What does UV mean in textures?
The term “UV” refers to the bidimensional (2D) nature of the process: the letters “U” and “V” denote the axes of the 2D texture because “X”, “Y” and “Z” are already used to denote the axes of the 3D model. In this article, we’ll examine UV mapping techniques and the different types of textures.
Why is UV mapping?
The reason why a UV map is the glue between model and textures is that it’s not only the flattened and mapped topology of your model, it’s also the basis for your map bakes. This means you need to take your mapping into consideration as you model – bad UVs give bad bakes.
Do you need UV unwrapping to texture a model?
Even if you don’t intend to texture a model, many modern real time engines such as Unreal Engine 4 or Unity need your assets to be UV unwrapped to perform some of its light baking. Now that the basic concept of UV maps has been outlined we can dive into the more intermediate parts to UV unwrapping, namely seams.
What happens when you unwrapp a 3D mesh?
Another thing to consider when unwrapping your 3D mesh is overlapping UVs. Overlapping UVs are when you have two or more of the polygons in your UV map on top of one another. This means that these two parts of your model will display the same information of the texture as they both occupy the same UV space.
What are the seams in UV unwrapping?
Now that the basic concept of UV maps has been outlined we can dive into the more intermediate parts to UV unwrapping, namely seams. Seams are an unfortunate and unavoidable side effect of flattening any 3D geometry.
Do you have to open UV editor while unwrapping?
Keep The UV Editor Open While Unwrapping. Always keep the second viewport with the UV editor at hand, this way you’ll see exactly what happens when you unwrap (a part of) your mesh. You Don’t Have To Start With Seams. If you’re having trouble figuring out where the seams should go, don’t mark them.