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UV Toolkit v1.2#

What does it do#

Automates and simplifies aspects of the recurring UV unfold / layout process.

Interface#

Screenshot

Compatibility#

Maya 2017 2018 2019
✓ ✓ ✓

Installation#

  1. Copy UVToolkit.py and UVCheckerPattern_1K.tga to :

    \Users\USERNAME\Documents\maya\MAYAVERSION\prefs\scripts

    $HOME/maya/MAYAVERSION/prefs/scripts

    $HOME/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/MAYAVERSION/prefs/scripts

  2. Launch / Restart Maya

  3. In Maya, open a Python Tab in the Script Editor and execute :

    1
2
    import UVToolkit as UVKit
UVKit.MainClassUVKit()

    Warning

    Please make sure that there are no Space characters in front of the code lines.

Option Menus / Help Line#

  1. Option Menus can be accessed when you click on a button with the RMB 3.

    Note

    When a button features an Option Menu a little list icon appears next to the cursor.

    Screenshot

  2. The Help Line, along the bottom left of the Maya user interface, provides a short description of tools and menu items as you hover over them.

Tool Menu#

Info

The Tool menu is located in the top right corner of the toolkit.

  • Up arrow closes all tabs

  • Down arrow opens all tabs

  • UV Editor icon:

  • LMB1 : Opens the UV Editor

  • MMB2 : Opens the UV Set Editor

  • Stack icon opens a new window with information about the tool

Unfold Tab#

Unfold#

Info

Automatically cuts selected edges, unfolds (based on Unfold 3D) and packs the shells.

Screenshot

  1. Make a UV projection of your object.

    Tip

    For best results make a Camera instead of an orthographical (X, Y, Z) projection.

  2. Select your desired cutting edges.

  3. Click on Unfold to run the script.

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Cut selected edges
  • Pack shells

Gridify#

Info

Automatically unfolds cylindrical shapes based on a cutting edge selection.

Screenshot

  1. Make an edge selection on a cylindrical shape that serves as the cut line

  2. Click on Gridify to run the script

U / V#

Info

Unfolds UV selections horizontally, vertically or freely in both directions.

  1. Select UVs

  2. Choose an option from the Option Menu

  3. Click on U / V to run the script

    Tip

    Use the MMB 2 to pin the selected UVs during the unfold process.

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

MMB 2 : Pins selected UVs during unfold

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Horizontal
  • Vertical
  • Free

Projection#

Info

Create UV texture coordinates for the selected object using a planar projection shape.

  1. Choose an option from the Option Menu

  2. Click on Projection to run the script

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Camera
  • X
  • Y
  • Z

Layout Tab#

Layout#

Info

Automatically arranges objects UV shells and scales them uniformly.

Screenshot

Option to do it individually for every object.

Screenshot

  1. Select one or multiple objects.

  2. Set your options in the Option Menu.

  3. Click Layout to run the script

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Individual object

Shell rotation:

  • Free
  • 90 Degree
  • None

Grid Arrange#

Info

Arrange object's UV layouts in a grid.

Screenshot

Option to sort layouts based on their polygon count.

Screenshot

  1. Select one or multiple objects.

  2. Define your layout scale size within the MMB 2 menu.

  3. Set your options in the Option Menu.

  4. Click Grid Arrange to run the script

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

MMB 2 : Set layout scale size

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Sort by PolyCount

Stack#

Info

Stacks / overlaps object's UV layouts in the first UDIM, without changing the scale size.

Screenshot

Option to scale the layouts uniformly.

Screenshot

  1. Select multiple objects.

  2. Set your options in the Option Menu.

  3. Option to set a uniform scale size within the MMB 2 menu.

  4. Click on Stack to run the script.

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

MMB 2 : Set scale size

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Uniform scale

Spread#

Info

Distribute object's UV layouts based on an input value.

Screenshot

  1. Select multiple objects.

  2. Choose a direction from the Option Menu.

  3. Set a move value within the MMB 2 menu.

  4. Click on Spread to run the script.

Note

LMB 1 : Run script

MMB 2 : Set move value

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Right
  • Left
  • Up
  • Down

Rotate#

Info

Rotate UV shells clockwise or counterclockwise.

Screenshot

Option to rotate each shell individually.

Screenshot

  1. Select UV shells

  2. Set your options in the Option Menu.

  3. Click on Rotate to run the script

Tip

If Individual Shell is checked, select only 1 UV from every target shell.

Note

LMB 1 : Rotate clockwise

MMB 2 : Rotate counterclockwise

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

  • Individual shell

Rotation value

  • 15
  • 45
  • 90

Checker Pattern#

Info

Creates a shader with a custom checker pattern texture (texture map size is 1K).

Screenshot

Useful to check if your UVs are properly unfolded, oriented and equal in size.

  1. LMB 1 click on Create / Del creates the shader

    • MMB 2 click on Create / Del deletes the shader

  2. Select one or multiple objects

  3. LMB 1 click on Un / Assign assigns the shader

    • MMB 2 click on Un / Assign unassigns the shader

  4. Choose your texture size:

    • 1K
    • 2K
    • 4K
    • 8K
    • 16K
    • 32K

Scale Tab#

Equalizer#

Info

Match your object's UV layout scale to the size of a specified source.

Screenshot

  1. Select your source object

  2. Click on Set source to define the scale reference

    • The text area below displays the current source object

  3. Select one or multiple target object(s)

  4. Click on Equalize to match the scale size

Local Scale#

Info

Scale multiple UV shells at their individual center point.

Screenshot

  1. Select 1 UV from every target shell

  2. Click on Start to launch the interactive scale process

  3. Use the Slider to scale the UV shells

  4. Click on Done to finish the process

UV Transfer#

Info

Transfer UV layouts from source to target objects.

Screenshot

  1. Set one or multiple source objects

  2. Set one or multiple target objects

    Note

    If you have multiple source objects, the script will copy

    from source 1 to target 1

    from source 2 to target 2

    and so on, until there are no sources left.

  3. Set your options in the Option Menu. (RMB 3 click on Copy button)

  4. Click on Copy to run the script

Note

Copy Button

LMB 1 : Run script

RMB 3 : Option Menu

Option Menu options:

Sample Space

  • Topology
  • World
  • Local
  • Component

Layout Scope

  • All
  • Current

Footnotes#

  1. LMB - Left Mouse Button ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. MMB - Middle Mouse Button ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. RMB - Right Mouse Button ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩