Some questions about UVW mapping

[Tango]

Hi there !

First of all let me say hello to all. This is my first post here but there'll likely be a lot more in future

I have obtained 3Dsmax 5 from a friend a few days ago so I'm just getting started with all this and so far I have to say that I love 3dsmax.
To start learning some basics I have decided to start my own little model and use the tutorials from this wonderful website as I proceed modeling.

Yesterday I then decided to learn a bit about texturing and UVW-mapping and of course there are a few problems or better yet, there's a few small things I don't seem to have understood fully. See I have modeled a "thruster" with a "wing" attached to it which will be part of a spacefighter model. Using UVW-mapping I've done a little texturing on the wing-part and this is what I came up with after a few hours of toying around (it's not much but hey... I'm just getting started ) :



Until that point I was satisfied. The UVW map seems to work great. There is one problem though. As soon as I change anything on the model, like extruding some polygons or whatever, the UVW map seems to reset itself although the changes have been made to a totally different part of the model. The UVW coordinates I made until now seem to be lost as soon as I change anything and this is of course not what I want.
I thought with the UVW map applied I could just keep on modeling without having to set up new UVW-maps everytime I decide to change anything.
I'm also having a hard time understanding how the modifiers stack on an object.

So basically my questions are:

• Is the order in which I apply modifiers important or can I just add them however I want? For example when I have a "UVW mapping" and a "UVW unwrap" modifier, does it matter which of the two comes first in the list of modifiers for my object?
• Is there any way to keep the UVW mapping I've already made when editing my object or is the generation of new UVW coordinates mandatory after changing an object's geometry?
• How should I set up my model? Is it better to split it into several small objects or should I keep my wing as one object? Looking at my screenshot above, how would you split up the object (notice that the entire model is currently one object, a cylinder base edited with poly-editing)?
• Look at the front part of my wing. There are 4 extenstions at the front of the thruster with "teeth" right in front of the thruster's barrel. I want to make UVW maps for these 4 parts but since they are all the same I'd like to make a UVmap for one part and then just apply that map to the three remaining parts. Can I apply one UVmap to several parts of my object or how do I go about this?

Some advice would be very helpful as I'm a little stuck right now. I'd like to keep on improving my model but everytime I change the geometry of the thruster, my wing part's UVmap is messed up and I basically loose the texturing progess I've made so far.

Thanks in advance for answers oh and before I forget: Don't forget to let me know what you think of my first 3Ds model I know it's not much but I'd still like to get some feedback and tips on how I could improve it. Here are some more screenies so you can see it from different angles:

[prithvi]

If that's your first model, it definitely looks cool (the last image actually shows it better than the others)

I myself am not a pro, just been learning Max for quite some time now.

Ideally, you should apply your UVW map after completing the modelling part. You should use the 'Fit' button to fit your map over your model.
Also, you should see the part of the model that you are mapping. If the shape resembles a box, cylinder, sphere.......then you should select the appropriate one from the UVW modifier parameters.

UVW Map should always be applied before you unwrap your model. So after applying your UVW map, select the 'Unwrap UVW' modifier.
After that, click on 'Reset vertices' from the Unwrap UVW parameters. Then click on 'Edit...'. A new window will open that will show your unwrapped mesh over the selected map.

Also, you can divide your model into different material parts by applying the 'Multi sub-object' material to the model.
You can specify the number of subobjects you want to divide your model into.
Then, you can apply your materials over different subobjects.

This will also help while unwrapping, where you can specify the Material ID for the specific part of your model. This will only show that particular unwrapped part of the mesh.
Using this, you can wrap your map over the mesh, part by part.