quick humanoid uvmapping?

[Kageko]

well the title is pretty self-explanatory =P does anyone have a good tutorial on a quick way to uvmap a humanoid?

Because frankly... im tired of wasting 8+ hours on a halfassed uvmap because i keep wondering what will save me the most time and give the least distortion...

EDIT: as fast as possible would be nice as the seams are easily fixed in zbrush

[Perversonality]

As fast as possible = a front and back unwrap using two planar maps... Alternatively use a cylinder for each body part and a spherical unwrap for the head

[Kageko]

hmm never really tried that aproach :P ill try it thx =)

[VegaMan]

I usually cylinder map most of the body, and i usually unwrap the first finger i make. this way when i clone the finger for the others i dont have to unwrap all the fingers in the end... only have to move it around.

Just to give you a tip about fingers :P

[poopipe]

fastest or fast and effective?

fastest - do what perversonality said



fast and effective...

apply a checker map to your model (the standard max one will do) and make it repeat (at least 8 or 12 times )

on max9 upwards..
mentally divide the body into sections you could probably get away with using a planar map on without too much distortion (eg front of chest, face, side of head, front of leg etc.
select the edges that border these areas and convert them to pelt seams (we're not pelt mapping but this is a very helpful way of dividing up the mesh for easy selection)
select a single face in one of these areas and press the expand selection to pelt seams button

on max 8 (if you're using 7 or below, upgrade or give up ;) )
select groups of faces that could probably be planar mapped without too much distortion

now you have a group of faces selected....

apply a planar map to your selection (from the unwrap modifer rather than applying a new UVWmap)
choose the relax tool from the tools menu in the unwrap window and relax the hell out of your selection. if it goes all twisty and weird make sure the faces aren't inverted, if they arent - rethink your selection
If it goes well, this will give you a pretty much undistorted UV shell, move this shell off to one side and repeat for the next area

once youve done this to all the various areas you can start welding adjacent shells together to eliminate seams and then squash everything into your Map area.

make sense?

[Kageko]

i tried it your way poopipe, and i must say it went better than i thought it would thanks alot =) i couldnt get the uvs to stop from tying knots out of themselves if i didnt pin the borders but i think it ended pretty well anyway ^^

[poopipe]

Glad it's helped,

the relax tool can be a bit funny. if it's going utterly mental it's usually either because the UVs are inverted or you've got shape that won't planar map well enough - in that case just work on smaller chunks.

[spindraft]

In addition to the methods already looked at, I would strongly advise you download roadkill and give it a go. Its free and imho the best way to go in terms of time efficiency. Don't know how I ever lived without it.

[poopipe]

I just had alook at that and I have to agree, it's pretty good.

The standalone app doesn't have anywhere near the toolset I'm used to having in Max (couldn't find a scale option for UVs) - the lack of edge loop selection is also a major flaw IMO.

However, the default unwrap algorithms are really good so I'll definitely be using it for the early stages

good find :)

[spindraft]

Yeah, I'll usually have to make further adjustments back in max as well. But it's great for a quick clean flattening out. I hear you on the loop selection, something so simple would be a godsend for it as selecting edges is pretty much all you're doing.

[neolith]

UV Headus Layout is absolutely great,unfortunately it's not free but you can download a trial so you can unwrap this efficiently.