Using Unwrap UVW in 3D Studio Max.

J.Knez (Schwaa)

Unwrap UVW is a great utility in 3D Studio Max. It lets you adjust an object's texture to make simple corrections that would be difficult to adjust in a paint program.

To use this utility, select an editable mesh that is already UVW mapped. From the modifier list select Unwrap UVW. Hit the Edit... (Red arrow) button and a pop-up window with a texture and an unwrapped mesh will appear.
In this case the gems are a seperate mesh than the sword. If they were a combined object, all of the vertices would be on top of one texture. Two drop down menus simplify the process (Blue circles). They are:

  • Map #'s
  • ID #'s On a multi-textured object you can choose which map you want to work on and which object ID you will be editing.

    You have two choices for editing. One is to grab vertices and move them around using the toolbar in the Unwrap UVW menu. The other is to click on Unwrap UVW in the modifier list. Unwrap UVW will turn yellow, now you can click on selected faces on your mesh. The vertices that make up these faces will appear red in the pop-up window and you can drag the selected faces around the texture.
    Along the top of the Unwrap window are a few tools to use. Move, rotate, scale, ect... This is a basic tut for now so I'll let you experiment on your own.