How do you unwrap your 3d character?

[WhiteGuardian]

Hello GameArtisans
I'm newbie in 3d. But i wanna know what technique of each members of GameArtisans to unwrap your 3d character? Maybe can sharing or give some tips what is the best, efficient or effective technique do you use?

Right now i just using Unwrap UVW, box and cylinder to all parts of the character. I still not sure this is the best techinique to get the fast and good result for the unwrap. :think:

Thx a lot for the reply and sharing :)

[illadam]

I use a lot of the basic unwrap uvw features and also pelt mapping for characters. I find each thing can be useful in different situations. Pelt mapping is relatively new and is really easy to use. Pelt mapping is great for faces.

[elte]

There are some video which might give some understanding.

This is unwrap UV in modo, by selecting the seam, also similar to pelt mapping in 3dsmax.
http://www.luxology.com/community/tutorials/character/uv_unwrap/video/UV_Unwrap.aspx

Try to watch some videos in www.uvlayout.com it used to help me understand more about UV.

I agree with Illadam regarding the usage on different situation.

[AchmedtheSnake]

i used to do the traditional school taught 'box' and cylinder unwrapping - took me forever with less than optimal results in the end.
I still use the basic techniques for primitives and props, but know i utilize stuff like roadkill and the very useful unwrap plugins for max than really speed up the work flow (cause i really hate unwrapping).

as far mesh/wires dispersal on your unwrap - when dealing with a humanoid, i normally give them face/head no less than out a 1/4 of the texture space, just to enable me to give those simple details.......

elite - cheers for the links.

[Kickflipkid687]

Cylinder and Pelt unwrap in Max works really well generally. I also use relax alot for most everything, including hard surface models.

[YdoUwant2know]

You know this topic seems to come up ever couple of months or so.

Personally, I use roadkill. It's free, fast and does a really nice job. It takes some getting use to, but it is still a heck of a lot faster that using the built in un-wrappers in Max.

You can get it from this site. (http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm)

For a few tips on using roadkill, check out this older thread. (http://gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3600&highlight=roadkill)

[kageko]

well, the fastest way to unwrap is using cylinder on arms and legs and use planar on the head and torso front and back, tho u can do cylindrical on those too ^^ just my personal preference as its easier to see what ure doing when painting on a planar projection

[Kickflipkid687]

idk is roadkill really that good?

[Draxxuss]

yes... roadkill IS really that good. I recommend it highly!

I've unwrapped characters in 30 minutes where before they would take half the day.

[DreameR]

i use unfold3d

[iceblazer17]

Roadkill is niiiiiice :thumb:

[mr_ace]

i have the stitch command assigned to my S key, so for more complex stuff, i tend to start by using the flatten mapping command, then pic certain chunks and stitch the edges. for stuff that has a more uniform shape tho, ill use planer, cylindrical, planar etc. i tend not to bother with pelt, cus i find the results are harder to paint textures on. i use realx a lot too. i've never really bothered with plugins or 3rd party ones, but i'm gunna check out roadkill.
the best way to learn about unwrapping is to look at peoples texture flats and see how they did. learn from the pros!

[MM]

i use roadkill first to create the base layout, then i use unfold (0.25 weight solver) and then a little relax. after that i will use the smudge tool to manually tweak if needed. i get pretty solid results with this workflow. usually it takes around 1-2 hours to get a good UV for a full character of average complexity. i am on maya2008 btw.

[Kickflipkid687]

I'll have to look into it then sometime. I'm more concerned about learning or rather perfecting Zbrush.

[WhiteGuardian]

illadam
I see. So how to use pelt mapping? Can you tell me? :think:

elte
never using modo dude. Thx for the link. :)

AchmedtheSnake
Hahaha...same like me, hate to doing unwrapping. :D
Thx for the tips about the face

Kickflipkid687
I see. Zbrush the best for sclupter right?
Thx for the reply

YdoUwant2know
Hehehe....different title with same case. :)
I have visit the site and download these 2 files
http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/userimages/Roadkill_UV_Fix.zip
http://www.box.net/shared/static/t9ustpav1c.ms
That file right?
So where i have to put the plugin? I have try to put in 3dsmax plugin folder, but the result is the RoadKill menu pop up in max area. Still confuse how to install the plugin
Btw, thx for the link to the older thread :thumb:

kageko
yeah, i do like you did it dude. :)

Draxxuss
Wow, 30 minutes instead of half the day? Awesome. :eek: That for complex character like Dominance War or Comicon? Or just for low poly character under 3000 tris?

Dreamer
Yeah, one of my friend ever suggest me to use it. But i still don't understand how to use it. Do you have the link for how to use unfold3d? Thx before :)

iceblazer17
thx for the reply :)

mr_ace
Aha, i agree with you about looking at people texture. Thx a lot for the tips. :)

MM
Roadkill-unfold3d-smudge in photoshop right? Thx for the tips. I'm on 3dsmax 8 btw. :)

[MM]

no, UV Smudge tool in Maya. i dont think photoshop has anything to do with UVs :D

http://i33.tinypic.com/30kst2s.jpg

[Yozora]

you can do what roadkill does within max/mayas default tools, first you apply planar map on the whole mesh so theres no seams and then you can start picking edges in the 3d viewport and cutting the uvs and then highlighting all the islands and use relax. I use to use roadkill as well, until I learnt to use the tools in max/maya properly with hotkeys.

[WhiteGuardian]

MM
Ou..i c. Never using maya. :D

Yozora
Thx for the tips. Will try it soon :)

[DEEhunter]

I think Headus UV layout is the best out of them all. It unwraps my models so perfectly. Organic or inorganic.

[elte]

^ The only drawback is you have to switch application everytime :(

[Ged]

Ive used roadkill but found the interface a little wierd, maybe its better these days.

how do you get your models into roadkill? do you guys export each piece you want to uv? like head model, arm model, belt model, backpack model etc

or do you have some easy way of keeping all the models together but still getting into those difficult to reach places to place seams and unwrap in roadkill?

[wim]

Hi folks,

late reaction, but hey beter than none.
I just started to work with Max2008 and roadkill. But I have some problems with it.
http://g.virbcdn.com/cdnImages/noResize/Image-180763-1478594-roadkill.jpg

[Mincher]

I find blender gives easily adjustable results using it's unwrap tools. For me, unwrapping is definitely the most tedious part.