worldSpaceUVLine 2.2.0 for Maya (maya script)

command: worldSpaceUVLine

history: v 2.2, command has been extensively used on larger productions and on average saves about 80% UV layout time for traditional POLY shell UV editing over the last 24 months.

function: arranges (lays out) UV's along a single polyUV line with relative spacing as the CV's have in worldspace. It eliminates tecture stretching along those lines.  functionally the script arranges the UV's in UV space with a spacing that is either normalised between 0-1 or scaled relative to worldspace.  So essentially for each UV it measures the distance to the next CV on the selected line and places the corresponding UV at the same distance (or scaled/normalised) in UV space.  This eliminates texture stretching and can create perfectly aligned UV's acros such difficult areas such as wrists and necks. Pelting came out at the same time, and is great but its not always very intuitive for painting textures on or aligning seams across UV borders.

usage: select a single line of polyEdges or UV's along a line that is as straight as possible along one plane (pody center line for example) and select the direction you want the UV' sto be arranged in in the UI. Then select inverse UV's on the shell and use UnfoldUV to quickly create minimal stretched UV's on the rest of teh shell.

Tip: use relative spacing with a scale of 0.1 works very well and allows for correct relative spacing of different lines on a surface for non-stretched/scaled seems along boundaries.

Limitations in v 2.2: only single lines will work, no multiple lines are processed yet.

Known issues: sometimes the UV lines are arranged in the incorrect direction in relation to the rest of the shell UV's. Workaround: simply rotate the line by 180 degrees.

demo video for usage will be posted on the website in February 2007.

send feedback and reprot bugs or feature requests to tylney@bold-vfx.com

Thanks & have fun

Tylney Taylor