8

868 Chapter 8: Modifiers
Open UVW mapping edges (seams) shown on geosphere in
viewport
What ’s New in Unwra p UV W
In 3ds Max 8, the Unwrap UVW modifier has
been substant ially modified to provide enhanced
workflow and new features. Improvements
include:
•
Pelt mapping is useful for mapping organic
models such as characters and creatures. This
feature gives you a special editor with a virtual
stretcher and springs that let you easily “pull”
a complex UVW map flat. The result more
closely approximates the actual shape of the
object than other mapping methods, making it
easier to create convincing texture maps.
•The
Render UVW Template tool (page 1–896)
outputs a bitmap of the UVW wireframe
that you can import into a paint program for
creating the texture map.
• The modifier now has the same select ion of
sub-object levels as the editor: Vertex, Edge,
and Face. Choosing a level in one activates
thesamelevelintheother. Also,sub-object
selections are now automatically synchronized
between the editor and the viewp orts, so
that the editor options Sync To Viewp ort
and Highlight Selected Verts are no longer
necessary and have b een eliminated.
• The modifier has inherited a number of
additional mapping types from the UVW Map
modifier. In addition to planar, you can now
apply cylindrical, spherical, and box mapping
to objects and face selections within Unwrap
UVW. You can a lso align the mapping gizmo
manually or with any of a number of different
procedural methods.
• The editor’s Relax function has been enhanced
to make it easier to remove distortion and
overlapping faces.
• The editor now has a built-in, background
checker texture, optionally v iewable on the
object in the viewp orts, to a id in correcting
distorted mapping coordinates.
• A new editor Zoom option lets you zoom to
the extents of all clusters with any selected
sub-objects.
• New editor options let you select any
overlapping faces and display edge distortion;
that is, texture edges that are significantly
longer or shorter than their corresponding
geometry edges.
• Thetexturelistintheeditorcannowholdan
unlimited number of maps, and provides new
commands for managing the list.
• The editor provides new snapping options.
• The editor can display the number of selected
sub-objects. This option is available as an
Unw rap UVW shortcut (page 3–954) as Show
Subobject Counter .
Self-Contained Ma pper and UV W
Coordi nate Edi tor
Rather than creat ing a large modifier stack by
first making a sub-object selection of faces and
then adding a UVW Map modifier to spe cify the
type of mapping, you can use the Unwrap UVW