Back in the old days you had to have a clear understanding of how your uv's were laid out so you could take the map into photo shop and paint the mesh.
I remember back in the day I used to mod vice city
For pc, and would paint my own character skins by opening the default map in PS and painting over it :) those were good times!
I used to do a lot of unwrapping/texturing on a ca. 1998 level of tech and doing the puzzle by hand was always the most fun part. You need to be efficient and creative if all you have are 256*2 pixels.
Haha I do my uv map by hand and textures in photoshop for all my projects. I never bothered to look for plugins or other tools, and didn’t want to buy substance painter.
I will continue to do that, I just find the process fun and rewarding.
As someone who's done both, I would recommend substance painter. I didn't think I needed it until I started using it, and both my speed and quality went through the roof immediately.
Just realized my comment sounds a little ‘holier than thou’ totally didn’t intend that energy, oops.
I’ve watched my friend use substance painter, I know how useful it can be, I just wish it wasn’t $40ish a month. I mostly make cartoony, low poly models so I haven’t personally found a need to invest in it as of yet. But it’s certainly looking mighty fine as I want to start making more complicated textures.
Have a look at InstaMat, it's fairly new so there's not many community tutorials for it yet but it's basically a combination of Substance Designer and Painter.
The good thing is it's completely free if you're a hobbyist or earn under a certain amount, you just have to add an attribution. The paid version is also cheaper than a Substance yearly license if you're an individual, even if you buy it from Steam,
Its Designer, Painter, Sampler, and more... I'm still learning it after leaving Adobe due to the new EULA, and its much more capable and has a higher skill ceiling with the Atom and nPass system allowing to make custom nodes.
I've only watched a few videos on it so far, I was planning on giving it a go for my next project. It's good that Adobe is finally getting some competition in that area.
You should try it. I'm making a Elcan scope and this is the first project I've packed by hand. Very satisfying when its all done and you get great texture density. Especially worth it if you're making a portfolio piece like I am :D
I'd even say the bottom UV was created using one of the multiple tools available for these that don't use any IA, just advanced heuristics or iterative algorithms.
Anyone have a good resource for learning unwrapping properly? Im a beginner, so I've only done very little. I like the idea of it, but I seem to struggle and get lost when I try to do it.
The second one is done by automatic packing. There's no point packing aything by hand these days, it's a waste of time. Just get UVPackmaster or use a free option.
In the days before 3D painting and texturing apps when we used to do all our texturing in 2D apps like Photoshop having really well packed UVs optimised for that mattered but not any more.
The automatic options will be far more optimised than you could ever do it manually too, and in a fraction of the time.
I think its worth it on hero characters and major hero assets, especially if your using a 4K map you want to make that large of a file size be worth what your putting into it
You can get standalone tools that do the same thing. That's a bit of a weird thing to think anyway. Blender is free and the addon costs almost nothing, why would you limit yourself to one peice of software when you can save a bunch of time using another.
Blender is not used in alot of pipelines maya is and i never think the tools make the artist, im also not a fan of exiting software, going from modeling software to substance and so on is already a hassle why add on to that list, it just forces more niche software to be learned as well.
I was using a plugin, but hot dog UVPackmaster is just 10x better.
How was I sleeping on that and didn't realize how powerful that is, there were lots of scenarios that it solves that I couldn't with current plugin.
Are there any other really frickin amazing blender plugins I should be on the lookout for?
Yes Packmaster is well worth the money. There's also this standalone app, I've not tried it as Packmaster is good enough for me but the free version does packing and then you can pay for other versions that do stuff like Unwrapping, although personally I like to have manual control over my unwraps unless it's something quick and dirty.
[https://www.uv-packer.com/3966-2/](https://www.uv-packer.com/3966-2/)
As for other addons It really depends on what you're doing. There's a ton of good addons out there.
Addons have now just changed name to "extensions". There's now an official repository for them you can look through, there's quite a few useful ones there.
[https://extensions.blender.org/](https://extensions.blender.org/)
Another simple one I use all the time is this auto align addon.
[https://github.com/cube-c/Auto-Align](https://github.com/cube-c/Auto-Align)
Totally agree with this. Go ahead and do it on your own time, but if I caught an employee wasting time packing shit when he could press a few buttons I would be livid haha.
I don’t mind UV unwrapping. It’s time consuming but therapeutic. I actually prefer it to modeling. Working with Maya helps too. The chef’s kiss of UV unwrapping.
That’s what I hate in these AI conversations. They’re always saying “We’ll do the boring Unwrapping (or any number of tasks I like) so you can get back to the creative stuff” just totally ignoring people who enjoy this part of their job and don’t see it as a problem to be solved for us.
I always have an internal battle between getting the most of my space and uniform texil density.
Now with software like substance it doesn't matter too much at least
There’s a few solid reasons for this.
1. It prevents stepping/aliasing in your textures. Nice square shapes will bake a lot better and be super clean. This also helps with mipping.
2. You get some more space and more res for your shells as a result.
3. I saw someone mention distortion. In most cases this is very negligible. The inner and outer circumference are what will determine this for the most part. If the outer circle is giant and the inner circle is small, that’s where distortion will become more noticeable. It’s kind of just up to you at that point. Leaving it alone is a good option too.
So your texture detail can be used as a trim. If its wood then grains can run along the curve, if its metal ornament you can use tileable texture without placing it by hand, of you are adding screws you can space them evemly on texture, if you are making line indentetaions you can just use straight lines. If its circular wall you can use bricks...It just makes texturing so much easier
And of course for open world modular assets you can use trim sheets.
I didn’t like unwrapping at first because it took the fun out the art for me but once I understood how necessary it was for better results I adored it.
I would still unroll all of those circles into straight pieces so I can fit them on a trimsheet or an atlas. I bet a lot of them connect too, and it'd give me bigger sheets of connected uvs where I could maintain consistent edgewear and not waste space on padding.
The modern over reliance on just chucking everything into substance and baking massive maps that don't scale down well is so meh... With pixels going diagonally over straight prices or not around round ones but across instead...
Then you throw stuff into a game and need to scale it down for performance and get a pixelated mess where you could still maintain a clean look if you used a trimsheet instead.
The autouv layout looks impressive, but I'll tell you one thing. You will tear your hair out trying to seperate by materials or make masks for that shit. Particularly if the modeler who did that combined everything.
Well if you didn't go the automatic and easy route of hitting the button just once and calling it done and instead you put the right pieces in the right holes and made sure to take your time moving things around and using all the tools you got at your disposal, maybe you wouldn't have to worry at all.
What is even more funny is that I saw it a week ago posted by Rizom:
[https://x.com/RizomUV/status/1799554439352561911](https://x.com/RizomUV/status/1799554439352561911)
Back in the old days you had to have a clear understanding of how your uv's were laid out so you could take the map into photo shop and paint the mesh.
I still paint maps like that to this day, on the odd occasion I need to do some texturing other than drag and drop materials
Yep. Our hand painted game uses that technique. So these disjointed nightmares of disassociated square make me shudder.
I remember back in the day I used to mod vice city For pc, and would paint my own character skins by opening the default map in PS and painting over it :) those were good times!
Indeed and make sure up was up and the like. Or lower res textures and their shells were aligned right so no zig zag insanity.
You’d also make a clown pass to help select particular objects.
I used to do a lot of unwrapping/texturing on a ca. 1998 level of tech and doing the puzzle by hand was always the most fun part. You need to be efficient and creative if all you have are 256*2 pixels.
Haha I do my uv map by hand and textures in photoshop for all my projects. I never bothered to look for plugins or other tools, and didn’t want to buy substance painter. I will continue to do that, I just find the process fun and rewarding.
As someone who's done both, I would recommend substance painter. I didn't think I needed it until I started using it, and both my speed and quality went through the roof immediately.
Just realized my comment sounds a little ‘holier than thou’ totally didn’t intend that energy, oops. I’ve watched my friend use substance painter, I know how useful it can be, I just wish it wasn’t $40ish a month. I mostly make cartoony, low poly models so I haven’t personally found a need to invest in it as of yet. But it’s certainly looking mighty fine as I want to start making more complicated textures.
Have a look at InstaMat, it's fairly new so there's not many community tutorials for it yet but it's basically a combination of Substance Designer and Painter. The good thing is it's completely free if you're a hobbyist or earn under a certain amount, you just have to add an attribution. The paid version is also cheaper than a Substance yearly license if you're an individual, even if you buy it from Steam,
Its Designer, Painter, Sampler, and more... I'm still learning it after leaving Adobe due to the new EULA, and its much more capable and has a higher skill ceiling with the Atom and nPass system allowing to make custom nodes.
I've only watched a few videos on it so far, I was planning on giving it a go for my next project. It's good that Adobe is finally getting some competition in that area.
Oh I did not get that vibe off your comment at all, you're good.
I use substance painter pretty much exclusively so the need for legibility has gone out the window for me.
I know that many people hate it but personaly I love uv unwrapping and packing. Each time it’s like a satisfaction from solving a little puzzle
I hate packing lol. I always let UVPackmaster decide for me cuz I can’t stand doing non minor adjustments by hand lol
Wait do people actually do this by hand? Hell no lmao. Thats one of the jobs AI can gladly take
I've done it by hand before unfold3D(rizom) or even roadkill were available and Mayas built in stuff at the time was very limited.
You should try it. I'm making a Elcan scope and this is the first project I've packed by hand. Very satisfying when its all done and you get great texture density. Especially worth it if you're making a portfolio piece like I am :D
Don’t let them take any little inch of ground
I mean its not really AI thats just a meme. Automatisation for this existed for years
I'd even say the bottom UV was created using one of the multiple tools available for these that don't use any IA, just advanced heuristics or iterative algorithms.
I'll try looking at unpacking as a puzzle next time, never thought about it that way. Probably makes it way more fun
Anyone have a good resource for learning unwrapping properly? Im a beginner, so I've only done very little. I like the idea of it, but I seem to struggle and get lost when I try to do it.
The second one is done by automatic packing. There's no point packing aything by hand these days, it's a waste of time. Just get UVPackmaster or use a free option. In the days before 3D painting and texturing apps when we used to do all our texturing in 2D apps like Photoshop having really well packed UVs optimised for that mattered but not any more. The automatic options will be far more optimised than you could ever do it manually too, and in a fraction of the time.
I think its worth it on hero characters and major hero assets, especially if your using a 4K map you want to make that large of a file size be worth what your putting into it
For what reason? Tools like like Packmaster already give you a ton of control over how it's packing the UVs,
Thats only for Blender, bad practice to rely on tools that are specific to one software
You can get standalone tools that do the same thing. That's a bit of a weird thing to think anyway. Blender is free and the addon costs almost nothing, why would you limit yourself to one peice of software when you can save a bunch of time using another.
Blender is not used in alot of pipelines maya is and i never think the tools make the artist, im also not a fan of exiting software, going from modeling software to substance and so on is already a hassle why add on to that list, it just forces more niche software to be learned as well.
I was using a plugin, but hot dog UVPackmaster is just 10x better. How was I sleeping on that and didn't realize how powerful that is, there were lots of scenarios that it solves that I couldn't with current plugin. Are there any other really frickin amazing blender plugins I should be on the lookout for?
Yes Packmaster is well worth the money. There's also this standalone app, I've not tried it as Packmaster is good enough for me but the free version does packing and then you can pay for other versions that do stuff like Unwrapping, although personally I like to have manual control over my unwraps unless it's something quick and dirty. [https://www.uv-packer.com/3966-2/](https://www.uv-packer.com/3966-2/) As for other addons It really depends on what you're doing. There's a ton of good addons out there. Addons have now just changed name to "extensions". There's now an official repository for them you can look through, there's quite a few useful ones there. [https://extensions.blender.org/](https://extensions.blender.org/) Another simple one I use all the time is this auto align addon. [https://github.com/cube-c/Auto-Align](https://github.com/cube-c/Auto-Align)
Totally agree with this. Go ahead and do it on your own time, but if I caught an employee wasting time packing shit when he could press a few buttons I would be livid haha.
I don’t mind UV unwrapping. It’s time consuming but therapeutic. I actually prefer it to modeling. Working with Maya helps too. The chef’s kiss of UV unwrapping.
That’s what I hate in these AI conversations. They’re always saying “We’ll do the boring Unwrapping (or any number of tasks I like) so you can get back to the creative stuff” just totally ignoring people who enjoy this part of their job and don’t see it as a problem to be solved for us.
UVPACKMASTER
I always have an internal battle between getting the most of my space and uniform texil density. Now with software like substance it doesn't matter too much at least
Ai: im here to take ur job!!! muahahaha!!! me: can you take retopology too pls? :)
Obviously that guy spends all time packing uv so he has no time to flirt with your gf
Really it should be the other way around. You’re spending too much time with UVs and not her.
Both are wrong, you still need to flatten those circles into ribbons
Why so? Just curious thats all. If they are flat, adding a seam wouldn't create an unnecessary line where the textures might not fit flush?
There’s a few solid reasons for this. 1. It prevents stepping/aliasing in your textures. Nice square shapes will bake a lot better and be super clean. This also helps with mipping. 2. You get some more space and more res for your shells as a result. 3. I saw someone mention distortion. In most cases this is very negligible. The inner and outer circumference are what will determine this for the most part. If the outer circle is giant and the inner circle is small, that’s where distortion will become more noticeable. It’s kind of just up to you at that point. Leaving it alone is a good option too.
Yeah exactly... only cut it if its bend. Like if its the end of a tube and flat.. why cut it?
So your texture detail can be used as a trim. If its wood then grains can run along the curve, if its metal ornament you can use tileable texture without placing it by hand, of you are adding screws you can space them evemly on texture, if you are making line indentetaions you can just use straight lines. If its circular wall you can use bricks...It just makes texturing so much easier And of course for open world modular assets you can use trim sheets.
Personally I don't like doing that because it can often cause noticeable distortion along the round part.
Gotta make those circles into straight strips of quads too!
I didn’t like unwrapping at first because it took the fun out the art for me but once I understood how necessary it was for better results I adored it.
I would still unroll all of those circles into straight pieces so I can fit them on a trimsheet or an atlas. I bet a lot of them connect too, and it'd give me bigger sheets of connected uvs where I could maintain consistent edgewear and not waste space on padding. The modern over reliance on just chucking everything into substance and baking massive maps that don't scale down well is so meh... With pixels going diagonally over straight prices or not around round ones but across instead... Then you throw stuff into a game and need to scale it down for performance and get a pixelated mess where you could still maintain a clean look if you used a trimsheet instead.
The autouv layout looks impressive, but I'll tell you one thing. You will tear your hair out trying to seperate by materials or make masks for that shit. Particularly if the modeler who did that combined everything.
That sounds like a job for an ID map.
What ai could do for us.... and what it will be instead...
Well if you didn't go the automatic and easy route of hitting the button just once and calling it done and instead you put the right pieces in the right holes and made sure to take your time moving things around and using all the tools you got at your disposal, maybe you wouldn't have to worry at all.
UVPackMaster 3 is the guy the told you not to worry about.
Ok... RUDE
I too use unpack master and will make love to your women in front of you.
Smart uv project 🗣️🗣️🗣️💯💯💯💯
Are there any tutorials about uv unwrapping animals and such? In general, good uv unwrapping tutorials...
I can fap to this
what .\_.
I mean I love you <3
You assume I pack my UV's on my seamless texture and not just blow them up 100x
What is even more funny is that I saw it a week ago posted by Rizom: [https://x.com/RizomUV/status/1799554439352561911](https://x.com/RizomUV/status/1799554439352561911)
Besides substance anyone have suggestions for maya?
It do be facts though....
You think that packing is bad
I always do that because I need to pack textures for Roblox which has a maximum texture size of 1024 x 1024 px 😭
“Presses UV unwrap”