Hey guys - really quick question on UV mapping

[Anonymous]

so iv gotten a little better at maya, but the one thing i cant seem to get a grasp of is UVs. like my latest model has alot of shapes and areas i need to color and details(in mudbox). but if i use automatic UV mapping i cant zoom in good enough on all sides so if anyone can tell me or at least guide me in the direction on how to make UVs correctly please leave a message. that also reminds me would it be better to model a base design(via subdivision) in maya then color it in mudbox or does mudbox have a feature where you can choose what parts to color(kinda like putting tape on the walls before painting) thanks again guys.

heres my model so you can get a better idea of what im working with

[Anonymous]

sorry about that wrong verison of that model heres the updated one

[Anonymous]

Creating UV's can be somewhat complex at times. I would start off by fixing the model before working on the UV’s. The object has some major modeling problems I would take care of first. You have way too much 5-side geometry = (polygon face with more than 4 edges) on your model. If you plan on doing any work in Mudbox you need to be working with only quads aka 4 sides geo. I have attached a very basic document on how to build some UV’s, now by no means will this teach you everything about UV’s but it should help you with what you want to do.

Chris

simple_uv__layout_.pdf

[contact]

Before you follow the steps bellow is to use a checker-texture (http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/puck_pics/uv.jpg)
and appy it to your model and make sure you can see the texture (key 5) this will help you very much to understand what is happening.

when you've done this, just sollow these steps;

1) select the faces on the top of the model
2) switch to top view
3) then use planar mapping with the "camera" setting checked
4) Open the UV-layout editor, select ALL UVs and move the UVs to the side with Move tool
5 a) Then select all faces on the underside of the model and do the same as the steps above (2-4).
5 b) Select the right side and do the projection from the side view instead
5 c) then do the left side the same way
6 a) What you'll end upp with are four UV-shells (top, bottom, right and left). In the UV-layout Editor;
6 b)select all UVs in the editor
6 c) then open the file menu and select layout.

Hope this helps a bit

[Anonymous]

i re looked at it and theres no face with more then 4 sides i think the top is what you got confused theres a line separating the faces making a square and two....quads?