method to stretch out a UV?

[Anonymous]

I have this circular UV that I think would be better laid out if it was a strip in the UV page. I cut a seam in it, how can I get it to form a straight line similar to the above UVs? Is this possible?

[t_chanma]

Hi Krato,

It's definitely possible.  There are a couple of ways to do this:

1.)  If you're on the newest version of Maya LT (2017 Update 3), it's as easy as selecting those faces and then going to Unfold > Unfold in the UV Toolkit.  

2.)  If you're on an older version, then I'd suggest selecting those faces and applying a Cylindrical UV Mapping to them (http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYALT/2017/ENU/?guid=GUID-06864409-CC4C-4C40-B04D-6D5060A9FEF0).  That will project them straight, but flat.  To unflatten, select the UVs on just one side and translate them up.

[sean.heasley]

@Anonymous nailed it both of these steps can work well but I recommend cylindrical mapping! It tends to be cleaner 🙂