection: produces a hotch-potch of squares
  • Project from view: produces a 3D cube, not a flat figure. What to do with it?

How can these methods be ranked in terms of practical usefulness?

2

now so easy
just add cube primitive
then go to the tool panel and check UV unwrap

done

why you did not read the release notes for 2.7 I think!

happy bl

3

Hi

Project from view…Project the object as You see it in the viewport.
If a cube is not in a strait view , Eg…Rotated it will look like it’s a 3 d cube.

Project from view is one of My favorit…:slight_smile:

Smart Uv Project…Make the best unwrap so far I can see…Think Texturepaint use that to unwrap the mesh…?

Tai

4

Sorry, Ricky, you are saying nothing new.
If you go the Tool panel under UV, you simply get the same 5 options I outlined. But which will you pick?

5

Good to know, Taipan, that you prefer ‘Project from view’. Didn’t know that if the cube is not in ortho view, you get a cube-like image in the UV window. That’s what I did.
I wasn’t quite sure how to use the Smart UV Pro but I’ll have a go.

6

The way I think of them is weather a specific option utilizes UV Seams or not. And also if it generates UVz from scratch or works on top of an existing UV.

  • Unwrap . You use this when you manually place seams. It requires UV Seams in order to do a ‘proper’ unwrap. If you are not familiar, just find a tutorial on UV Seam placement practices and UV Unwrap. It does not have to be Blender specific. The approach is more or less the same accross the board.

  • Smart UV Project . This is an automatic UV algorithm that uses angle-based approach to create seams and unwrap. This will basically disregard any seams you had made and recreate them based on the algorithm. This is the fastest and best way to unwrap something. The issue is, such a UV map can only be used in a 3D painting environment, you can not paint on this in a 2D painting environment.

  • Lightmap . Will map each face independatly.

  • Follow active Quads . You need some UVz to use this option. Read the help file or search for it on this forum. Heavily used in the technique “Sculpting with UVs and Displacements”

  • Project from View . As the name says, UVz are projected from current view. Unless it’s a panel tuype of GEO, you will get overlapping UVz with this, which is fine if that’s what you need :slight_smile:

I use all of those except Light Map. Which one to use mostly depends on what you need/are trying to achieve. Each is suited for a certain task.

7

sorry but I did not say anything about the UV sub panel!

when you add a primitive now you have an option to unwrap it since 2.77
in the primitive panel

happy bl

8

Thanks a lot, Orange. That was quite a useful lesson on all the 5 types.
I have no problem marking seams of my own but I felt it’s hardly worth the trouble for a cube.
I prefer the ‘Follow the active quads’ option because you get a nice T-shape. Perhaps not every time.
I must get to know the ‘Smart UV Project’ type.

By the way, I am going to start a new (related) thread right now to make a decal within a decal on a cube face. Involves UVs.