Looking for new UVer

[AverageJoe]

I am continually frustrated by the functionally retarted uv "system" that Lightwave has.
I was wondering if there was any third party plugins/scripts/applications that make uving actualy bareable with Lightwave. I'm a novice game developer and I can't do my job without the majikal world of uv and I can't get anything done with lightwave.

I have no problem at all with modeling (except no n-gon subd) and really just need easier uv tools. Please, any help is appreciated.

-Joe

[archimage3d]

http://www.polygonal-design.fr/e_unfold/index.php

[Aegis]

www.respower.com have a rather nifty plugin called Super/UV which I use all the time - it's more suited to hardbody stuff than organic shapes but still comes in very handy - the basic version is free but if you buy a full license you get access to a couple of useful extra features. Look in the "products" section.

[mkiii]

Admittedly, the UV mapper currently has a few problems especially when using it on very high polygon objects, but I have been using it on game models for years, more recently, characters, and it has certainly not hindered me. Compared to Max or Maya for example it is a breeze.

Maybe you are just trying to force modeler to UV map in the way you have been taught on another app rather than going with the flow?

[AverageJoe]

the biggest problem I have is making mechanical objects and how a vertice can't be located and operated in to different areas of the uv.
Like I said, I'm a novice and you have years of experience which clearly give you the upper hand. I don't have years to get used to it because every year a new modeler comes out and I have to up my ante...

I'll check out those links guys, again, thanks for all your help.

[mkiii]

Can you explain what you mean about not being able to locate / operate on vertices in to (2?) different areas of the UV?

Maybe there are some quick fixes or tools that you (or I) are unaware of that are already built in. Some of the menu layouts don't exactly thrust some of the more useful tools to the front do they.

On the subject of not having enough time because new modelers keep coming out??? Well I just don't get that. I have more or less stuck with LW Modeler since V4 appeared on PC. I have managed to avoid being sidetracked by other apps, apart from needing to use Max, Maya, and proprietry editors over the past few years.

Admittedly, I have recently toyed with XSI (which does have slightly better UV tools btw), but still find myself coming back to LW.

Admittedly, almost everyone else in my company uses Max, and I am currently forced to use Maya, but I do all the initial modelling in LW.

[AverageJoe]

Well maybe it's out of ignorance but I can't have two polygons seperate on the uvmap but joined on the mesh.

What I meant by new modelers coming out is that (just like your company) everybody is changing modelers all the time (everybody as in all the people I work with) and I can never get anything homogeneous.

[Dodgy]

In LW 8.3 you can use the FreeMove mode (the button located in the viewbar above a UVviewport) and then you can use the move or other tools to move polys away from each other in the UV view, while keeping them together in the model.

In LW's before this, you can unweld your points (ctrl-U) along which you wish the seam, then move the polys away from each other before merging the points back together.

[AverageJoe]

yeah I'm using 7 and about to upgrade to 8.5 (or whatever was the latest).
I'm upgrading now because by the time lw9 is out I'll be able to pay for the upgrades without worring about prices.

[Rory_L]

Not long ago Flay informed us of a plugin that toggled a vertex's 'live' UV, the editable one. This might be useful to someone still using LW7.

R