Easiest Way to Gridify UVs in Maya
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
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Learn two ways to easily gridify UVs in Autodesk Maya, combined with a script I developed to make the process even faster.
Hi everyone, I've updated the script so it will now work with cylindrical objects. You no longer have to delete any faces or sew anything manually anymore, everything can be accomplished in one click. Update video here.
th-cam.com/video/FgHXfghUx5Y/w-d-xo.html
The God of Maya has finally listened to my prayer. This is actually the video I need that is saving my life due to my model having so many curves in fact. First 2 mins already mind blown the hell out of me. You have my LIKE and SUB.
That's great thanks, be sure to check out the updated script here th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
For once I searched for how to do something and Maya and actually got exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
Right on, glad you found the video useful.
Ikr lol
Amazing video and amazing script. Sad it is not as easy as you could want but I guess this "straighten uv" thingy is just like that. I have seen tons of videos and different ways to do it, and my fucking God they are ALL A WASTE OF TIME like literally you have to do 49292 steps to do it correctly
Thanks, I figured it out in the most recent version of the tool I wrote in one click, see latest video here. th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
Hello, I am interested in buying your uv script pack but I was wondering if you wouldnt mind giving me a simple yes or no answer to a question I have regarding a mesh I wish to to uv map and gridify using your script. Would it be ok to email you an image of my mesh and for you to confirm it is possible to map it and give a consistent texel density before I commit to buying the pack, sorry to be a bother and thank you for your time!
@ollybalsom6614 Sure, you can e-mail me the file if you like and I can run the script on it malcolm341@gmail.com, or you can buy the script pack and if you don't like it I can just give you a refund. Also, see the latest update video for new features. th-cam.com/video/FI7UzPo_vqY/w-d-xo.html
Liked, Subscribed, Belled Great vidoe
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
This is some good stuff
Thanks, check out the newer video I made the script much better. th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
Awesome technique
Thanks man!
nice!
thanks for learning
That's great, thanks for sharing your positive comment.
In _Maya_ i struggled for more than 15 yrs in 2 things. *The UV's* and the *Face and Hand Topologies.*
I'm not a character artist, but the best way to learn topology of faces or hands is to find a model you like on the market place and purchase it and study the edge loops. You can also look at this free topology guide on polycount wiki.polycount.com/wiki/FaceTopology
Does this tool works on Maya 2022?
Yes it does, check out the updated videos I've made quite a few improvements to the tool since this old video
th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the lesson, malcolm! I work in maya 2017, here there is no "straighter UV's". Tell me, maybe in version 2017 there is an alternative way to make an even texture?
If you download service pack 3 or service pack 4 you should get all the tools shown in this video directly in Maya 2017, give it a try and let me know.
help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-085D05C1-CBA6-4BBD-8645-7C3B3967D626.htm
What Maya version do you use? thanks for the vid!
Hi Garret I’m using Maya 2018. If you’re using an earlier version of Maya the first technique shown will work in Maya 2016 ext2 when the new UV editor was added. The second technique shown will work in any version of Maya. If you purchased the script it should work in all versions of Maya, but I’ll need to send you the code for the button via e-mail or export you an older version of the shelf.
I have an issue I would like you to reproduce, because the unfold operation in just one axis, works great, but I found it doesn't work in some situations.
If I have a cable that is long enough, like a cable connecting towers for like 1 or 2km long, then the unfolding doesn't work as expected. Only if you divide the UVs into sections it works OK. Can you confirm that?
@José Miguel Aragüés hey I gave it a try and it messed up the first time, but now it's working fine. Here's what I'm doing and it's working fine, my guess would be when things get so big there's a precision error, I'm just using Maya's built in commands so there's no real fix I could do anyways, but this is what is working for me:
-Enter multi select mode and select the border edge plus all the faces you want to gridify.
-Run gridify UVs tool.
-Select all the UV's and unfold U or V depending on which way the pipe gridified.
-The UVs will be very tiny, uniformly scale them up and then take a look at the ends, they appear to be straight and how you want them.
Let me know if you need further help or if you want to send me a file.
@@malcolm341 sorry, I should have tell you I didn't use your script, just the regular unfold tool. And it doesn't matter what I have selected, neither shells, edges, faces or UVs make any difference
@ yes it looks like the default way causes a bit of wavyness at the top and bottom, just run straighten UVs on those UVs after unfold and you should be good.
@@malcolm341 Thank you but that's not the issue.
When unfolding in V (or U) only in the very long cable, I follow the method you describe (unitice the faces, so they become perfect squares, and then unfold in one axis).
But the unfold does almost nothing and it just unfolds the very ends of the cable and the resting faces are still perfect squares.
If, though, select a few rows of faces and make a shell out of them, the unfold works as espected. I can send you the cable in order for you to check it, if you want.
@ Sure link me to the file download and I'll give it a try.
it not working
Please explain, it's working on my end. Also please watch the latest video th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
@@malcolm341 after 04:56 everything is going creasy, not so flat like your
@@r.f.3546 Try watching the newer videos I've updated the tool several times over the years. th-cam.com/video/FgHXfghUx5Y/w-d-xo.html
I love you soooooo much bro 💕💕💕😘😘😘 .. my texturing teacher never told me this thing ....I love you 3000 my nigga 😘😘😘😘
Nothing works for me unfortunately. Not only the tool. but also the old trick with Unitize. When I go to move and saw I get a Lovecraftian monstrous result. Same with the tool, if I try to use the rectgrid or squaregrid, I get devastating results : ( .
Edit: It works, but it only works if I have a model that has a hole on top and bottom. There's no way around that?
Have a look at these two videos you may be trying to gridify something that has no natural boarder edges for example a cylinder.
th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
@@malcolm341 Watched them multiple times, but for example in the first link (with the oval sphere), it shows only how you can extract a bunch of UV from the model and then square them, like a small portion, not the entire model (When I try with the entire model, I get a nightmare Rorschach style)
In the second video, if I'm not mistaken, all the models have a hole above and at the bottom, which works for me too (except the sphere at the beginning, but it wasn't used to showcase a full UV grid, just a portion, a little slice, which also works for me)
Thank you for the answer tho. I guess I'll just use it with models that have above/bottom holes, still worth it ahahah. All the scripts are a blessing when it comes to time saving
@@warhorn6718 You have to define border edges if you want a continuous mesh to gridify correctly. Can you send me a screenshot of what you're trying to gridify to malcolm341@gmail.com so I can see where the problem is. If you're trying to gridify a whole character or a whole gun in one go you'll need to select a lot of border edges so I'd recommend breaking it up into a couple sections that you gridify one at a time. If you want to gridify a cylinder for example it can be fully closed as seen here at this time stamp th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html but you'll need to use multi-select mode to select the boarder edges and faces.
@@malcolm341 Oh wow, I'm getting email support hahahah, that's awesome. The type of mesh I'm trying to UV is very basic, it's basically a simple rectangle with some arms (I'm following a 3dex tutorial). I'll send you a screenshot with what happens. Thank you very much
@@malcolm341 Sent the email, thank you again
I can't tell you how much this saved my ass. TY!
You're welcome, thanks for commenting.
no hell no dont add loops to fix the uv stretch you can fix it by stretching that section a bit and it's done
I recommend using both techniques depending on the situation. For example, if you bake a normal map to a curved section of a model it will look stair stepped on the edges which might not be desirable, it will also be harder to texture because of the curved shape, and it will take up more space in your UV pack, none of those issues will be fixed by stretching that section. On the other hand I wouldn't recommend adding much extra geometry just to help your UVs, but if you've already got the edge loops there from the original shape you might as well use them to your advantage. In almost all cases you're going to want to gridify UVs on cylindrical shaped objects instead of unfolding them, because unfold will give you a bunch of slightly diagonal UVs to work with which have the same problems as mentioned above.
Thank you! I'm learning Maya from home and your UV tutorials have been very helpful.
That's great, thanks for leaving a comment and letting me know.
this is awesome Bro.its a great tool.here in your video you did well because i think your object have have a deleted face on the side.but when i try without any deleted face it doesn't work.any help.thanks.
Thanks, yes the tool will also work if the mesh is seamless, you don't need to delete the face you need to select some edges to use as the border plus the faces. Here's the tutorial how to do that. th-cam.com/video/FgHXfghUx5Y/w-d-xo.html
Thankyou! Very useful!
Make sure to check out part 2 and 3, the tool is much better now.
th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
@@malcolm341 Many thanks, you're a star Malcolm! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Malcom! :)
Cant wait for your next video tips!
Does it also Work also with previous version of Maya? like 2017?
Thanks for your positive feedback. Yes this button should work with any version of Maya. If you purchase it and the shelf won't load just e-mail through gumroad and I'll save a 2017 version, alternatively you can just paste the code from the 2018 button into the script editor if you don't want to bother with the shelf stuff.
"Download the script here" You should be honest and say....buy the script here!
It already says buy the script here, I'm not sure what you're talking about.
This is both life and time saving! Nice, thanks!
Awesome, I'm glad these tutorials are helping people, stay tuned for more.
I Surched this alot And you Gave Me Amazing Tutorial, Thank you , you are life savior !
That's great, thanks for commenting and letting me know.
I LOVE YOU SO MUTCH
Sweet, thanks. Make sure to check out this newer video th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
This is incorrect , best way to do it , is to get modo , and there is single button for that.
Mine's a single button as well th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
Holy moly...
Please see the latest version of the tool, it's come a long way th-cam.com/video/rkD4o8vGMNc/w-d-xo.html
Hey man, just discovered your channel! Awesome stuff and I hope you do more! Also, the pug is straight adorable! Thanks for the content! If you have a second, I was just wondering what your background is, I know you mentioned games, but just curious. Didn't know if you were planning on a making a video of what you do - besides youtube of course. Thanks again!
Hi Luke, glad you're enjoying the channel and content. I try to post a new video every second weekend, I'll keep the channel alive as long as people are still interested in watching the videos. It's been growing slowly over the last year so no plan on stopping any time soon. I've been working in games for about 18 years doing various environment art related roles. I'm currently working on Gears of War as the lead environment artist. I'm not allowed to talk about anything I do at work so unfortunately there won't be any videos or comments about that, so I tried to make the channel about game art in general and share my knowledge about Maya as much as I can since I've been using it for quite some time. The pug is our little baby, where did you see him? I used to have a couple videos on here, but I set them to unlisted as to not confuse anyone what the channel is about.
@@malcolm341 That's super rad! And I totally understand, no worries, I was thinking more about past work you've done. I saw the pug videos when I was looking through your channel, they're listed under the playlists. Just sort of stumbled on them. Anyway, thanks for responding and I'll keep looking through your videos. I got jammed on UVing for a couple hours today, and your explanations are perfect! Do you do any paid, nn the side tutorials or mentoring?
I'd like to do some paid tutorials in the future, but finding the time is tough while working and making the free videos on the weekends. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about UVing on here if you post an image or share your model it will be easier to help you. I find google drive a good place to share images since you can post the link here.
Good . I just to straight out if of selected verts or face horizontal or vertical. So how can I do this . default "straightens uv" works but not all time.
If you get a really tricky shape you can straighten UVs along only one axis at a time, there is also a tolerane about how much it will straighten in the options, but I just use the script and gridify everything, then unfold U, the straighten.
This is gem!
Thanks, make sure to check out the updated version. th-cam.com/video/QkeXYPz-Z9g/w-d-xo.html
its will save so much time in Future...
thankx
Glad it helped you, thanks for commenting.
You already save my life, Thanks xD
Right on, you're welcome.
Just bought the script, Thank you so much for the great tool!
That's awesome, thanks for supporting the channel. Glad you're enjoying the script.
It is good practice to straighten stuff, but you got to cut those 45 degrees and up angles or else your normal maps will bake all curvy !
I haven't really run into that problem 45 degrees, more often it's the diffuse texture that can look skewed if you straighten to much without supporting loops. You will however see stair stepping in your normal maps if you unwrap into curvy shapes which is also undesirable and hard to texture in Substance Painter, I recommend doing as much straight as possible then do a test bake and fix any issues from there. For 90 degree angles, you may find you need to cut UV shells there anyways if you plan to use hard edges instead of bevels in the geometry to prevent normal map skewing.
Nice tutorial, save me a lot of time, Thanks!
You're welcome, thanks for commenting.
Helped me alot! Many thanks.
Great, thanks for commenting.
great tutorial! good job, bro! :D
Thank you, stay tuned for more.
This.. tutorial is so amazing, it is going to save me so much time.
Hey that's great, thanks for letting me know you found the tutorial useful. More to come.
This has been super helpful where my 3D modeling class has fell short! Thank you!
Glad to hear it, thanks for leaving a comment, much appreciated.
Excuse me, there are obvious tangent lines on the UV. Can this be solved?
I'm not sure what you mean, which part of the video are you talking about?
what about the characters?
What do you mean?
I just found a gem
Thanks, I use this tool to texture all my assets.
Hi Sir, Can you please give me your email id? I want to send my works and take some suggestions to improve it
Sure it's malcolm341@gmail.com
nice sir...but when i tried to transfer UV attributes from one to another same object. it works fine but in the transferred object the "each face becoming a each UV shell" how to fix that....pls help
That doesn't have anything to do with my tool, but should work fine regardless.
-Delete history on both models and freeze transform.
-Select the model with the UVs you like first then shift select the model you want to transfer to.
-Open transfer attributes options box.
-Vertex posion: off
-Vertex normal: off
-UV Sets: all
-Color Sets: off
-Sample space: component
-Mirroring: off
-Flip UVs: off
-Search method: closest to point
-Apply
-If that still doesn't work check that your models verts are actually welded together.
-Or just select all the UV edges and sew them
-Or just duplicate the mesh and snap it back so you don't even need the transfer, I rarely use transfer and just duplicate my UV'd mesh and move it back to where where it needs to go and then delete the un-UV'd mesh.
@@malcolm341 hoooo....Thank you Sir
well I am on maya 2019 and yes when u do the first step by selecting the middle edge and straighten uv shelf works fine that part, but the second step straighten uvs with default options the uvs do not come like yours they actually overlap in some parts, and they are not square, I try to change t he angle on the settings but not possible to achieve the same as you, unless I use the normalise tool,
I'd need to see the geometry you're trying to straighten, straighten UVs is indeed angle based, but the default options usually do a good job. What time stamp in the video are you referring to, I have 2019 here as well and everything is working as intended.
This is everything I needed to figure out! thank you so much!
That's great, thanks for your comment.
Amazing!
Thanks a lot, I made an update to this script to work with cylindrical shapes as well. th-cam.com/video/FgHXfghUx5Y/w-d-xo.html
Super helpful! Thanks!
Awesome, glad it helped! Thanks for the feedback.
Awesome!!
Thanks.
will this work with triangles? those don't unitize or sew quite as nicely.
No sorry, only works on quads since by definition the tris can't form a grid.
@@malcolm341 thought so. thanks keep up the good work.
Amazing,great videos :)
Thanks for that positive feedback LockeNess.
Be good if you have a discord or something where i could talk to you, as an aspiring Enivronment artist and self taught I'm struggling on a structure of what to learn and how to go about it. What i should actually be doing to improve my skills
Hey LockeNess, at the moment I'm still working full time in the games industry so the regular TH-cam video updates is about all I can commit to right now. If you have specific questions you're welcome to post them here and I'll do my best to answer them, or you can fire me an e-mail and I'll try to answer that way.
I don't think this is a good thin if you are doing Hand painted texture. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
Hey Portal, this technique should work fine weather you're doing hand painted or realistic textures. Depending on the shape of the model I would use this technique as much as I can to avoid texture seams and save texture space.
Would this work with Maya LT? Thank you.
Yes this will work in Maya LT.
How to do unfold along U only in maya 2017?
Open the Unfold options box, then select Legacy at the top. From there you can access the old Unfold constraint and turn on vertical, or horizontal. Horizontal is unfold U.
maya 2014 version apply ? help me sir
Hi kamalesh baruah, I've updated the .zip file on gumroad, if you download it now there will be a 2014 version of the shelf you can load. Let me know if you run into any issues.
Couldn't you technically deselect the seam edge with multi-component selected before using your gridify script or does that cause problems?
I just gave it a try and that doesn't appear to work, the issue is the script selects all the edges of the model and then sews them together so the only part the script cares about is what faces you currently have selected. The only way I've thought of to fully automate would be to first select the faces you care about, then click a button and store that, then select the edges you want to be the seam and run the script. That's currently out of the range of my scripting abilities unfortunately, and would also require some timely selections which would make the workflow pretty slow by comparison.
I agree it would slow things down a bit. The method you provide in the video is still really fast, I'll have to give it a shot! Thanks for providing the tutorial btw!
Sounds good, thanks for sharing your positive comment.
Jluchow1995, I've learned a bit more MEL scripting this weekend and was able to update the script to work with multi component select. Now if you enter multi mode and select edges and then shift select the faces you want it will work as you mentioned above even on closed cylinder shapes. If you download the script or script pack version again you will get the update for free.
Nice man! Well done! I'll have to check out the updated script!
Hi there and thank you for the script. I have two questions for you though:
How do you configure the UV editor in order to bake the texture only where the UVs are?.
And, when you are done "gridifying" the UVs, Is there any non-handmade way of layout them so they fit inside the 0-1 range for just one axis adn let the other go outside that range?.
I mean, I want to map a cable. And I "gridify" its UVs, great. But now I want the U UVs to be inside the 0-1 range, so the cable texture tiles perfectly in that direction. If I just fit the UV shell inside 0-1 range in both U and V, I have to repeat the texture in the place 2D texture node as many times as that cable needs, which is not reproduceable for other cables.
So, I need to fit the U but NOT the V. I need to leave the V go outside keeping the proportion with the U direction.
Does my question make sense?.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Jose, I'm not sure what you mean by bake, do you mean to bake a normal map or something else?
For your second question if you'd like to normalize the UVs in just one axis try this. After you've mapped all face the way you want them select the UVs in question, then hold shift and hold right mouse button a menu will appear, select the normalize UVs options box. In there you can turn Normalize Along UV, or U or V. This will fit the UV shell in the specified axis. Let me know if that works out for you.
By baking I mean UV editor texture baking. When you press the button in order to show the texture of the material applied to the object. But in your video, the texture automatically appears only where there are UV shells. How do you do that?, in my case I have to choose the texture range...
Thanks for clarifying. To get the texture to appear only where the UV shells are you will need Maya 2017 or 2017 and then turn off texture baking, and turn on checker map, it's the little checkerboard icon at the top middle of the screen. When that's turned on the UV tile will show the texture as you drag the UV's around.
malcolm341 Oh, I thought it was a texture, not the checkerboard. Good to know, thanks
There is another old school way which I've always used in earlier versions of Maya going back to Maya 2008 and earlier. Using this cylinder example just select object, in the uv editor go to polygons>unitize. Select edge loops at the top and bottom. Select vertical edge loop. Invert selection. Hold shift+RMB>move and sew UVs.
You will now have a square grid mesh. Right click to UV mode and select a single UV in the center of the grid mesh. Go to Polygons>Unfold-options. Go to Edit>Reset. Under Pinning, select Pin UVs>Pin Selected. Unfold constraints vertical then hit apply. BOOM! Done!
Yes exactly, but that's way too many clicks. Also check out the new video I've figured out how to make the script work on cylindrical objects so you no longer have to delete any faces or sew anything manually. th-cam.com/video/FgHXfghUx5Y/w-d-xo.html
I guess I'm so used to doing it this way. One of the guys from Autodesk demoed how to use the unfold tool during a presentation at DD when I was working there back in the mid 2000s. I just bought your tools. Way better than whats in the uv toolkit.
Hey that's great, thanks a lot for supporting the channel, enjoy the scripts hopefully they'll save you some time.
I really appreciate your time and effort. Your making great contributions to the community. I've been in the biz for 20 years or so. I'm always on the lookout for a great tools. I want to learn Python and write my own tools. I just don't have the time with so much on my plate. I still have a few Udemy classes to get through. Arrghh!
Thanks for that very motivational comment. I'm just starting to learn MEL, I learned a bit back in 2007, and am just now getting into more complex stuff. Python's out of my league at this point, but maybe some day.
How would you manage polycounts for game props?
It is mostly guessing. I recommend studying new games that come out and looking at how props are created in those games. Each game engine will be different and each game type will have different restrictions such as open world, corridor shooter or Nintendo Wii. With each new generation of hardware these numbers will get a bump as well. The easiest way to think about this is you always want to make your models as low as possible while at the same time making sure they look good. Another good trick is to add detail on the silhouettes rather than on surfaces that extrude inwards as the silhouettes will be seen more and can look blocky with lack of detail. As well, if you're adding geometry bevels to edges that are smaller than the character's finger I would avoid that and use a normal map to get those fine details.
@@malcolm341 wow! thanks fot going in depth with my question. I will keep that in mind when modeling. Anyway, great video and great advice!! 😀
Not a problem, thanks for your positive comment.
where is the magic button ? where i fine it?
You can purchase the script here gumroad.com/l/XwoEG
sorry sir, i have no master card thank u.
:(
and i m a student , i have no ability for purchase this.
Very awesome mann 👌👌👌👌
That's great, I'm glad it was helpful. Thanks very much for that positive comment.