UV mapping the easy way
UV mapping ?
In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how simple and precise UVmapping can be using DEEPUV . This is the first tutorial I make because I don't want to see my friends siting for hours to days on end dragging UV points and merging chunks together just to get a stretched and overlapped result. I will try to simplify the steps of UV mapping as much as I can so that beginning users can benefit from this tutorial too. I will demonstrate all the steps on the hand I'v just recently modeled for my site. if you wanna have a go on a more complicated model (like a whole person), I suggest you scroll down and read the last step first. Lets first begin with 'what is UV mapping'? UV mapping, is the process that takes your 3D model and "unwraps" it so that you can paint over it with a 2D program.
Before You start, the things you always need to keep in mind while UVmapping your models are as follows:
OVERLAPS - Overlap means the UV surface goes "ontop" of itself. Usually, you will want to have zero overlaps by the end of the process so that you can paint your texture over the entire surface of the model seperately.
STRETCHES - Streches happen when you map a certain part bigger or smaller than it's relative size. To avoid having streches, it is allways recommended to work with a checkers map on your model and make sure the checkers stay square.
SEAMS - Seams are where your choose to "cut" your 3d model so that it can be unwrapped into 2d. You will always wanna have as few seams as possible in your end result because it will make it easier for you to texture your model.
Getting the model to DeepUV
The first step will be to take the model you want to map into DeepUV. Basicly, the program comes with plugins that will directly export your model from your 3d program (Max,Maya,Xsi and lightwave) to DUV and back, but sometimes it doesn't work. When direct exporting doesnt work, you will have to export the model yourself. After some research, I've discovered that .OBJ is the best format to keep your model's geometry unchanged. When you export your model, make sure you keep the faces as polygons. I'd also recommend you check the exported model yourself, to make sure the geometry didn't change.
Note that in DUV, you can always save your progress into an .OBJ file.
Getting started
OK, so you've got your model into DUV. lets first make some settings so we can see the stretches later on: Rightclick on the right viewport, wireframe/ uncheck the "show wireframe" and also check "material override" and uncheck "texture smoothing". Now you are set to begin. The first step you need to take is to apply a plannar map to the model: Click "select / all" and then try "plannar 1" or "plannar 2", one of them ususally finds the perfect planar map to start with, but if you wanna do it yourself, open the "Interactive" tab and use the interactive plane.
