A New UV editor for 3ds Max

[Wolf-Man]

[Problem]
In 3ds Max, I have to model with an unwrap modifier in the stack. The UV window is only displayed if the modifier is selected...........This is insane because I need to see the UV's as I model at the same time. The 3ds max UV editor is also extremely outdated in regards to UI. Please make a super neat version as in Maya. I cannot model and edit UVs at the same time  like I can in Maya. This is just one more reason I am migrating to Maya but I honestly wish the best for 3ds max. The neglect of developing 3ds max is very upsetting.

[How its supposed to work]
In Maya (And I believe Softimage XSI), I have the ability to model an object with the UV editor window open at the same time. I can even have the UV editor displayed through a view-port. This means I can model something while seeing the textures in the view-port. This offers an instantaneous feedback loop.

Combined with Maya vew-port 2.0, I can create objects while texturing them and seeing instant feedback in the view-port.

[Solution]
Please work with the Maya team and Rizom Lab (Makers of unfold 3d) to create a totally new UV editing experience in 3ds Max. Users can model and edit UVs at the same time with view-port feedback. Users can open the UV editor as a window or a view-port. UV editing will not depend on local modifiers (Particularly frustrating for large scenes with many objects). UVs will be viewed by selecting object(s). This will be extremely important in regards to future development in a PBR view-port for 3ds max.

A tight relationship between modelling, UV editing, Textures, Shaders and real-time feedback with a PBR view-port is essential and long overdue for 3ds max.

[fla3d]

I agree with you, but It would be great if we could at least edit the UV while in editable poly and put the UV in a viewport.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I totally agree. It was a reason I tried Blender few years ago.   And although  by now 3d max UV tools have finally surpassed  Blender ones in a few regards  I am still more comfortable to  UVing in Blender.     

[Anonymous]

This used to not bother me few years back when I mostly did vfx and work for advertising, but after switching to game dev and it became a huge issue and I stopped UVing in max completely. Now every time I need to unwrap something I export it to Maya.

Maya, XSI, Blender and others, all allow you to constantly display and edit UVs from the moment you create any mesh. 

Max has "Unity partnership" on it's roadmap. A proper UV Editor is crucial to creating real time content! 

Currently it takes forever to even preview your UVs : add a modifier, open the editor, wait for the editor to jump around the screen before it's finally drawn. Then you go back to your edit poly to simply add another extrusion, you need to go back and repeat the entire process to make a minor tweak to the UVs.
Did the roadmap say something about "Automate: Free time for creative work" ? 🙂 Not wasting 6 steps to see a minor UV change would free up so much of my time for creative work.

Non blocking UI in UV editor. Most dialogs in the editor are UI-blocking. Even projection buttons need to unpressed before you can grab a piece of UV and manipulate it. Extra steps and time wasted.

UV "Tile Brightness" setting is only available from options menu, while in reality it requires an easily accessible slider. Imagine working on high contrast texture, sometimes you need more transparency, sometimes less. 

And can we finally have the editor recognize texture maps on the object you're working on? Having "reset texture list" is painful

I'm sure other users can add from their experience as well, but one thing we can probably agree on , is that UVs should accessible and visible from the moment you create your model and all the way throughout creative process.

[Wolf-Man]

Maya is a great standard for modelling objects while creating UVs. I have switched to Maya as 3ds Max is simply too far gone with years of neglect to catch up to Maya standards. Im glad I know 3ds max inxcase I have to do a project in it but Maya has far surpassed 3ds max.

All Maya has to do is introduce non destructive modelling and procedural modelling and 3ds max will be completely irrelevant. - it will only be good for arch vis. 

Such a crying shame....I love 3ds max but the neglect for more than 10 years.....I think 3ds max will end up like Mudbox. I don't think they will kill it like XSI but it will just be left in the past.

Truly sad.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree. This is absolutely essential to the further well being of 3DS. The Unwrap system is so outdated its obscene!

[Wolf-Man]

Since posting this request I have moved to Maya and haven't looked back. Doesn't matter if you like it or not, Maya won the race for supremacy. Not 3ds max or XSI or any other thing. Maya one...Its better to just learn Maya. I'm very grateful for all my years using 3ds max - learning from and being inspired by artists who used it. After 3 Months of being forced to use Maya, I realize why it's the main choice for VFX studios. 

It's too late for Autodesk to catch up and recover the losses made with its 10 years of neglecting 3ds max. I have learned to use Maya proficiently in the time it took for Autodesk to consider my 3ds max feature request.

I don't care anymore. Iv'e moved on and many others will......They killed XSI and left 3ds Max to rust. such a shame. 

[Anonymous]

We live in 2019, we use 2020 but our UV tools are from 2010

[Wolf-Man]

Yeah and compare it to how amazing it is in Maya to have the UV editor open while you are modelling. This is why I moved to Maya...........Maya only needs to implement non destructive modelling tools and then there will be almost no reason for anyone to use 3ds Max. Accept for Arch viz rendering.......actually that will move into real-time engines like Unreal.....3ds max wont be killed, it has just been left to rust.  

[Anonymous]

I'm in a similar boat, after being a Max user for a decade, I was forced to use Maya for 6 months. To top it off, it was on a Mac. After the initial shock and frustration I chilled out and grew to love some of the tools and workflows it has to offer. 3 years later I have both Max and Maya on my work PC and they both have their uses.

I certainly agree that A LOT of things in Maya are executed far better than in Max, and it is a painful realization that the tool you used daily was slow and inefficient and you've potentially wasted hours of your life dealing with it. 

However let's try to stay on topic of UV Editing in max. If we start too broad of a discussion about Max VS other packages, it'll spiral out of control and useful ideas will be lost and admins will see it as another flame war.

Even if we're currently frustrated with the state of things in Max, even if we've moved on to other packages, why not share our newly gained experience and insight in an attempt to make Max better? For those that still use it, for those that will learn it in the future and in case we have to go back to using it exclusively. 

Instead of spreading hatred and resentment, let's share the idea page with other users, bring attention to the problem and ask for a fix.

UV Toolkit in Maya 2018/2019 is a great example of how things could be done.
1) UVs exist, can be viewed and edited from the moment you create any mesh primitive
2) Most mesh editing tools do not destroy your UVs. If you do add new topology or make changes to mesh on the border of 2 UV isles, it seems to be smart enough to simply detach that part of UV.
3) Multiple preview modes including shaded density and stretch 

4a) UI : horizontal menu has all the tools and settings to control UV editor window

4b) UI : vertical menu has all the tools for UV editing . Max's UV editor UI is scattered across top, side and bottom portions of the window for no reason. Peel tools are in both the command panel and the editor but with different sets of buttons. Why?

5) Multiple packing and unfold solvers with lots of control
6) Settings for each tool are stored from session to session. Chances are you don't wan to start with default settings every time. Relax/Stich/Pack  - I'm looking at you. 
7) UV channels are easy to add and switch between (no need for multiple modifiers and toggling through painfully slow UI)
8)Non blocking UI in UV editor. Most dialogs in the editor are UI-blocking. Projection buttons need to be unpressed before you can manipulate your UV.

[Kranos_Orphydian]

Regarding only the Design and style part I have another topic for that

[UV Editor ] A more clean, tidy and fresh UI like the new Maya one

[Anonymous]

guys you really need to take a look into rizomlab, its the best to make UVs and max need it so much

[Anonymous]

I'd like to bump this. It is a shame that it has been two years and this is still "under consideration."

For anyone who works in an industry that relies on Railclone quite a bit, as well as at a place having a rather deep company investment in custom Max plugins and/or scripts for mesh and material work, Maya is no option. Not only that but Hypershade is the smoldering ruin of a dumpster that was on fire over a decade ago.

I agree with others in that I would love to see Autodesk just completely graft the Maya UV tools into 3ds Max, interface and all. Would Max users even care if all the existing UV modifiers were scrapped to do so? Probably not. Can anyone justify the tedium of adding a UV modifier, tweaking the UV, collapsing that modifier, making a mesh change, adding the modifier again and repeating this time-wasting and nauseating process throughout the work day? Probably not. Even the new UV tools/workflow in Cinema 4d S22 are worth getting some ideas from.

The bottom line, though, is that being able to simultaneously edit meshes and tweak the UV's doesn't seem like something Max users should still be asking for at the end of 2020. Even if Autodesk added a button to the UV modifier that enabled a "live edit," mode, forcing it to be the only UV modifier in the stack as well as forcing it to work-on and update only the base UV data, requiring no collapsing at the end of editing... that would be a step in the right direction.

[Wolf-Man]

I left 3ds max a long time ago and now use Maya and Houdini. I hope blender can replace Maya in the next 5 years. To pay for such lack of progress in criminal. 

[Anonymous]

Got to agree.

Ive gone back to Max from May after 17 years away and its horrendous.

The uv editor, that **** middle mouse viewport navigation.

Its good experience in case I have to work on a project that uses it again but wow it feels terrible to use.

It feels like it hasn't even changed much in that time!

[sebastian___]

While non native but a plugin, UV Reactor for 3ds max seems to do everything or a part of what is requested here. And on top of that someone testing said it’s the fastest solution by far compared to all programs. And it’s free while in beta.