Intro to UV Mapping
The gateway to beautiful textures.
UV mapping is the second most powerful tool in your arsenal for creating amazing game art, right behind 3d modeling itself.
It is a method of converting your three dimensional mesh into a flat two dimensional space - and once we have done that, THEN we can create our 2D textures.
Put another way, it is a "Map" from the 3D XYZ space, into 2D UV space
U and V are used simply because the letters X and Y are often already in use by the 3d side of things, but they are completely analogous to X and Y coordinates in a 2D space.
It is also often called an Unwrap, or Unwrapping, because conceptionally we are unfolding our mesh from 3D down into a 2D flat surface.
The flat shapes you see between the knights are the Unwrap (UV Map) itself.
We conceptualize this process as "unfolding" the object, like so:
Our goal will be to mark edges with "Seams" such that a pair of "Digital Scissors" can "snip" them open, which will naturally allow the shape to unfold.
Here, I have marked these "Seams" in red:
You can sort of imagine how that if this cube was made of a soft material like cloth, by "cutting" these seams here, it would naturally fall open and flatten into a cross like shape.
This is conceptually how I want you to picture this problem in your mind, as we get into unwrapping now:
Part 1 - Basics
Part 2 - Packing
✨Homework✨
You will be unwrapping the following toy Castle:
Make sure no UV Islands overlap, and that they all exist within the 0-1 UV space.
Ensure that the Islands have average scales, minimal stretching, and use as little seams as you can.
When you do use seams, try to "hide" them in crevices and other difficult to find places.
If you're a mentee of mine, please have the file handy so that we can review next time we chat.
— CASTLE FILE NOT YET PROVIDED —
OLD HOMEWORK FILE:
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