Using UVLayout could be described as the opposite of dress making; instead of cutting out a flat pattern and sewing that up to make clothing, in UVLayout the object is cut into pieces that are then flattened out to make the pattern. These flattened UV shells are not just planar projections; an optimizing algorithm is used to spread the UVs out, as you watch, so that there’s minimal stretching, compression or skewing of textures when they’re applied to the object.

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Start Mesh
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Cutting Up
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Ready to Flatten
1] User Defines The UV Seams
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Beginning
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Middle
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End
2] UVLayout Flattens It Out
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Distortion Feedback
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Checkered
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Textured
3] Final Result

Some major features of UVLayout are:

  • OBJ import and export
  • Edge-loop Detection for quicker UV seam selection
  • Symmetry Editing for faster flattening of symmetrical meshes
  • Color Feedback for instant evaluation of distortion errors
  • Edge Straightening on shell boundaries and interiors
  • Flattening Brushes for local tweaks of the automatically generated UVs
  • Auto Packing of UV shells to minimize wasted texture space
  • Auto Stacking of similar shells for shared texture space usage
  • Subdivision Surface calculations based on limit surface shape
  • Unlimited Undo of all editing functions
  • Plugin Interface for integration into other applications