ZUV Tools is a great addon to flesh out your Blender UV tools. Bringing over features from modeling and some extra features ZUV Tools allows you to manipulate your UV’s easier than ever.
Features:
Shortest Path
With two selected UVs this operator will find the shortest path according to the selected algorithm and source. I suggest assigning a mouse click hotkey to it. I use CTRL + Left Click
Source
UVs - Derive distance from UV coordinates
Mesh - Derive distance from 3D vertex coordinates
Algorithm
Simple - Fastest. Attempts to find the shortest path by searching through connected UVs/vertices and finding the one that is closest to the end. (Speed > Accuracy)
Distance - Uses the A-star algorithm in order to find the shortest path
Topology - Uses Djikstra’s algorithm to find the shortest path via the number of edges instead of distance. (Slow due to needing to search through most if not every UV)
Spread
Straightens selected UVs according to type. When assigning a hotkey I would suggest something your nonmouse hand can easily select and ALT. This is helpful when selecting loops (Alt + Click) and spreading. I use Alt+T.
Linear - Spreads UVs out with equal distance from one another
Cubic - Spreads UVs out with relative distance according to their distances on the mesh
Smooth
Smooth selected UVs. Great for when interior UVs of the same island are intersecting and Minimize Stretch isn’t doing what you want.
Circle
Turns selected UVs into a circle
Transfer Selection
Transfers selected UVs between UV sync modes
Auto Weld
Similar to Stitch (hotkey ‘V’) but simpler and will only move individual UVs instead of entire islands
UV Merge by Distance
Similar to Merge Vertices by Distance or Remove Doubles this operator moves any UVs within the set distance to the same location (does not weld unless Blender automatically welds them)
Reunwrap
Attempts to reunwrap selected UVs. It also tries to scale and move to where it was before reunwrapping.
Copy Paste UVs
Easily copy and paste UVs from one uv map to another (based upon vertex order so usually is only possible on the same object)
Scale to Bounds
Scale selected UVs to fit boundaries (does not keep original dimensions of selected UVs)
Correct Ratio
This operator attempts at scaling the selected UV island in order to relatively match the mesh dimensions. UV Island X length / Y Length : Mesh corresponding to UV Island’s X Length / Y Length
Sorry about that. Should be fixed now. Also, the video is 4k so it’s taking a bit for it to process. It looks like it’s only showing at 360p right now.
2.0 Released
1.0 is now the free version of ZUV Tools. For an up to date version please go to blender market for 2.0! 2.0 has many bug fixes (especially when selecting loops that begin and end on the same seem); Smooth, shortest Path, and Auto Weld now work in sync mode; added Relax; Shortest Path now will select the UV closest to the mouse cursor (so you can click and ctrl+click just like in the 3D View); Ratio now auto-selects the entire island for you; Auto Weld uses distance and 2D cursor for UVs that can connect to multiple other UVs; Shortest Path is now faster; icons, icons everywhere; plus when you run an operator the settings appear in the bottom left pop-up menu so you can change the settings and it’ll redo the operator with those settings!
@Blender_bari Hey! I just bought your addon and I have some problems. I cant make “Relax” work no matter what I select. I tried whole island, edges, vers and so on.
I get this error:
I just updated it on Gumroad. You should have an email with the update attached. Thanks for letting me know! I didn’t even think about that being a problem lol
Looking in to it! Shortest path is finicky sometimes. If you could send me a screenshot of your uvs. Also, is sync mode enabled? And are you selecting a loop that begins and ends on the same vertex in 3D mode? All of this will help me. I may have questions concerning the relax tool, as well, here in a bit.
When you’re doing ‘Shortest Path’ are you selecting two UVs and then going over and clicking the ‘Shortest Path’ button? It’s not really meant to do that any more. It’s really designed more for you to click to select first uv then ctrl+click (or whatever hotkey you give it) to get the second uv and the path between them like you would in the 3D View. “But Zach,” you might be saying, “why would you include the operator and not just hide it and have that hotkey be the defualt.” Good question, I simply didn’t think it through I’m also not sure how to do default hotkeys. Anyways, until I can figure that out I recommend right-clicking on the operator and adding ctrl-right/left click as the “shortcut.” Also, I believe I have fixed Relax, so check on that if you get a chance please!
For shortest path I was selecting two random verticies as well as two on each side.
For relax I tried both sync mode and not and selecting island, verticies, faces, whole island, part of island, few verticies basicly most of possible combinations.
Yes, so Relax should work now (it only does what you’d expect on lines of UVs/edges, not really faces).
Shotest path is really designed more for you to click to select first uv then ctrl+click (or whatever hotkey you give it) to get the second uv and the path between them like you would in the 3D View. “But Zach,” you might be saying, “why would you include the operator and not just hide it and have that hotkey be the defualt.” Good question, I simply didn’t think it through I’m also not sure how to do default hotkeys. Anyways, until I can figure that out I recommend right-clicking on the operator and adding ctrl-right/left click as the “shortcut.”
I fixed the relax error in 2.82, or possibly other versions, but adding the operator before the def call, at line 1427. Adding UV_OT_SpreadUV instead of jsut getSelectVUVs
Heeey. I just bout the addon and I’ve gon this a error using Spread operator.
Sandly the Spread operator doesn’t work in 2.82, had to Use Zaloopok Equilize operator.
Can you take a look?
Okay, resolved. The issue was caused by using shape key, you need to select Base shapekey before using the operator
Oh that’s great to know! If you do get an error like that again (and it’s not because of shape keys) try turning on ‘Redo UVerts’ and run the tool again.
Randomize: Randomize the location of selected UVs within a set distance
Boundary Select: Select UVs on the boundary of a selection
Hide (better): More intuitively hides UVs (when hiding UVs on the edge of an island, only the selected UVs are hidden instead of the UVs of the same vertices; see video)
Gridify Islands: Turn any 4 cornered island made up of quads into a nice spread grid (auto spread and auto ratio applied)
Increased Functionality:
Default Keymaps for Copy, Paste, Shortest Path, Hide Better, Rip, Auto-Weld, and Spread added
Spread works when sync is enabled, ignores hidden uvs
Shortest path works with hidden uvs, ignores hidden UVs when selecting closet UV to mouse
Relax works with uverts on island edge
Auto-Merge ignores hidden uverts
Circle more reliably auto rotates correctly
Auto “Redo UVerts”:
You should no longer need to press “Redo UVerts” (at least as often as you did before). ZUV Tools now automatically, on the fly, recalculates UVerts. What does this mean for you? Less interrupts during your workflow!
I’m also not sure how to do default hotkeys. Anyways, until I can figure that out I recommend right-clicking on the operator and adding ctrl-right/left click as the “shortcut.” Also, I believe I have fixed Relax, so check on that if you get a chance please!
