Maya UV's Texel Density

giakaama · Aug 2014

Hi, I don't know if this was answered already, I've searched the forum for this and some results came up, but I wanted to know if there is a way to do this without plugins.

After I unwrap a piece I need to set every Island to a 256 pixel resolution. So I need something like this http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=83&t=77203 Script from Modo .

It's taking every shell and rescale them to the resolution you set.

Is there a way to do this in Maya without plugins ? I've tried Layout option but it's just doesn't give me what I need

.

Thank you

Bartalon · Aug 2014

Layout should unify the texel density of all your shells with default settings. Personally, I use it all the time and rarely have issues. I use Layout before packing UVs. That being said, there are certain workarounds that you need to consider before performing this command:

Any non-frozen scale transformations may cause the Layout command to not scale shells properly, in which case you should freeze your model's transforms first.
Backwards-facing shells may cause Layout to malfunction
Improperly unwrapped shells (such as planar-projected shells that didn't have seams cut or wasn't unfolded) may also lead to poor results

Maybe check these things and give Layout another go

Warheart · Aug 2014

UV Deluxe provides similar functionality to the modo script you mentioned. It's just a script and doesn't depend on any plugins. Set your map size at the top, then set your density in the box that says "Pixels per cm" (under the Ratio rollout) and then select the UV shells you want to scale and hit the "Set Ratio" button.

giakaama · Aug 2014

Bartalon wrote: »

Layout should unify the texel density of all your shells with default settings. Personally, I use it all the time and rarely have issues. I use Layout before packing UVs. That being said, there are certain workarounds that you need to consider before performing this command:
Any non-frozen scale transformations may cause the Layout command to not scale shells properly, in which case you should freeze your model's transforms first.

Backwards-facing shells may cause Layout to malfunction

Improperly unwrapped shells (such as planar-projected shells that didn't have seams cut or wasn't unfolded) may also lead to poor results

Maybe check these things and give Layout another go

Hello, can you put a Step by Step procedure so I can see where did I go wrong ?

Thank you

Noth · Aug 2014

Knightshade uv for maya is what I use, it's great.

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/script/nightshade-uv-editor

Bartalon · Aug 2014

giakaama wrote: »

Hello, can you put a Step by Step procedure so I can see where did I go wrong ?

Thank you

Here is the process I tend to follow:

Freeze transforms & delete history on all models for which you intend to export UVs
Unfold all shells as to avoid overlapping with themselves, and with as little deformation as possible
Flip any rear-facing UVs to the front (any UVs that shade red instead of blue)
Select all UVs then perform the Layout with "World" set as the Prescale option (in Layout options window)
All shells should now be relatively the same size. You can scale all your UVs up to check overall UV resolution against your checker pattern. Sometimes a shell or two will be slightly larger or smaller than the rest. Note that shells with extreme stretching or compression in isolated areas will affect the layout results
Flip & Stack UV shells that are supposed to be mirrored or otherwise sharing UV space
Scale choice UV shells up or down depending on importance/visibility on model
Pack UVs into 0-1 area as usual
Select all UVs, Polygons > UV Snapshot... > Choose desired X & Y resolution & save

giakaama · Sep 2014

Nice one, I'll try it too. The thing is that with the Maya's workflow here you have to scale the shells to an appropriate size .
The modo plugin helps me in with that. But I think I'll scale them with a fixed number after that for the rest of the models.

Thank you

Maya UV's Texel Density

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