Top Tips for Improving Your UVs in Maya

In this Maya video tutorial, we cover our top tips for improving your UV mapping in Maya 2018. These tips can really speed up your UV workflow in bigger and smaller ways.
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[@walleater]

Guys. I can't stress enough how much you've helped me throughout my carrier and life. I've been following you since I started 3D back in 2015 I think and I watch all of your videos to this day. I'm actually find myself rewatching a lot of your stuff on background while I'm working cause sometimes your videos are like really pleasant podcasts with people I really like and TONS of information. This is not the first time I express my gratitude like this, but if this somehow helps or inspires you to create more, I can go on and on for days. Once again, you guys are lifesavers.

[@MaximumFloof]

I've been modeling for 5 years now. Every damn time I watch one of your videos, I learn something I didn't know. Thank you so much for your amazing work!

[@FlippedNormals]

That's awesome :D We're happy to hear that.

[@kv7164]

This is by far the best channel, somehow you make all the right videos i need to see.

[@PoseidonArts]

Been using Maya since the 2015 version and wow they have improved their UV tools! It is just so much easier to work with than the earlier versions.

[@-SANDMAN-]

I graduated with a Bachelors in Illustration from Ringling College of Art & Design in 2012 and have been trying to bridge the gap into 3D modeling and texturing (hopefully for gaming. Got my hands on a cheap full version of Maya 2013 back in that year as well as the ZBrush version of that time and took a stab at UV editing...nightmare. Enter 2018: ZBrush 2018 and month-to-month subscription to MayaLT and OMG, workflow of modeling in Zbrush > retop to obj > Maya UV > > save out obj with UVs attached back into ZBrush > paint UV snapshot in Photoshop and apply texture back into ZBrush and VOILA!....and thanks in part to you guys, this week, I completed my first hi rez Zbrush character model with hi rez detailing and tatoos. Amazing: Maya has done a 180 degree turn since 2013 in the UV editing department. Thanks again!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks awesome to hear :D 3D is very different these days compared to 2012, where I feel it's a lot more artistic now. Please show us some of your sculpts, if you want to share :) /Henning

[@Spyro_76]

Thanks so much! I knew about straighten uv but didn't realise what straighten shell did. I always fought with the uvs to straighten them properly.. Thanks again

[@tylerbeaumont]

I never knew about that cut tool, I’ve always cut my UVs by highlighting edges!!! How have I never seen that?! All the features in this video is stuff I wish I knew years ago, massive thanks for making my job that little bit easier as always

[@TheLink0611]

Thank you so much. I'm participating in the artstation challenge and was dreading the UVing but those tools make the process so much easier

[@FlippedNormals]

Glad to help! Best of luck with the artstation challenge, mate :)

[@toddlawrimore3577]

As usual, great work. Thank you for sharing.

[@jakesnake1793]

Awesome video, accidentally found it right as I happened to be creating a UV layout. I ended up with a quick and clean layout as a result!

[@product_six8569]

Gosh, i would love to come work with you guys...that automatic cut tool is amazing. Been using Maya since 2007 and this has been my most challenging task...

[@malek3dartist96]

This channel is very special in youtube ,very good information and i love this 2 guy is taking .it is nice that your friend work in the same filed

[@cang34]

Amazing tips, thanks guys!

[@stuartfraney4969]

Great Stuff, didn't realise UV Layout had improved so much in Maya. Great example, expertly told.

[@tlilmiztli]

2021 - still crazy useful!

[@Homan99]

Thank you for the helpful advice on this.

[@rebecaperezlazabrosa]

The best tutorial!!!! Thanks

[@m0rph3u5.]

Another great video.. Thanks alot.. I am still using the Maya 2015 techniques lol - up until now

[@lockenessmotorsports818]

Thanks for this one, these videos are really becoming top notch

[@FlippedNormals]

Very much appreciated, thank you! :D

[@TheRealGreeble]

I think straighten shell just saved my UV hell! Great tips guys!

[@FlippedNormals]

It's amazing!

[@i20010]

Very helpful!! Thanks!

[@PieroStuff]

Yes! Do more about UVs please!

[@Kinkoyaburi]

Very helpful and good tips, will use, thanks!

[@kw-bc4ql]

You guys are awesome!! I learn so much!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks a lot!

[@CoolSmek]

Cool! Reminds me of Blender's uv tools which are actually very good and fast. At least now I know if I ever have to use Maya at a job or studio, I can rely on some decent uv tools. Thanks!

[@mikkelmelby]

switched to maya the past days after 10 months in max learning... Maya ftw :'D

[@LadyGrace2]

Thank you for this video. Been looking for a video that covers some of the UV tools in Maya as i had no clue how to use them properly at all since the update. I hope you are able to do a more detailed one and possibly supply some of the .obj to follow along with one time :). Thank you again for your amazing and helpful videos

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you! We'll be doing more UV videos in the future. The tools in Maya are so good now. Good idea! We'll see if we can supply some of the files for future videos.

[@bao007fei]

Cool tricks, never notice them before. Thanks guys.

[@FlippedNormals]

They are really well hidden :D

[@preza]

Hi from Brazil. It's is amazing to follow your videos, tips and materials!!! Tk you very much!!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks Luiz from Brazil! Happy to hear that you like our work :)

[@wadalapichu4873]

wooow, really nice tips, i cant believe i didnt knew the last one, it could have saved me a lot of time jaja, thanks!!:)

[@StuartWilson4d]

Wow! You all are amazing! If you all have or plan to make a video on uv mapping figures and full bodies would be extraordinarily fantastic!

[@FlippedNormals]

Hey Stuart. Thanks a lot! :) That's something we actually cover in our latest premium tutorial. flippednormals.com/products/how-to-retopologize-a-full-character/

[@OneImmortalStudios]

I think a UV layout fundamentals tutorial would be a good idea for a video. I always feel like I could improve my UVs some how, or that there is something that I'm doing that's not quite right, even though they get the job done.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thats actually a really good idea! We can do that. Thanks for the suggestions, mate! Appreciated.

[@MysticalGaming]

Having come from the old Maya unwrapping days this is definitely better. I still prefer using 3D Coat's new UV unwrapping system these days though. Its so fast and easy I almost spend no time unwrapping my models anymore and it feels like cheating lol.

[@damianhernandez6189]

Thank you so much

[@ETYKOOL]

I thought i knew my stuff but you guys keep making me realise im doing things wrong! Ty

[@FlippedNormals]

Ahh, I love that feeling :D Happy to help. /H

[@MuazzamShahzad]

You guys are awesome

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks mate!

[@matmachina]

oh yeaaah! I remember all the rage while UVing in Maya at school. One of the main reasons I swapped to Max!

[@FlippedNormals]

It used to be terrible - then they improved it drastically. It's so good now.

[@matmachina]

Therefore, I will be getting back into Maya and learning Arnold starting NOW!!

[@Remi97]

Thanks for the tips)

[@sanjeez103]

Cool ... Thanks for sharing

[@VitorGuerreiroVideos]

that stitching brush looks amazing! I usually use 3D-Coat for UVs and Blender for touch ups. Did you guys hear about 3D-Coat voxel sculpting, retopo and Uv mapping tools? it's widely used in the games industry as far as I know, and it's quite an impressive tool for what it does and its price tag :) There's this guy "Anton T" on youtube that has some nice tricks using 3d-coat for concept art, if anyone is interested. Any way, as an ex-Maya user (haha) it's nice to see they've finally implemented nightshade in there, god their UV tools were so poor :P

[@MysticalGaming]

3D Coat is all I use for unwrapping, baking, and painting these days. Would be cool if they did several videos on 3D Coat's tools.

[@NsanePixel]

Thought you would touch on the 3D cut and sew UV tool added to Maya 2018. Thanks for showing me where the straighten unfold was. That one will really help.

[@FlippedNormals]

Happy to help!

[@cetriuolo]

Thank you very much

[@sean8306]

Nice - thank you

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers! :)

[@parsakh4452]

thanksssss guys i wish i saw this before

[@shoonpyae2583]

thank you soooo much

[@Encoof]

uvlayout was made in 90's.... 1890! lel

[@BadMouseRM]

Very cool tips, wondering if is any default tool in Maya to straight a UV Shell that been previously rotated? Like select 2 UVs and Align vertically or horizontally the whole UV Shell. Thanks

[@EJtheArtist]

is there a way to keep mirrored shells together in maya when you use the layout tool?

[@romanwaowski6260]

Thanks!

[@FlippedNormals]

Cheers Roman!

[@blankslateanimationllc9800]

Awesome sauce

[@NENErdene]

Thanks for the great Tutorials i think your tutorials are becoming really polished lately! Maybe you should update the UDIM and Mari tutorials to be more in depth because i found them really general and shallow but anyways great tutorials! keep it coming

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you! What would you like to see from us regarding UDIMs and Mari? :)

[@NENErdene]

i’m sorry if im wrong i might have forgotten a bit from those 2 videos but i felt it was like a what is udim rather than how to create udims and for mari maybe a how to create realistic skin texture? Thank you for your reply

[@ZhengYuanz]

Hey , FlippedNormals.. does the uv edtior > Transform > Map Size which the default is 512 ... affect the texture? when i import a 4k texture from substance painter to Maya

[@nigelsmith7717]

NICE!!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks!

[@akahaywayal9058]

Cut tool and Sew tool was cool...:)

[@FlippedNormals]

It's amazing!

[@sudharsansuresh170]

instant like!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you!

[@ryansylke6]

Great Video! I know you guys usually work in Maya, but it would be awesome to see this type of video for 3ds Max's UV Tools.

[@rKringtonezone]

I have model and I want to uv's that model but don't know where to start UV . so any video for this????????

[@oppsdoll3891]

how did you cut the shirt up??? when I cut something up I made from marvelous designer it unfolds in alot of pieces and it does not look like what you here in the video

[@xNIMZx1]

As someone that's been using uv layout for like 6+ years this is great. I still prefer uv layouts visual representation of everything though. Also I always did the majority of my cutting in 3d view is that an option in maya 2018? I'm still using 2016 because 2017 was POS

[@kehlercreations]

xNIMZx1 3D UV cutting and sewing is possible in Maya, yes

[@ave1996]

How do you use UV Sets of Maya 2018 in Arnold Shader?

[@izeta3d]

This is probably your best video guys hahaha

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks :D

[@RSSpeacemaker]

How do I execute UV layout command WITHOUT unstacking my stacked UVs? I would like to to only use Maya for both modeling and unwrapping, but I fail to see why I would not just use 3D Coat.

[@hancysujay4758]

Thank you for all the great content

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you so much! :) We can look into it! Do game engines support UDIMs today?

[@hancysujay4758]

FlippedNormals Not exactly a model that holds UDIMS but we break meshes and have their border edges share the same normals(average normals) to hide the seam. This gives the same benefits to the model(higher resolutions in desired places).

[@nothankyoutube]

You mention a "scale cube", what is how can I use that?

[@EJtheArtist]

Does 3D max have similar tools/features?

[@stanbrown3839]

How would you compare the Maya 2018 UV workflow compared to 3D Coat? Great vid btw!

[@FlippedNormals]

We aren't actually that familiar with 3D Coat, so it's hard to compare. That said, the tools in 2018 are great!

[@AndraAhi]

Maya 2018 killed any 3rd party uv software for me. Not bad for me though.

[@FlippedNormals]

Yes indeed, it's a massive improvement!

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

My teacher showed us to UV by using projection planes. For everything. I wish I had had a decent teacher, then maybe I'd actually consider using Maya.

[@FlippedNormals]

Ha! Brings me back - my teacher did the same. Turns out, unfolding is pretty great.

[@mono24]

is there a way to get access to this awesome looking shirt model? :)

[@MR3DDev]

Big question. You guys work a lot in film, is unwrapping a something you usually do to your models? I ask this because my old 3d modelling profesor use to say "I do 3d work for motion graphics so I do not have to worry about unwrapping, that is only for games"

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

TechYK Sounds like your professor didn't know what he was talking about.

[@FlippedNormals]

Wait, wait, wait - your professor said you dont have to unfold for films? Well, how do I put this... that's .... wrong :D We definitely unfold and have super tight uvs for movies. Literally nobody who knows anything about film production would debate that.

[@-SANDMAN-]

I think if your professor said "motion graphics", he may have been creating 2D graphcs that 'mimic' 3D but he was not making usable objects in 3D space. RCAD has a Bachelors in "Motion Graphics" and the definition of that term has always appeared to me as more akin to something like Graphic Design except with 2D motion which gets TONS of use on screen for ads, commercials, etc.

[@MR3DDev]

Nah, he meant 3D stuff. He said for his work in C4D he does not need to unwrap but I always wonder if that was true for most things that are not game

[@MR3DDev]

Thanks. It does make sense

[@OneAndOnlyShak]

What are your thoughts on Unfold3D/RizomUV?

[@FlippedNormals]

Looks fantastic - though Im unsure if its worth having a separate UV application, unless you're doing UVs a lot. For most people, the tools in Maya are probably plenty.

[@vectorworks2012]

I have a 2k map size and work in m for Maya to Unity. The models are large so the texel density is small. Any ideas as ideally I want a texel/px ratio of 5.12 but with buildings/houses it's not possible - thanks

[@HoboHero]

Answer is: tiling textures

[@vectorworks2012]

Thanks but I am not sure that Unity supports UDIM if thats what you mean -thx

[@HoboHero]

It's UDK/UE4 but principles the same kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpvYcoOBqZt3eKc kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpy8Zatpea6AaK8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWWyl6amaN15otE kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKe4l6WvbMx-rLc and google "vertex painting/texture blending"

[@AJUKking]

What's so bad about non manifold geometry?

[@amey_1337]

What counts as non-manifold geometry... Poles, N-gons, Floating Vertices, Normals not conformed, etc. ?

[@FlippedNormals]

You can find some great examples of non-manifold geo here. Essentially, it's geo which cant exist in real life as it breaks the laws of physics. help.autodesk.com/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/images/GUID-7368F973-3DE2-4763-BAE2-0250359B7BCF.png

[@TheLillianYoung]

How does Maya's updated UV compare to Rixom UV in your (or anyone reading this) opinion?

[@FlippedNormals]

I've actually never heard of Rixom, so I have no way to compare them. That said, Maya is pretty solid today for UVs. /H

[@TheLillianYoung]

Oops. I meant Rizom :)

[@Julian-xo7vj]

Hi everyone I was wondering if anybody could point me in the direction on some info about creating uvs and textures for 300dpi large format prints? Doesn't seem to be much around on the topic. Cheeers:)

[@WoofDaLock]

Could you guy possibly do a video about UV mapping again but instead of the tools talk more about how you go through the unwrap process, like where you decide to make your cuts and how you decide the layout in grid?

[@FlippedNormals]

You mean like this? :D kzbin.info/www/bejne/q364gpiCiNmXps0

[@WoofDaLock]

Why thank you lol

[@irkendragon]

Maya's organic unfolding is still bad, was hoping for some tips on how to better relax those kinds of objects.

[@Hydr312]

How I create UV sets ?

[@Sean-fs1sg]

For some reason even the simplest of shells (two rows of quads with a slight curve) do not work with straighten shell 90% of the time in my experience. I usually have to literally drag polys around and basically straighten it myself 0_0

[@s1nontribes]

Omg the sew tool is fasttttt @_@

[@FlippedNormals]

It's so good! :D

[@feistyferret7299]

It's not so fast when you are working with 500k + poly models of various vehicles, I'll tell you that much. :) Other than that, It's fucking fantastic compared to what it was 3-4 years ago. :>

[@1Caio2perez3]

Have you guys try the new Unfold3D VS 2018 ?

[@FlippedNormals]

No, not yet - but it looks amazing! Look a bit like Headus UV Layout - but with a good UI :D

[@1Caio2perez3]

It got some awesome features and is very easy to use! (some tutorials on the company channel)

[@clusterxfanclub9443]

I am not found this options on my Maya how can i do that??

[@FlippedNormals]

Make sure the GPU plugin is loaded :)

[@edwinter4816]

Ps: So sad for not having a Monday video u.u But I know the wait will with it ;)

[@FlippedNormals]

New video coming out today with an exciting announcement :D

[@Dumbanana00]

Yey, slowly switching from Headus UV Layout to Maya 2017+ UV tools! Didn't know about Cut Open Ratio, was really annoying me before. Thanks for these great quick tips! Also, I've only watched this and haven't tried it out, but maybe you guys could do a rundown of it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGO0p5Sgmat7m9U

[@edwinter4816]

Duuuude! I was an autodesk guy since 2014 and it was so awful UV tools it just make this relaxing process a pain. Now days is more a fun task to do (I guess) Im currently working with Blender and I need to say it. I fill both of them have super similar tools, not saying That ¨Blender add it first¨ but, I just want the persons to know that this Open source guys has pro tools too that maya took 4 years to buy ( or develop in the best cases) Just my humble opinion here without any intention to create conflict between autodesk and blender users

[@RyoMassaki]

No it doesn't have the same amount and functionality of "pro tools" as Maya has. The Unwrapping algorithm is worse and there are a lot of functions which are simply not there in Blender, even if you boost the vanilla program with the tex tools plugin. While Blender is superfast, it doesn't come close in terms of quality of the end result. Packing, Smoothing, Aligning, Unwrapping is all better in Maya. Which in the end makes Maya a faster and more comfortable solution for Unwrapping.

[@aleph-tav]

What up tool you using for Blender?

[@edwinter4816]

RyoMassaki yup after testing a bit maya after this video I can see now Blender needs to improve but still being a nice tool if you wanna do freelance without any comercial license

[@edwinter4816]

Frosty Dog default Blender un tools and texture atlas Does are my main waifus

[@RyoMassaki]

For sure, i am using Blender myself and i love how fast it is. Muscle memory FTW. I also wouldn't mind spending less money on software. I like Maya, but i HATE Autodesk for killing off XSI and their fucking greedy price politics.

[@AJ-ot9gz]

not super nice uvs are ok for rocks and trees? Those deserve better uvs than characters!!! common!, btw environment artist here ;)

[@FlippedNormals]

Haha, fair point! Let us rephrase: You can get away with shady UVs for background props and such. For hero foreground work, definitely do your UVs well :D

[@ronak8637]

Max had better uving it was very easy

[@vitaly9]

Who is disliking this?

[@darijozivkovic7931]

UV Mapping was terrible, Retopology was terrible. Jesus this software cost almost 4K and what you got is a half product, and total shit.