Headus UVLayout

[Flashfire]

Just a little nod to this amazing tool for UV unfolding... although I am using the demo at the moment, the tools I need are there and it is simply amazing... highly suggest using it for your UV needs for characters... 40 days usage and then you need to reinstall it...

www.uvlayout.com

[Meurig]

We use this at work and personally I don't like it - it encourages lazy UVing.

Over the past 8 months or so I've been doing a lot of texturing and since UVing is the modellers job I've been sent a lot of models that were unwrapped in UV layout and I had to re-do the Uving manually. When it relaxes shells it doesn't take straight lines into account which especially on hard surface models like buildings means you get big smooth shapes rather than sensibly laid out shells.

It's so much easier to click a button and have UV layout unwrap for you than to spend more time on it and think about laying things out sensibly. I'd use it for organic meshes sure, but for hard surface stuff I don't like it at all.

[Flashfire]

Totally agree! I would never dream of using it on hard surface... I wouldnt even use Roadkill for that (which has a hard surface unwrapper).... still for head models, it screams.

[Mikala]

I bought a license for this ages ago. I use it strictly for organics.
I never even thought about using it for hard surface stuff...why bother?

[bmckain]

As one who was UV challenged I'm a bit torn. While I can agree that learning to do your own UV logic is good for those who just don't get it I can see it being useful. Personally, I tend to be more of a use the tools that help you get the job done and hopefully somewhere along the way you'll come to a point where you understand it well enough to tackle it head on.

[CAClark]

I to would never have even thought of using headus for hard surface.... would be a pretty 'special' person that did I think. For character work, the latest version is pretty damned good by all accounts. Not for lazy folks at all.

Cheers!

[BillS]

You "can" use it for hard surface. Its still just basically the same as most other packages. Make your cut and split it off. Drop it in UV space and leave it alone there. The trouble comes if you want to or have to relax it. Then it can make a real mess that can take a lot of time to straighten out.

[CAClark]

ou 'can' use any tool for any purpose within some reason, doesn't mean it makes the most sense, specifically in the example of buildings.

Cheers!

[Kerem]

I once saw on a video that it laid out faces completely flat like planar mapping. Anyone knows which shortcut key to do that? Because of its weird interface I can't figure out anything myself.

[Mikala]

Hold your mouse cursor over the uv (once you have entered the UVsection of the program by selecting the UV button about middle of the interface on the left side.)and then hit "f" until it is as flat as you would like it.

[Afalk]

Looks like an interesting tool, esp for organics. I may give it a whirl, but in all honest the majority of my work is hard-surface modeling so given the comments, that whirl will most likely be a quick batch of tests, after all enver know when the demands of the clients will shift. Thanks for the heads up!

[Pete Paterson]

The new version [don't know if its just the pro ver or not] has some new tools for unwrapping hard surface models. Its under the 'Segment' tab and there is also the rectangle option for automatically unwrapping and keeping both interior and exterior edges parallel.

[BillS]

there is also the rectangle option for automatically unwrapping and keeping both interior and exterior edges parallel.

That one saves a TON of time.

[Pete Paterson]

That one saves a TON of time.

It does Bill, nice little addition.

[BruceyB]

I am not sure why everyone thinks that Headus is only good for organic models. I personally use it for unwrapping hard surface models all the time. There are various functions that flatten objects while preserving the straight edges.

[chikega]

This sample video from cg-masters.com shows Talon Toth unwrapping a hard-surface object (a gun) in the second half:

http://online.cg-masters.com/videos/introduction-to-uv-layout

[Pete Paterson]

This sample video from cg-masters.com shows Talon Toth unwrapping a hard-surface object (a gun) in the second half:

http://online.cg-masters.com/videos/introduction-to-uv-layout

Thanks for the link.