Quick Transform rollout

You can transform UVW sub-objects manually with the tools on the upper toolbar, or procedurally with these tools.

Set Pivot

Positions the pivot (centerpoint) for manual and procedural transforms to the center or any corner of the bounding rectangle of the selection. Choose any option from the flyout; thereafter that option remains the default while the editor remains open. However, changing the selection always places the pivot initially at the selection center.

NoteWhile Freeform mode is active, you can position the pivot manually by dragging it. The pivot appears in the editor window as a large crosshairs that uses the Gizmo Color setting.

Freeform pivot moved outside gizmo

Align Horizontal

Lines up selected vertices or edges horizontally. Choose the method from the flyout:

• Align Horizontal to PivotLines up selected sub-objects horizontally and moves them vertically to the pivot position.
  TipIf you align selected polygons to the pivot, they "collapse" because the command applies to their vertices. For best results, align their upper and lower edge loops separately.
• Align Horizontal in PlaceLines up each set of connected, selected texture vertices and edges (not polygons) horizontally and moves them to the average of their vertical positions.

Left: Initial vertex selection; Right: after Align Horizontal

At the Edge level, if you press Shift when clicking the button, Align loops through all selected edges and lines up all the edge loops of those edges horizontally. In that case it is enough to select one edge on each edge loop to line up. It can also line up UV seam edge loops.

Left: Initial edge selection; Right: after Align Horizontal In Place with Shift held down

Align Vertical

Lines up selected vertices or edges vertically. Choose the method from the flyout:

• Align Vertical to Pivot Lines up selected sub-objects and moves them horizontally to the pivot position.
  TipIf you align selected polygons to the pivot, they "collapse" because the command applies to their vertices. For best results, align their left and right edge loops separately.
• Align Vertical in Place Lines up each set of connected, selected vertices and edges (not polygons) vertically and moves them to the average of their horizontal positions.

At the Edge level, if you press Shift when clicking the button, Align loops through all selected edges and lines up all the edge loops of those edges vertically. In that case it is enough to select one edge on each edge loop to line up. It will also line up UV seam edge loops.

Aligning edges:

1. Initial edge ring selection

2. After using Align Vertical In Place with Shift pressed

3. Initial edge ring selection

4. After using Align Horizontal In Place with Shift pressed

Linear Align

Lines up selected vertices and edges (but not polygons) between the endpoint vertices, which remain in place.

Left: Initial edge selection

Right: After using Linear Align

Align to Edge

Rotates the selected edge to absolute horizontal or vertical, whichever is closest, then selects all remaining edges in the cluster and rotates them the same amount.

Left: Closeup of one edge selected on the top border of the cluster

Right: The edge rotated to horizontal, and the entire cluster rotated the same amount.

Note

Rotate -90 around Pivot

Rotates the selection 90 degrees counter-clockwise about the pivot.

Rotate 90 around Pivot

Rotates the selection 90 degrees clockwise about the pivot.

Space Horizontally

Evenly spaces vertices belonging to multiple, connected, selected horizontal edges, such as an edge loop.

For example, to create a horizontal loop of texture polygons of uniform width, first select the horizontal edge loops above and below the polygons, then click Space Horizontally.

Left: Initial edge-loop selection

Right: After using Space Horizontally; the vertices within each loop are spaced evenly.

Space Horizontally is best used at the Edge level. It also works at the Vertex level, but it converts the vertex selection internally to edges. Thus, to avoid ambiguous results when working at the Vertex level, use it with single loops of selected vertices.

At the Edge level, if you press Shift when clicking the button, Space Horizontally works on the edge loop to which each selected edge belongs. In that case it is enough to select one edge on each edge loop to space. It also applies to UV seam edge loops.

Left: Initial edge ring selection

Right: After using Space Horizontally with Shift pressed to space each edge’s loop

Space Vertically

Evenly spaces vertices belonging to multiple, connected, selected vertical edges, such as an edge loop.

For example, to create a vertical loop of texture polygons of uniform height, first select the vertical edge loops on the polygons' left and right sides, then click Space Vertically.

Space Vertically is best used at the Edge level. It also works at the Vertex level, but it converts the vertex selection internally to edges. Thus, to avoid ambiguous results when working at the Vertex level, use it with single loops of selected vertices.

At the Edge level, if you press Shift when clicking the button, Space Vertically works on the edge loop to which each selected edge belongs. In that case it is enough to select one edge on each edge loop to space. It also applies to UV seam edge loops.

Reshape Elements rollout

Straighten Selection

Rotates the sides of each selected polygon to absolute vertical or horizontal, whichever is closer. The result is a rectangular grid. Applies only to selected texture polygons.

Left: Initial layout

Right: After selecting all polygons, applying Straighten Selection, and deselecting the polygons

Relax Until Flat

Changes the apparent surface tension in a selection of texture vertices by moving vertices closer to, or away from, their neighbors, until all polygons are of an equivalent size. Available at all sub-object levels, and, if no sub-objects are selected, applies to all sub-objects.

Relaxing texture vertices can make them more evenly spaced, resulting in easier texture mapping.

Relax: Custom

Relaxes the texture vertices using the current settings (see following).

Relax Settings

Available from the Relax: Custom flyout. Opens the Relax Tool dialog.

Stitch rollout

Most UV vertices and edges on cluster seams (that is, on the outer edge of a cluster) have shared sub-objects on other cluster seams. Both represent the same sub-object in the object mesh, but are represented twice or more in the UV mapping because of the subdivision into clusters. Use the Stitch tools to connect selected sub-objects on a cluster seam to their shared sub-objects on another cluster's seam. To see shared sub-objects in the editor window (highlighted in blue by default), turn on Display menu Show Shared Sub-Objects, or Unwrap Options dialog Show Shared Subs. You can also use the Show Shared Subs setting to change the color of highlighted shared sub-objects. Also, with Show Vertex Connections on at the Vertex level, you can see exactly which vertices will be connected to which.

Although Stitch works only at the vertex and edge levels, it is available at all sub-object levels, and applies to all seam-based vertices and edges associated with the selected sub-objects. If only one UV vertex is selected and it has more than one corresponding UV vertex, it will be stitched to the closest one. In all other cases Stitch finds the best match, if the match is unselected, or stitches to the selected match.

Stitch to Target

Moves the selected sub-objects to the shared sub-objects.

Stitch to Average

Moves both sets of sub-objects to the average positions.

Stitch to Source

Moves the shared sub-objects to the selected sub-objects.

Stitch: Custom

Connects sub-objects based on the current Stitch Tool dialog settings (see following).

This tool is also available as Stitch Selected on the editor Tools menu.

Stitch Settings

Available from the Stitch: Custom flyout. Opens the Stitch Tool dialog.

1. Texture vertices before stitching

2. Stitch to Source

3. Stitch to Average

4. Stitch to Target

Explode rollout

Use the tools in the first row of this rollout for breaking up texture coordinates into separate clusters. The Flatten tools work on selected texture polygons, or if no polygons are selected, on all polygons.

Break

Applies to the current selection; works differently in the three sub-object modes. At the Vertex sub-object level, Break replaces each shared vertex with two vertices. With edges, Break requires at least two contiguous edges to be selected, and separates each edge into two. With polygons, Break splits the selection off from the rest of the mesh into a new element.

Flatten by Face Angle

Breaks up the texture polygons using the following settings:

• Face Angle Threshold=60.0
• Spacing=0.02
• Normalize Clusters=on
• Rotate Clusters=on
• Fill Holes=off
• By Material IDs=off

Flatten by Smoothing Group

Breaks up the texture polygons using their smoothing group IDs.

When flattening by smoothing group, in order to form a separate cluster, a group of polygons must be fully enclosed by hard edges; that is, polygons that do not share any smoothing group IDs with their neighbors. If some polygons have multiple smoothing group IDs, it's possible that the texture coordinates would not be able to be split into separate clusters.

Flatten by Material ID

Breaks up the texture polygons using the current Flatten Mapping dialog settings except for By Material IDs, which it always treats as on. That is, it ensures that no cluster contains more than one material ID after flattening.

Flatten: Custom

Breaks up the texture polygons using the current Flatten Mapping dialog settings.

Flatten Settings (on Flatten: Custom flyout)

Opens the Flatten Mapping dialog for specifying Flatten: Custom parameters.

Peel rollout

The Peel tools provide an implementation of the LSCM (Least Square Conformal Maps) method of unwrapping texture coordinates, for an easy and inutuitive workflow in flattening complex surfaces. This rollout also includes tools for working with the Pin aspect of the Peel feature. When using Peel, pinned vertices are held in place while the rest of the vertices move.

For a brief demonstration of how to use the Peel tools, see this procedure.

Quick Peel

Performs a "best-guess" Peel operation on texture vertices (except pinned ones) by distributing vertices evenly based on their average locations while trying to maintain existing polygon shapes.

Quick Peel is suitable for simple texture-mapping applications, but for better control, use Peel Mode instead (see following).

NoteIf you use Quick Peel at the Polygon level and any polygons are selected, only those polygons are affected. Otherwise, all clusters are affected.

TipIn some cases, repeated applications of Quick Peel can improve the results.

Peel Mode

Applies a Quick Peel (see preceding) and then stays active so you can adjust the layout of the texture coordinates interactively. You do so by dragging sub-objects in the Edit UVWs dialog window, which redistributes all vertices in the cluster evenly around any pinned vertices.

While Peel Mode is active, you can create seams with the Edit Seams and Point-to-Point Seams tools and they automatically "peel" off as you go. Alternatively, in the editor, select some edges and use the Break tool to split the edges and automatically re-peel the cluster.

When Auto-Pin Moved Vertices is on (the default), moving a sub-object in Peel mode pins (locks) all vertices belonging to the sub-object.

NoteIf you activate Peel Mode at the Polygon level with selected polygons, only those polygons are subject to peeling, even if you switch to a different sub-object level (while Peel Mode is active). Otherwise, all clusters are affected.

Reset Peel

Merges existing map seams, converts Peel seams to new map seams, and then Peels and normalizes the resulting clusters. With nothing selected, Reset Peel affects all polygons. With a polygon selection, the borders of the selection are separated from the other clusters and become new map seams.

Use Reset Peel to reconnect map seams on previously mapped geometry, or to quickly break off and Peel a selection.

Arrange Elements rollout

Use these tools to arrange elements automatically in various ways. Packing is useful for adjusting the layout so that clusters don't overlap.

The Pack tools apply only to selected clusters when one or more sub-objects are selected, or to all clusters when nothing is selected.

Pack: Custom

Distributes texture-coordinate clusters through the texture space using parameters you specify with Pack Settings (see following). This is useful if you have several overlapping clusters and wish to separate them.

Pack: Custom respects the Rescale Priority value (see following) when Rescale Clusters is on.

Pack Settings (from Pack: Custom drop-down)

Opens the Pack dialog for specifying Pack: Custom parameters.

Rescale Elements

Automatically scales all clusters, in place, in proportion to each other.

Rescale Elements respects the Rescale Priority value (see following) whether or not the Rescale switch is on. When groups are present, it always applies to the group members plus any selection (or all clusters if nothing is selected). If no groups are present, Rescale Elements applies only to selected clusters when one or more sub-objects are selected, or to all clusters when nothing is selected.

Pack Together

Moves clusters as closely as possible into the 0-1 UV space (blue square) without normalizing (see Pack Normalize), while respecting the Rescale, Rotate, and Padding settings (see following).

Pack Together respects the Rescale Priority value (see following) when groups are present and the Rescale switch is on.

Pack Normalize

The same as Pack Together but automatically scales all clusters uniformly to fit them into the 0-1 UV space (blue square), known as "normalization," while respecting the Rescale, Rotate, and Padding settings (see following).

Pack Normalize respects the Rescale Priority value (see following) when groups are present and the Rescale switch is on.

Rescale

When on, and you use Pack Together or Pack Normalize, scales individual clusters so that texture element sizes are uniform.

Rotate

When on, and you use Pack Together or Pack Normalize, rotates individual clusters for the most efficient use of space.

NoteIn some cases Pack can rotate clusters by 90 degrees even if Rotate or Rotate Clusters (for Pack: Custom) is off.

Padding

The spacing between neighboring elements after packing. For best results, use a relatively low value.

Element Properties rollout

Grouping in the Unwrap UVW modifier lets you specify that certain texture clusters should stay together during Pack operations (see preceding). You can also specify relative rescaling for grouped clusters.

Rescale Priority

When you use Arrange Elements rollout tools (see preceding), the Rescale Priority value enables relative scaling of clusters (see Arrange Elements rollout, preceding). Range=0.0 to 1.0. Default=1.0.

Rescale Priority applies to these tools under the specified conditions:

• Pack Custom with Rescale Clusters on
• Rescale Elements
• Pack Together with the Rescale option on
• Pack Normalize with the Rescale option on

NoteIf you set the value from the keyboard, be sure to press Tab or Enter after doing so so that the value "takes."

To use Rescale Priority, first group one or more clusters (see Group Selected, following), then set the value. Then, when you use an operation that involves rescaling, the Rescale Priority value is applied to this group as a multiplier.

For example, say you group some clusters, and then select a polygon belonging to one of the clusters and set Rescale Priority to 0.5. Then you apply Pack Together or Pack Normalize to all clusters, with the Rescale option enabled. The result is that the clusters belonging to the group are half the size that they would be otherwise. (Non-grouped clusters always use a scaling factor of 1.0, or 100%.)