UnwrapMesh

• General Usage
• Options
• Known Bugs/Limitations
• History

General Usage:

1. Pick a Source object using the "Pick" button in the "Source" group.
2. Select the channel you want to unwrap using the "UVW Channel" spinner.
3. Hit "Create Unwrapped Mesh".
4. Modify the vertex positions of the unwrapped mesh using standard mesh editing tools.
   • Tips:
   • Use the "Relax" modifier to smooth out complex areas in the unwrapped mesh.
   • Turn on "Show End Result" on the unwrapped mesh's modifier stack to see how you're affecting the mapping coordinates.
5. Hit "Import Unwrapped Mesh" when you're done editing to bring the mapping coordinates back onto the source mesh.

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Options:

• UVW Channel:
  This selects which UVW channel you want to unwrap on the picked mesh. Channel 0 is the same as the Vertex Colors.
• Source Group:
  These controls allow you to pick a mesh to unwrap, and then create the unwrapped mesh in the viewports.
  • Pick:
    Use this to pick a source object that you want to unwrap. The source mesh is the mesh that will be unwrapped, and later have the unwrapped coordinates re-imported onto it.
  • Create Unwrapped Mesh:
    After picking the source object you can create the unwrapped version of the mesh by hitting this button.
  • Create UVW As Mesh:
    This creates a mesh that has the vertex count as the unwrapped mesh, but has the same shape as the source object.
    This allows you to morph the unwrapped mesh into the shape of the source object, or use the "Preserve" modifier to blend between the distorted unwrapped mesh and the undistorted source mesh.
• Import Unwrapped Mesh:
  After an unwrapped version of the mesh has been created, you can re-import the unwrapped mesh back onto the source by hitting this button.
  For this option to be valid, both the source and unwrapped meshes must be picked in the scene.
• Unwrapped Group:
  This area lets you pick a new unwrapped mesh to import into the source object, if desired. It also allows you to re-pick the unwrapped mesh after you've saved and reloaded a scene.
  • Pick:
    Use this button to pick an unwrapped mesh that you want to import into the source object. The face count must be the same as the source target's to be a valid unwrap mesh.

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Known Bugs/Limitations:

• The UVWmap applied to the unwrapped mesh doesn't have the map channel set properly due to a bug in Max.
  As a workaround, after you unwrap a mesh, select the unwrapped mesh, and set the map channel in the UVWmap modifier to be the same value as the UVW Channel in the "Unwrap Mesh" floater's value.

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History:

2000.06.01 - Created
2000.06.02 - Re-write to make room for future features
2000.08.08 - Made a UVWmap modifier be applied to unwrapped mesh so you can see the texture
             projected onto the mesh properly
2000.09.28 - Added "Create UVW As Mesh"

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