UV mapping basics l uv mapping explained

3d modeling and animation is all fun and games till you realize that you have to go through a process called uv unwrapping i don't think a lot of 3d artists like it but it has to be done for the most part basically uv mapping is the translation of three-dimensional surfaces into two-dimensional coordinate system of flat bitmap images remember when we were kids trying to make a cube out of a cardboard you would draw the cube on the cardboard and fold it up to take the shape of a cube well uv mapping is exactly like that you are trying to wrap your texture which is a 2d image on a three-dimensional object eliminating any stretching or distortion that might occur in the process and today we're gonna try to talk about uvs in general and make them simple as possible we're gonna answer questions such as why you need uvs why they are important best practices when dealing with them and what uvs are used for for the most part now if you are seasoned 3d artists you might be shaking your head right now thinking uvs are just uvs right you need uvs to texture your models but for the 15 years old of me who just picked up a 3d software i was confused i was confused as to why i need to cut my objects into those transparent shells and why are my texture is moving when i move those islands turns out uvs are not just floating transparent islands they are the 2d texture coordinates that are directly linked to your 3d model geometry the letters u and v denote the two dimensional axes of the texture so going back to our unfolded box each shot or island would represent a face in our cube that's why uv maps are essential because they serve as a bridge between your 3d model and actual textures and you can do this for proper texture projection thus better overall results usually whenever a 3d model is created the software itself generates an automatic uv map for it but these maps are only made for primitive shapes the more complex the model gets the more stress and deform the uvs get and that's why we need the process of uv unwrapping to make it look correct uv mapping or unwrapping is the process done either manually by an artist or automatically or sometimes a combination of both 3d software such as blender maya 3ds max or cinema 4d have more of a defined and friendly approach towards the process of unwrapping these software basically have all the tools and techniques needed to properly map your uvs and there is also an automatic option to project your uvs into your 3d model in addition to that there are a lot of third-party developers who have a lot of add-ons that can help you make the process much easier and much faster uv unwrapping is mainly used for one purpose which is translating your 3d mesh into a 2d flat representation thus allowing you to texture and paint over your mash for example in video games graphical fidelity is improved exponentially since the medium's conception texture resolution for instance played a huge role in elevating the game's graphics to a higher level although this is not the only factor being able to display higher resolution textures on your models meant a higher level of detail that wasn't achievable till just a few years ago with the next-gen consoles and pc gaming hardware introducing new games also opened the 243 artist to venture outside the zero to one limited space now they can utilize almost unlimited texture space to achieve a higher graphical fidelity although using a lot of udims has its drawn backs and shortcomings especially in gaming as it often gets bottlenecked by the performance and optimization that the developers are forced to stay under but hopefully this will not be the case anymore with the epics unreal engine technology and we have seen this clearly in the matrix demo which gives us a lot of hope for the future in vfx however it is industry standard to rely on very high resolution textures to achieve ideal visuals nonetheless these high fidelity textures would amount to nothing inflate on the poorly projected uvs or used with the wrong textile density many uvs and textures complete each other for vfx artists minimizing the graphics and visual output of their shots is the most important thing because they aren't down by performance limitation however from a performance standpoint sometimes using new dims could be more viable as using 4 4k textures much more efficient than using one big 16k texture if you are interested in learning more about 3d modeling and animation i recommend you try skillshare it is a learning platform that has thousands of classes on a variety of different topics if you want to learn more about blender maya max or cinema 4d in addition to software such as after effects or anything related to design and creativity it got you covered for example if you want to learn about game engines such as unreal or unity you can find a lot of classes that can help you do that step by step for example this class called unreal engine 4 intro to game design will teach you how you can set up a project build a level work with materials particles sounds and script gameplay after taking this 11 hour class you'll be able to create your own video game with characters and environments and the good thing is it is very affordable because you just need to pay less than 10 dollars per month to get access to all these fantastic classes if you are interested you will find the necessary link in the description unlike the vfx and gaming industry that requires a great amount of work and attention to uvs architectural visualization does not have that as much of course if you don't want to since architectural visualization is only depicting of certain designs and buildings in addition to interior design and furniture usually they are created to show clients what the final result is going to look like overall they do not require any sort of advanced texturing techniques such as making maps onto the mesh or complicated painting software to make every inch look crazy detailed like in the fx projects this is the case if you want to keep things simple and quick but if you want to take this to the next level sure you can unwrap all your assets and buildings if you need a higher level of fidelity now i'm going to talk about some good practices when you get wrapping and these are the important things to keep in mind lessen the visible seams of your uv layout by handing them almost visible areas of your mesh you can also maximize the service occupied by your uvs and you can do that on your udemy last but not least you have to perfectly straighten and perfectly flatten as much as possible of your uv layout so what are you dims a udem is an offset grid that designate an image onto a very specific uv tile simply told a udim is a way to expand your uv area beyond the zero to one space so instead of being restricted to one uv this gives you a lot of flexibility over your uvs in addition to advanced optimization also variation of resolution on different tiles using multiple uds is surely an expansion more like for the room for different parts of your complex 3d model that you would like to maximize the quality of they may not seem that important but they matter seams are the part where the ends of the uvs are sewn together and they are the edges of each cut of uv since by definitions are lined between two pieces of fabric or things that are sewn together while uv seams are rather similar since our uvs are cut scaled rotated and flattened and edges of these separate parts are clearly visible especially on meshes textures and that's what uv seams are textile density is the texture's native resolution compared to the mesh's actual real-life scale it is more of a ratio between the texture resolution and the 3d model wheel size that must be taken into consideration for the uniform output quality for instance the playstation 5 and xbox series x a good rule of thumb is to have 512 pixels per meter for most things sometimes taking it up to 1024 pixels per meter for objects very close up to the camera such as a first person shooter weapon i hope you found this video useful if you did please give it a thumbs up you can also check some of our previous videos thank you very much for watching and i'll see you in the next one

Channel: InspirationTuts

Views: 65,433

Keywords: Uv mapping, Uv unwrapping, 3D, 3D art, 3d modeling, Uvs, uv island, udims, uv seems, texel density, Uv concepts, Uv unwrapping rules, uv mapping explained, uv mapping blender, uv mapping definition, uv mapping software, uv mapping best practices, uv mapping basics, uv mapping complex models

Id: MNaqB_z03Pk

Length: 8min 27sec (507 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 03 2022