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Smoothing/Relaxing a mesh interactively

Lesson 2: UV unfolding

Applying Textures

 

Learning Resources > Tutorials > Getting Started with Maya > Polygon Texturing > Lesson 2: UV unfolding > 

Fixing problem areas

You now have an unfolded UV mesh with no major overlapping faces. However, there are still a few minor problem areas where the mesh overlaps itself (particularly the eyes and mouth).

You can use the Smooth UV Tool to fix small imperfections in the shell with targeted unfolds or relax operations.

To fix the eyes

1. In the perspective view, right-click the soldier’s head and select Edge from the marking menu.
2. -select the four closest edge loops that surround each eye. You can do this quickly by + double-clicking one edge in each loop.

   

3. In the UV Texture Editor, + right-click the UV mesh and select To UV from the marking menu.

   The edges selected around the eyes are converted to the UVs selected around the eyes.

   

4. Click the Smooth UV Tool icon ( ).
5. Drag the Relax control to the right until the eyes appear round.

   As you drag the Relax control, the selected UVs relax until they are round.

   

Now you can fix the nose and mouth in a similar manner.

To fix the nose

1. Select a group of UVs on and around the nostrils.

   

2. Drag the Relax control to the right until the UVs stop moving.

   

To fix the mouth

1. In the perspective view, -click the head and select Edge from the marking menu.
2. -select the 4 edge loops around the mouth. You can do this quickly by + double-clicking one edge in each loop.

   

3. In the UV Texture Editor, + right-click the UV mesh and select To UV from the marking menu.

   The edges selected around the mouth are converted to the UVs selected around the mouth.

   

4. Drag the Relax control to the right until the UVs stop moving.

   The mouth UVs even out into a circular shape.

   

5. Select all the UVs on the head.
6. Select the Scale Tool and scale the UVs so that they fit in the upper right corner of the UV space.

The UV mesh for the soldier’s head now has no UV faces overlapping. This allows you maximum control over what shows up in each portion of the head when you create the texture map for the soldier.

As with the rest of the body, you can now output these UV meshes to an external file to paint a texture on them. For information about how to do this, see Outputting UVs.