UV mapping

[Krisztian Gulyas]

Should I turbosmooth the object before or after unwraping?

 

I know it's a lot easier to unwrap an object with low number of polygons, but after smoothing it, it doesn't look how i wanted it to look, so most of the times I use turbosmooth (1 iteration), then unwrap it using the pelt tool and add another turbosmooth, but sometimes I had to work with really high poly count.

 

I read many threads about this, but no clear answer. Some people say I should do it before, some say after. Smoothing it before mapping hasn't really worked out for me (or I'm doing it wrong)

 

Is there a general rule, or it really depends on the object (by object I mean furniture)?

 

I'm using Max 2014

 

Thanks!

[Morne Erasmus]

I'd say it depends on each situation.

I recently had 2 different chairs. The one I did the unwrap before, and with the other after.

 

The one I did before, had 2 different sections. It was easier to unwrap with lowpoly. Because of the location of the edge in the unwrap, it kept the same "location" after the turbosmooth

 

In the other version, the seam loacation on the lowpoly was in an "odd" place in reference to the UNwrap and the position shifted after the turbosmooth. Reworking the unwrap didn't help. In this case the unwrap worked better after the turbosmooth. Then adding another turbosmooth on top of that, kept the correct seam location

Edited May 18, 2014 by Morne

[Stephen Thomas]

You can always add another UnwrapUVW modifier on top of your Turbosmooth even if you unwrapped beforehand. Seams should remain in the same place, you could then run another iteration of relax or whatever you need to do.

 

There may be occasions where the seams get messed up of course. Generally I would do my turbosmooth beforehand and then add the UnwrapUVW. Make use of loop tool to select edges for seams to speed up the process, just as you would in edit poly. If you have good topology this should be straightforward.

Edited May 19, 2014 by stef.thomas

[Scott Schroeder]

If you have good topology this should be straightforward.

 

Quoted for truth. This is the most important key in all of this.

[Krisztian Gulyas]

Thanks for replying.

Stephen Thomas, the topology is fine (most of the times), I was just curious if there's a way to work with less polygons, but I think I'll do it the way I did it before, with many polygons.

[Stephen Thomas]

You can definitely do it that way too. Most of the time not a big difference. Sometimes pelt mapping and relax can take a long time to settle if mesh is too dense, so you have to strike a balance.

 

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[Stephen Thomas]

I watched a great tutorial on unwrapping that was a real 'lightbulb' moment for me in terms of how to prepare a mesh. If I can find it I'll post a link.

 

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[Stephen Thomas]

Ah, maybe these are a bit more about covering the basics than I remember actually. They're a good primer for anyone else looking to get into unwrapping for texturing though, he explains the process well.

 

http://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/an-introduction-to-uvmapping-in-3d-studio-max-using-the-unwrap-uvw-modifier--cg-13780

http://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/an-introduction-to-uvmapping-in-3d-studio-max-using-the-unwrap-uvw-modifier-part-2--cg-13877

[jasonstewart]

I always try to do it first, sometimes it needs a relax after but if you are going to have different uv chunks separating them out first is way faster.