Quick and Easy Trim Sheet UV Mapping Tips -Trim Texture Tutorial Part 4

In this video I show my 2 main UV unwrapping techniques I use when mapping my trim sheets onto my 3d models, hope this speeds up your workflow!
Part 1 - Planning Trims: • Planning & Creating Tr...
Part 2 - Sculpting in Zbrush: • Sculpting Trim Sheets ...
Part 3 - Substance Painter: • Trim Sheets in Substan...
The original trim texture overview video: • TRIM TEXTURE TUTORIAL ...
My Free UE4 Lighting Presets: • UNREAL ENGINE 4 LIGHTI...
Gumroad Trim Example Files (50% off sale) : gumroad.com/l/Trims/trims50
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[@PolygonAcademy]

Heads up, all the example files are 50% off for the next 48 hours : gumroad.com/l/Trims/trims50

[@m0rph3u5.]

I don't need the example files as you made it very clear in those tutorials, but I am getting them mainly to support your awesome channel .. thanks again mate ;)

[@PolygonAcademy]

@@m0rph3u5. thank you so much, I really appreciate the support :D

[@Eu.Claire]

@@PolygonAcademy Hello i have a question, do trim sheets offer any advantage over shared samplers?

[@idk-fb1ij]

But why there no talk at texel density is it not important for game assets 🤔

[@mashonoid]

You just released a 100$ worth of content for free. Thank you so much sir.

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :)

[@lhmsc]

For Blender users: You can select the whole loop, press U for the UV menu and select 'follow active quads' to get an instant even stripe. Btw thanks for the amazing tutorials, I'm learning a lot with your channel!

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome, thanks for sharing the info for blender peeps! cheers!

[@marknutt8370]

You can also use the UV Squares addon.

[@vn2025]

For some reason that option did make an even stripe but it stretched my faces vertically even though the mesh was properly scaled. Not a big deal since I can easily squash them back down but would know why did that happen. Thanks for the tip btw!

[@Izaharry]

@@vn2025 It helps to make the 'active' (or last selected face) into the shape you want the rest to follow. -i.e. if it's a square they'll all be squares.

[@vn2025]

​@@Izaharry Thanks, I lately figured this out, too, didn't realize that before. :)

[@StylizedSchools]

So hard to find quality tutorials on youtube with environment stuff at a AAA standard. These videos are golden, please keep them coming!

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks for the kind words! I want to create the content I wish i could find back when I was learning, it was a struggle!

[@SimplyCrazySid]

This was time well spent. Absolutely loved this series. It's like netflix releasing all the episodes at once of a series you really wanted to watch. Had a great time learning this whole process. Thanks a lot for the awesome content! Cheers.

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks! appreciate the love :)

[@Spyro_76]

Maya users: The way I get straight UVs is this: 1) Unfold as you normally would. 2) Make sure to have an edgeloop running down the length of the curved shell that you want to straighten. (you could delete it afterwards if you don't need it) Select this loop and find the "Straighten Shell" option in the UV toolkit under the unfold tab. 3) That should get you almost there. Select the uv's of the shell and select "Straighten UVs". Sometimes you need to mess around with which edge you use to straighten the shell. I think this method is quite fast and the Maya does the work for you :)

[@Spyro_76]

If your shell is almost straight already, you can skip the Straighten Shell step and just select the UVs and use Straighten UVs. Another nice option to mess around with is the "Unfold Along U or V" option.

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome thanks for the tips! im sure it will help the maya users on the channel!

[@Spyro_76]

I hope so :)

[@angiemon897]

Thanks for the tip, but that sadly didn't work for me :( If I add an Edgeloop inside of the ring (I just used the pipe primitive for testing purposes :)) select it and then hit "Straighten Shell" all it does is this weird bug(?) where it minimized the whole shell to a tiny dot that becomes unscale & -editable (btw, wtf is that even about? Hate when that happens, thank god it can be fixed with a simple UV projection, but still, wtf) What I managed to do without much hassle was to make a cylindrical projection, which then made the strip a line, but I then selected the edges in the viewport and moved those up inside of the UV editor (which also moved them on the bordering shell of course, but that was the best I could achieve without having to "handcraft" the UVs ^^) And all did in the pipe primitive, so no idea how that will perform on a "real" mesh 🙈

[@Spyro_76]

@@angiemon897 That def sounds like a bug. I guess make sure you've deleted your history first before unwrapping. I know that can sometimes cause issues. A cylinder should naturally unwrap into a rectangle though, you shouldn't need to straighten the shell for that kind of primitive. Maybe email me some screenshots if you're still having issues and I'll see what I can help with.

[@david3atista]

Probably you won't see this, but you just saved my life

[@PolygonAcademy]

I read every comment :) glad it helped you out bro!

[@fernwehmind]

YES! You're the one Tim. I've been searching everywhere for trim sheet tutorial. Then suddenly you uploaded four part of it. Thank you ! :)

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're welcome, enjoy!

[@Moonev_Fantasy]

Thank you 4 sharing such a powerful workflow! That's really awesome!

[@vladimirkhadyko8304]

Extremely nice tutorial! Very clear and great tips in every aspect of the pipeline. Thank you!

[@wilismatrix9847]

A lot of gold information you share here ! Thank you very so much !! 😲😱

[@paulaperandonesduran1696]

It has been a really nice serie of tutorials, good tips! Hope to see more. Thanks!

[@DarthBiomech]

I have a suggestion for future tutorial series if you will - since trims are already covered, one other huge pillar of modern asset pipeline is decals, specifically those that allow you to add geometric details to mesh without modeling them or unwrapping the mesh to unique islands (Like bolts, hatches and so on). I think that technique is called "deferred decals" or something similar. I would especially love to hear your opinion on how to do things like strips of the decals with which you make panel seams.

[@PolygonAcademy]

yea I am planning something like that for a future video :)

[@TheCrimson147]

Part 1 and Part 4 have the same number of views! That's just so rare with the quality of free tutorials nowadays. Thanks a lot for them.

[@mcsephiroth1312]

If I had the money, I would definitely support you. You are doing the community a great service, thank you.

[@PolygonAcademy]

no worries man! appreciate you watching :) glad the content is useful!

[@justinlane6088]

you teach better than the 80k school I'm going to lol. Thanks for the amazing content!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Justin Lane on one hand thats awesome! On the other.....ouuuf! Hope your school improves to be worth the money :) thanks for watching and the support!

[@VertexPolyFort]

im really excited for trimsheet making more and more!

[@jessicaschultz732]

This was so useful! I finally feel like I have a deeper understanding of the workflow that goes into making professional level props. Also, my mind was completely blown at the “pull the edges downward when extruding for a normal map” tip from the first video. That’s why my normal maps were turning out like shit! Thank you for helping me realize that.

[@FabioPereiraS]

Thanks for sharing. Great tutorial.

[@giorgikoridze8608]

Good work, it’s really helpful.

[@spydergs07]

I didn't realize that I have been using trim sheets for my projects for about 5 years lol I do like that this video series went more in depth with trim sheets and how to properly setup and utilize them. Looking at someone using 3DS also, I had forgot how cumbersome 3DS could be haha I haven't used 3DS max or Maya since Blender 2.8 came out. Now in Blender 3.0 UVing and texturing is so much quicker than in 3DS max.

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome, yea i gotta learn blender, I rarely do any 3d modeling anymore so i would be hella rusty either way, but keep hearing how blender is just amazing now.

[@forestpump3]

Badass Tim, great tutorial!

[@anthonyr4843]

Awesome series Tim, these are always a instant watch for me. Look forward to more!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Thanks anthony :)

[@fodderfella]

7:57 when stitching you can select all vertical edges in the uv editor, then deselect the edge where you want the seam to be on the mesh, then stitch them. this will save a lot of time. good clean and straight forward set of tutorials, have recommended them

[@PolygonAcademy]

Ah cool, ill try that out :) glad you enjoyed the tutorials!

[@lalapachou]

Thank you for the tutorial! It's a must for environment art

[@PolygonAcademy]

no problem. definitley one of my go to skills!

[@TheKingAskdoof]

What a great video! Thank you so much for that. I've been struggling with Unity lightmaps for years and you clarified why.

[@BCMSi]

Absolutely mind blowing what can be done with trim sheets, really want to spend some time learning this skill. Awesome series man!

[@yingbowang3068]

I am a mayaLT / unity user, I also follow your tutorial / get 1st trim sheet done, Thank you for these amazing tutorials!! The 'random things' you talked about is also valuable. I have to re- play to absorb more information cause my English bad.. Thank you :)

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome, happy to hear that! thanks for watching :)

[@Sigge.Sandstrom]

Super useful and understandable videos, you rock Tim!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Happy to hear! Thanks for watching :)

[@alzosmol]

cool stuff, very interesting and useful, thanks man

[@cepryn8222]

That was super informative series, hope to see some similar ones in the future, thanks!)

[@3DSgeek]

This was a great series, many thanks.

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :)

[@harrysanders818]

Thank you so much Tim! Dunno what to say other than to express my deepest gratitude to you for so generously sharing this knowledge in such a well made and thorough way. You're enhancing the life of every 3D Game Artist who learns this stuff through the internet and really wants to wrap his/her head around it. Invaluable. Thanks for your effort making these. I think this will be filling the gaps of information on this topic on the net very well and will help aspiring 3D Game Artists for generations to come.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Harry Sanders cheers! Thanks so much for your well thought out, in depth comments! Appreciate the love :) happy it helps!

[@saran9736]

Thanks a lot for this tutorial, I was confused about the use case of trim sheets and you showed up with your tutorials and now I'm all cleared up! Thanks a lot! :)

[@Fabi0laa]

Thanks again for a really good and informative tutorial! :D

[@Puckerization]

One of the key features of 3DS Max UVs that no other program has is the ability to save and load the UVs as a separate file. This has saved me so many times. I end up having many versions saved of a UV Unwrap. Save your UVs regularly as you work on them!

[@PolygonAcademy]

yea thats a good point, i havent done that in years but totally useful!

[@fluidfox1436]

Very helpful this approach saves a ton of time

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! Glad it helped you out :)

[@usernamegirls1]

Have been looking for lightmapping tutorial and I learned how you used the channel 1 (probably for texture) and channel 2 for lightmap uv creation in unwrap uvw modifier. Overall thanks for this tutorial!

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're welcome, glad you enjoyed it!

[@Viskovitz]

I really REALLY enjoyed this 4 part tutorial. Big thanks, tim, you are legend.

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're very welcome! thanks for watching them all, always stoked to hear people say it's useful :)

[@swartz3d]

This was an excellent series of tutorials about trim sheets! Thank you.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching!

[@blasfkdalsfklaskflas]

Awesome Tutorial! Really helped me to get started with Trim Sheets. Thanks!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Thanks! Glad it helped :)

[@quockhanhlk]

thank you very much for these tutorials, super helpful, packed with tons of experienced information and tips, and for free. Mindblowingly awesome, thank you !

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're very welcome :) thanks for watching

[@homegirl_0072]

Wonderful tutorial series! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and work flow. Can't wait to apply this process to some of my own designs.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! So happy yo hear you enjoyed it :)

[@damiaxis6666]

thank you, for doing this!!

[@bryceporter96]

This set of tutorials was huge for me my friend. I appreciate the time you spent making this

[@PolygonAcademy]

Awesome to hear! Thats why i do it :)

[@solennripoteau6218]

Thank you so much for these videos

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :)

[@idontknow8898]

Dude! This is brilliant!

[@PolygonAcademy]

dope! its a bit long but I think it covers almost everyones questions haha

[@omri1324]

Great series! amazing! thank you so much!

[@PolygonAcademy]

You got it! Thanks for watching :)

[@hollcs2]

If you are working in Autodesk Maya and trying to turn all of the faces into a square like Tim does in 3ds max. The tool you want to use is called Unitize. It will turn each face of the cylinder to match the 0 to 1 space and they will all be stacked. Then you can just move one shell off of the rest and unfold and then basically just select all the edges and move and sew them all together.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Awesome, thanks for sharing! Thats good to know :)

[@danjirinnn]

Congrats on 15k! Will be watching this now at work during downtime. Cheers and thanks for all the content! :)

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks! will be doing something special to celebrate that soon! appreciate you watching!

[@julianquiroga346]

Excellent tutorial! I just subscribed and can't wait to see more content of this quality

[@PolygonAcademy]

Thanks! Really happy you enjoyed it :)

[@marshmallow_fellow]

If you're using blender, there's a fantastic addon call "Uv Squares" you just select the faces, press the button and it will automatically arrange the uvs into a square grid or one dependant on the size of the faces. You can also use follow active quad with a face selected to straighten the uv's but this doesn't work on more complex geometry.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Sick! Thanks for sharing :)

[@NoTengoIdeaGuey]

Go for textools. It includes uvsquares and has a bunch of other useful features as well.

[@marshmallow_fellow]

@@NoTengoIdeaGuey I'll definitely have a a look at that, thanks!

[@narutomoonkun]

Thank you so much for sharing, when we started using this method in my studio your first video taught me a lot, and now seeing more of the potential and posibilities it has really inspired me for future projects. Thank you so much!

[@PolygonAcademy]

cheers Jose :)

[@BledsoeBluvd]

Tremendously helpful.

[@PolygonAcademy]

thats what I like to hear! thanks for watching

[@3DDivision]

Thank you so much, man. I'm learning a lot with your videos. You are making the difference. I hope to be like you in the future : )

[@Arxontas10]

What?! 4 videos? is this heaven? Thanks Mate!!

[@PolygonAcademy]

its been so long since I uploaded, had to make it worth the wait :D

[@dariaantonenko7608]

Thx a lot for the ultimate guide! Really useful and helpful, you safe my test task :))

[@MrGlebanPro]

Completely understandable for beginner :)

[@nlbadguy]

Tim, I can not express enough how much this series helped a beginner like me. Thank you very much I enjoyed every second of it! :)

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're welcome!

[@maxkutsenko7169]

Tim, thanks so much for all this amazing content you produce. Before I was uniquely unwrapping everything which takes ages. Thanks to you I see a huge benefit of trimsheets, cannot wait to try it out on the next project. And thanks for showing the unwrapping techniques, I cannot stress enough how helpful it is. Take care man.

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome, glad it helped, thanks for watching!

[@AndrewByrnes1]

This series legitimately helped me feel so much more confident with making game assets. I was struggling to find the right pipeline. but these tricks have helped so much (even though I use maya)

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome to hear that! thanks for watching!

[@jakeholden7532]

Dude this series is so insightful! Can't stress enough how many great tips are in there. Thanks a lot for taking the time to make this. That last tip on getting your mesh updated in Substance by keeping the same material name was such a good little bonus at the end! I had no idea >< Looking forward to what you put out next. Cheers

[@PolygonAcademy]

Thanks jake!

[@kggx3]

8:30 for Maya users: You can select all edges you need to sew, then deselect one edge and do move and sew once. Saves a lot of time. btw Tim: Awesome series as always!

[@PolygonAcademy]

good tip! thanks

[@Chauxz]

So there's no way in max to do this.. We have to select each edge and sew them one by one? (I'm just starting out learning how to use 3DS max (maya user here))

[@tetsuooshima832]

I hate Maya but its UVs tools are great. Not sure you can really compare with Max lol

[@PolygonAcademy]

@@tetsuooshima832 yea i used maya at my first job and its snapping and uv tools were great

[@crumpledtissue]

I am amused that max’s UV editor is still slow as hell when you try to unwrap something heavy or try to make layout of several complex models in one UV space. And I’m not even talking about that its separate modifier... I literally don’t unwrap there anything besides cubes)

[@pavelmikulevich152]

Totally usefull ! Thanks )

[@MZONE3D]

Hi Tim, I dunno if you have covered this already, but I think a key thing for Environment artists to know is when to use a certain technique. Namely, when to model a bespoke section, modular pieces (unique or trim textures), Place-able assets (unique or trim textures). I know I have to teach almost all juniors I have ever taught this... grats on the 150K :)

[@PolygonAcademy]

yea good point, i think i will include this in a video soon :)

[@vassk1587]

Thank you!

[@DozerMane]

I really appreciate the time you put into this amazing tutorial. Thank you X1000000

[@PolygonAcademy]

you're welcome :D

[@MetalGearMk3]

Watching this in 2020, still damn useful. I finally understand trimsheets.

[@dorodorosidoro]

very helpful

[@syntheticelementvids]

Amazing tutorial thank you.

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :)

[@srinivasjlkm88]

This Series is EPIC!!!!!. All the questions I had watching the trim sheets tutorial and all the mystery I felt around " How, Why, What " about Trim sheets and Lightmaps. Everything explained clear in this. Would highly recommend this tutorial as a lot of self taught artist trying to enter the industry miss on this or do not totally understand this clearly. This is absolutely the best . Cheers and thanks for the content.

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks so much, this is a ringing endorsement that everything I am doing is actually effective :) appreciate the love!

[@manollobango]

First trim sheet tutorial that I' ve seen so far which also considers the topic lightmaps. Someone's listening to the community ^^ Thanks Tim!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! The overlapping uvs question was a repeated one in the first video i put out haha. Happy this helps!

[@manollobango]

​@@PolygonAcademy I didn't receive any notification about your tuts from the last few months. I thought I had subscribed to your channel to prevent this but it seems like I didn't. I caught it up now!

[@vukasinG]

Man, these are great 4 tutorials. Watched them all to refresh my memory and remembered some things that i forgot :) All things you're doing in Max are almost the same as in Maya, just different command names. Anyway, this mini-series help me and I just want to thank You and hope that You're gonna upload more great stuff. I subscribed to Your channel and now I'll be watching on you :D

[@nicolasferreiro9477]

WOW, this technique is great and now I want to use it everywhere! Thank you very much for this series of tutorials, I don't really speak English but I was able to understand most of the things. By the way, you mentioned it in the video and it would be great if you do some of this but sci-fi oriented. Thank you again! And sorry for my English, I literally use a google translator.

[@ChaosAnimationsSpeedArts]

I'm new to the channel but I absolutely loved this series, it was very helpful and I definitely wish I was taught about it in school!

[@PolygonAcademy]

welcome, thanks for watching, hope you enjoy my other vids too :D

[@armanchahal1]

nailed it

[@sureztv5836]

Its awesome...

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks :)

[@Patallogus666]

Шикарно!

[@22BIKS]

Thank You!

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :) thanks for watching!

[@hgzmatt]

If you get stretching on cylindrical strips you can try to add more edge loops there. It just didn't have enough topology to make it smooth.

[@PolygonAcademy]

yup, you got it :)

[@ronanbaxter9422]

Never going to use 3DS Max or ZBrush to do this, But, I AM going to use allll the principles I learnt in this series. Thank you so much!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! I tried to keep it broad enough that it can be adapted to most workflows :)

[@bezoro2008]

This makes me very glad for the existence of the Zen UV Blender addon.

[@darrylbrownstone2553]

Hey Tim, for the cylindrical items I like to use "unfold strip from loop" and run "straighten selection" or planer map the top surface and break one of the edges connections in UVW and also run "straighten selection". This will often result in a very even intervals so long as you reset X-form prior to opening the "UVW"

[@PolygonAcademy]

hell yea, good tip, that straighten selection button is super handy!

[@Tryfieldanimas]

♥️ super thanks

[@PolygonAcademy]

super welcome :D

[@oznfts5649]

still from better tutorial for trim sheet man thanks a lot

[@robertschroer5794]

Love you Tiiim

[@PolygonAcademy]

awesome, would love to see people attempt other subject matter like scifi with these tutorials :D

[@MrJeka1111]

Cool to use it with weighted normals and corner decals

[@PolygonAcademy]

yea you totally could do that as well

[@neoqueto]

So the trim sheet worflow is essentially reverse psychology. It's about not making the texture fit the UV, but rather making the UV fit the texture.

[@PolygonAcademy]

hahah yea exactly :)

[@vn2025]

Today I completed my first trim texture ever and just imported the mesh into UE4. It ain't too spectacular but considering that before this channel I didn't even know what a trim texture was or that this was a way to make a modular kit for environments, it is a big deal for me. Thank you, you've definitely made me one big step closer to be working in the games industry some day! Also bought your Example Files for the ridiculous price you've set and I insist everyone to do the same! :D Cheers!

[@PolygonAcademy]

congrats! completing a project like that for the first time is a big step :) appreciate the support!

[@vn2025]

@@PolygonAcademy Thanks!

[@Dragonbras]

thx for this videos

[@PolygonAcademy]

You’re welcome :)

[@CommandCentreWargaming]

Great Tut

[@PolygonAcademy]

thanks! happy to hear you enjoyed it :D

[@jashminsabater4625]

Hi! I love your videos, it helps me a lot. I just hope you would also make videos regarding "vertex painting". This would really help us to create variations whenever we will be using trims sheets and flat textures. Thank you so much. Looking forward for more videos from you!!

[@pete86]

Thanks buddy

[@PolygonAcademy]

You got it! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@rickysargulesh1053]

I guess I am one of the rare cases who loves laying out UV's. It's always a nice challenge. Like playing Tetris haha

[@PolygonAcademy]

Yea it can be a good puzzle sometimes, the more you do them, the quicker and second nature they become

[@blenderforgames5116]

Trims are dreams hahahahaha anyway keep it up Tim watching this stuff for fun honestly.I remember working my first time with trims and stuff and it was a pain .

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers! Thanks for watching :)

[@peterspy8867]

Great stuff Tim, as usual. One quick tip about selecting loops, you don't have to select edges and convert them to polygons. Just select one polygon, hold Shift, then select a polygon next to it.

[@PolygonAcademy]

Oh awesome , didnt know that, thanks!

[@MrCshx]

Love u dude =) Thanks a lot!

[@PolygonAcademy]

Haha thanks! Glad you enjoyed the series!

[@MrCshx]

@@PolygonAcademy I'm enjoying all of your tuts. Srsly =)

[@UnIockables]

This was super enjoyable and helpful, thank you so much. It's really clear the effort you put in to this series, everything was explained so well. One thing I was hoping for was you to go into a little more detail/show examples of the benefits of doing your own lightmap vs the Unreal default generation. Would help to see what an actual lightmap seam was. But that's less about the tutorial and more interest in the subject I knew the least about; and only sharing this because you asked for feedback,. The rest of the video was 10/10 and will absolutely help me out with my future game art, thanks again 😊

[@MEneifal]

thank u sir

[@hmee8941]

Great series, every step uncomplicated super easy to understand, yet taking us from a-z aaa level work. Only thing confusing me why there is someone hitting 'I dislike this' :o

[@PolygonAcademy]

Cheers :) i dont mind dislikes, any form of engagement helps the channel! Haters gonna hate, ainters gonna aint 😁