SwiftUV - Automatic UVs for Autodesk Maya
DISCLAIMER:
- This tool has been designed to save time and immediately create most of the shells you need at a very high standard, that being said, like all Automatic UV algorithms, this is not perfect. There will be shells or areas around your model that you will still need to fix manually and in some situations, that might end up being most of the shells.
- This plug-in does NOT work well on organic assets.
- This plug-in works very well on low-poly hard surface assets.
"SwiftUV" is a plug-in for Autodesk Maya. It will automatically create UVs for your assets. The plug-in works based on geometry angle data and will create seams based on a pre-defined angle threshold.
Apart from cutting edges based on an angle, it was also specifically designed to recognise cylindrical shapes and create a single vertical seam around them for an optimal unfold.
After the seams have been created, the tool will automatically unfold all shells and lay them out inside of the 0-1 UDIM.
Install Instructions:
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1. Load Maya
2. Open the "Script Editor" window
3. Create a new Python tab by clicking on the plus sign and choosing "Python"
4. Drag and drop the "SwiftUV.py" file into it
5. Select all of the text you have pasted and create a Shelf button out of it. You can do this by dragging it onto the shelf by holding down the scrollwheel button.
How to use:
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- Make sure you have an object selected in Object Mode
- Click on the SwiftUV shelf button to run the script. This will unfold your mesh and create seams every time a 45 degree edge (or greater) is found
- Alternatively, you can open the custom options by Shift+Clicking the shelf button instead. This will allow you to unfold every 60 degrees or define a custom angle instead