Edit UVs > Layout

Repositions the UV shells for selected objects so their arrangement is improved. The desired workflow is generally to lay out UV shells so they are not overlapping.

Related topics

Edit UVs > Layout >

The default settings give the best results in most situations.

Layout Objects

Select the manner in which you want to layout the UV shells.

Per object (overlapping): When multiple objects are selected in the scene this option specifies to lay out the UV shells for each object individually within the UV Texture Editor.
Single object or multiple objects (non-overlapping): Specifies the multiple UVs to be positioned in the UV Texture Editor as if it were one single object.

Prescale

Scales the area of the UV Shell proportional to either the surface area of the selected objects in object space or world space before laying out the UVs. Prescale is usually combined with Uniform Scale mode to scale UVs from multiple objects into a single UV region.

Prescale is only available when Layout Objects is set to Single or Multiple Objects (non-overlapping).

None: No prescaling occurs.
Object: Automatically scales the UV shell to accommodate the selected objects’ surface areas in object space.

For example, the UV Shells for a scene consisting of 5 spheres of radius 1 will appear equal in size using the Object setting regardless of their individual scaling. Scaling only affects the objects’ size in world space.
World: Automatically scales the UV shell to accommodate the selected objects’ surface areas in world space.

For example, the UV shells for a scene consisting of 5 spheres of radius 1, will appear according to their individual scale sizes.

Separate shells

Specifies how you want to cut and separate overlapping UV shells.

Off: Does not separate overlapping UV shells. Only the Scale option has an effect.
Folds: Separates only shells where the surface normals of overlapping shells point in opposite directions. This method is faster, especially for larger models. However, you may be left with overlapping UVs.
All intersecting: Separates all shells where the UVs overlap. This is the default.

Flip reversed: Flips UV shells that have normals pointing in opposite UV winding order.

Tip
If your model is symmetrical (for example, a character’s face), you can save texture space by turning this option off and superimposing the UV shells so they occupy the same texture space.

Shell Layout

Specifies where the UV shells will lie in UV texture space.

None: Does not lay out UV shells after they have been cut. Some shells may lie on top of others.
Along U: Positions the UV shells along the U axis.
Into Region: Positions the UV shells to lie within the 0 to 1 texture space. This is the default setting.

Scale mode

Select how you want the UV shells scaled within the UV texture space.

None: Performs no scaling.
Uniform: Scales the shells to fit the 0 to 1 texture space without changing the aspect ratio. This is the default.
Stretch to region: Stretches the UV shells to fit within the 0 to 1 texture space. The UV shells may become distorted as a result.

Shell stacking

Determines how the UV shells get stacked in relation to each other when laid out in the UV Texture Editor.

Bounding box: Creates a rectangular bounding box around each UV shell, then stacks the shells based on the borders of the bounding boxes. The UV shells will have more space between them when this option is set.
Shape: Stacks the UV shells based on the boundaries of each individual shell. The UV shells can be more tightly arranged to fit into any available spaces when this option is set.

Rotate

Allows the UV texture shells to be rotated in order to better fit the UV texture space.

None: Specifies that the UV shells will not be rotated.
90 degrees: Specifies that some UV shells can be rotated by 90 degrees to maximize the space within the 0 to 1 UV texture space.
Free: Rotates the UV shells so they are oriented vertically in the UV Texture Editor based on their longest axis. This aids the Layout feature in packing the shells more densely, thereby maximizing UV texture space.

Spacing presets

Layout UVs creates a bounding box around each UV shell and then lays out the UVs so that the individual bounding boxes are positioned close together. Sometimes when the borders of two UV shells are positioned very close to each other, the two UV shells may end up sharing the same pixels on a texture map.

When this situation occurs, a portion of one texture may bleed onto another or may wrap incorrectly on the surface, resulting in visual artifacts. When painting a texture, overscanning can also cause the paint to spill onto the adjacent piece.

To avoid this situation, you’ll want to specify a spacing preset to ensure that there is at least one pixel separating the individual UV bounding boxes. Select a preset that corresponds to your texture map size. If you don’t know the size, select a smaller map, which will result in a larger spacing between adjacent shells in the UV space. (The smaller the map in pixels, the bigger the UV spacing must be between bounding boxes.)

Select Custom to set the size of the space as a percentage of the map size (in the Percentage space box) and enter a distance value that is appropriate for your texture map.

Percentage space

When the Spacing presets is set to Custom you can specify a distance measurement to specify the space between bounding boxes as a percentage of the map size.

Region Preset

A set of common settings for Scale U, Scale V, Offset U and Offset V. The following table outlines the presets.

Label	Scale U	Scale V	Offset U	Offset V
Bottom Half	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.0
Top Half	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.5
Left Half	0.5	1.0	0.0	0.0
Right Half	0.5	1.0	0.5	0.0
Bottom Left	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0
Bottom Right	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.0
Top Left	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.5
Top Right	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Full Square	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0

Scale U

Lets you set the scale of the UV mapping in the U direction. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.

Scale V

Lets you set the scale of the UV mapping in the V direction. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.

Offset U

Lets you set the UV mapping so that each UV is a specific distance in the U direction from its default position at the lower left corner of the UV layout region. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.

Offset V

Lets you set the UV mapping so that each UV is a specific distance in the V direction from its default position at the lower left corner of the UV layout region. You can use the Offset in conjunction with the Scale to define the area on your model upon which your texture is laid out.