Unwrella - Optimal Automatic Unwrapping

David Levy plays Unwrella!

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:57:51 +0000

David Levy from SnowballVFX Studios, Director of the famous Round6 CG Movie (round6.net) presents and disscusses in his comprehensive “Making Of” tutorial the usage and adventages of Unwrella in the 3D Production and creating UVs for texture baking.

Watch HD on VIMEO

David Levy:
“The first one of these applications is Unwrella, which is an automatic unwrapping tool. This saved me A LOT of time, and we use it extensively for other projects as well. I used it to unwrap almost everything except for a few specific models I had trouble with at the time (the current version uses UV seams, but the beta version didn’t).
If I wanted different parts of a model to be given more/less texture space, I’d capture a morph target of the model in its normal state, deform it so that its parts’ sizes in relation to each other matched the relation I wanted to have UV space, unwrap it with Unwrella, and collapse the stack and apply the morph target to bring the XYZ space object back to its original form.”

For more informations and work examples of David Levy and SnowballVFX please visit:
round6.net
SnowballVFX

Unwrella 2.11 – Maya release

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:19:38 +0000

Unwrella is now available in version 2.11 for Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya.

The Maya release adds features of the recent 3ds Max release to the Maya version and offers you optional automatic seam placements based on the mesh’s topology.

Changes in Unwrella 2.11 for Maya:

Added support for Autodesk Maya 2011
Added the option to place automatic seams at grooves in the mesh where they are better hidden.
Added the option to place automatic seams at ridges in the mesh to provide clear cuts for hard surface models.
Simplified user interface to make using the plug-in even more intuitive.
Enhanced unwrap results for specific cases. This results in less fragmentation of coherent surfaces.

At the same time Unwrella for 3ds Max has been updated to version 2.11 including some corrections for unwraps with non-square aspect ratio.

Unwrella is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 2011 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2011 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
Maya 2011 32 bit
Maya 2011 64 bit
Maya 2010 32 bit
Maya 2010 64 bit
Maya 2009 32 bit
Maya 2009 64 bit
Maya 2008 32 bit
Maya 2008 64 bit
Maya 8.5 32 bit
Maya 8.5 64 bit

Requirements:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c

About 3d-io

3d-io games & video production GmbH is specialised company for high-end software development, modeling, animation, rendering, CG effects and 3D industrial design. 3d-io GmbH, headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, has an established strong presence in game development, design & video production, digital content creation as well as in graphics and animation. We are dedicated to provide easy-to-use software products accompanied by dedicated support team, experienced programmers and top notch 3D artists. Our latest product on the gaming market was nominated for the German Game Developers Award 2008 in best graphics category, and CG products are used by many famous Game and Design Studios worldwide.

Contact:

www.3d-plugin.com / info@3d-plugin.com

Unwrella 2.10 released!

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:05:44 +0000

Unwrella is now available in version 2.10 for Autodesk 3ds Max.

This new version of Unwrella enhances the plug-in’s functionality with optional automatic seam placements based on the mesh’s topology. Depending your specific requirements you can add seems in grooves of your mesh where they won’t be seen or you can add seams to ridges on the surface to assist with shapes that have hard angles, for example architectural meshes.

Changes in Unwrella 2.10:

Added support for Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011.
Added the option to place automatic seams at grooves in the mesh where they are better hidden.
Added the option to place automatic seams at ridges in the mesh to provide clear cuts for hard surface models.
Source map channel from which seams are kept can now be different to target channel. This allows you to create multiple different unwraps for your mesh with ease.
Simplified user interface to make using the plug-in even more intuitive.
Enhanced unwrap results for specific cases. This results in less fragmentation of coherent surfaces.

The Unwrella unwrapping plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max 9, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 is now available for sale and as a freely downloadable trial version on its homepage: http://www.unwrella.com

Edit for Maya users:
A corresponding new version of Unwrella for Autodesk Maya has now been released, too.

Unwrella was developed for the high demands of graphics designers in real world production environments and provides a fast, simple and reliable unwrapping solution. It is the first tool of this kind on the market, allowing the unwrapping of 3d models to be done with a single mouse click while simultaneously providing optimal results that combine the minimized texture stretching of automated unwrapping techniques with the efficient space utilization and chunk distribution of UV space that is achieved with manual pelt wrapping methods. This allows users to quickly solve complex tasks like the creation of seamless 3d models, more accurate lightmaps and productive subsequent processing of the UV maps in other 3d applications like ZBrush or Mudbox.

Unwrella is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2011 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2011 64 bit
Maya 8.5 32 bit
Maya 8.5 64 bit
Maya 2008 32 bit
Maya 2008 64 bit
Maya 2009 32 bit
Maya 2009 64 bit
Maya 2010 32 bit
Maya 2010 64 bit

Requirements:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008)

About 3d-io

Contact:

www.3d-plugin.com / info@3d-plugin.com

Unwrella2 Maya 2.04 Update

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:15:10 +0000

Unwrella2 Maya 2.04 Update

Unwrella 2 for Autodesk Maya has just been released in version 2.04. This is a maintenance release and we recommend all users to install this upgrade.

Changes for version 2.04:

* some mesh layout that previously caused the unwrap to fail work correctly now
* avoided specific cases of unintentional mesh distortion
* improved installer checks to avoid incompatibilities

All users can now download the latest version of Unwrella from the download page:

Unwrella is compatible with:
    * 3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
    * 3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
    * Maya 2010 32 bit
    * Maya 2010 64 bit
    * Maya 2009 32 bit
    * Maya 2009 64 bit
    * Maya 2008 32 bit
    * Maya 2008 64 bit
    * Maya 8.5 32 bit
    * Maya 8.5 64 bit

Requirements:
    * Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
    * Microsoft Windows XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
    * Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008 or newer)

Unwrella2 Maya 2.03 Update

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:50:36 +0000

Unwrella for Maya 2010 released

Unwrella 2 for Autodesk Maya has just been released in version 2.03. This is a maintenance release that improves the unwrap result and is compatible with Maya 2010.

Changes for version 2.03:

* Added support for Autodesk Maya 2010
* Padding between UV charts has been adjusted. Charts now also keep correct distance to the edges of the UV map.
* Unwrapping for complex polygons has been improved for cases where objects have multiple unconnected vertex groups.

All users can now download the latest version of Unwrella from the download page:

Requirements:
    * Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
    * Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
    * Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008 or newer)

New Update: Unwrella 2.03

igor — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:41:23 +0000

Unwrella 2 for Autodesk 3ds Max has just been released in version 2.03. This is a maintenance release that improves the unwrap result and MAXScript access.

Changes for version 2.03:

padding fix Padding between UV charts has been adjusted. Charts now also keep correct distance to the edges of the UV map.
Error reporting for MAXScript use modified to allow success feedback for the asynchronous unwrap process. See MAXScript chapter in the Unwrella2 manual for details.

All users can now download the latest version of Unwrella from the download page:

Unwrella is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit
Maya 8.5 32 bit
Maya 8.5 64 bit
Maya 2008 32 bit
Maya 2008 64 bit
Maya 2009 32 bit
Maya 2009 64 bit

Requirements:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008)

New Update: Unwrella 2.02

igor — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:27:29 +0000

Unwrella 2 for Autodesk 3ds Max has just been released in version 2.02. This is a maintenance release containing corrections to enhance installation handling, compatibility and plugin performance.

Changes for version 2.02:

Installer has been modified to improve handling of 3ds Max Design 2010, especially when 3ds Max 2010 and 3ds Max Design 2010 are both installed on the same system.
Installation support for Japanese and Chinese versions of 3ds Max has been improved to avoid compatibility problems.
Occasionally occuring compatibility problems with other plugins corrected.
Unwrapping in polygon mode for complex polygons has been improved. It is no longer necessary to switch to triangle mode when unwrapping meshes with polygons that have multiple unconnected vertex groups.
Caching of UV map data has been enhanced significantly, resulting in improved performance when working with Unwrella.
A few minor user interface fixes.

Unwrella 1 has also been updated to version 1.10 to include the installer and compatibility improvements.

All users can now download the latest version of Unwrella from the download page:

Unwrella is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit (new)
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit (new)
Maya 8.5 32 bit
Maya 8.5 64 bit
Maya 2008 32 bit
Maya 2008 64 bit
Maya 2009 32 bit
Maya 2009 64 bit

Requirements:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008)

Unwrella 2 for Max 2010 released

igor — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:08:47 +0000

Unwrella, the automatic and optimal unwrapping plug-in for Autodesk™ 3D Studio Max is now available in Version 2.01 with the support for Autodesk 3DSMax 2010 (both 32bit and 64bit).
Parallel to the release of Autodesk 2010, the 3d-io Team has prepared the latest versions of Unwrella ready for download.

All users can now download the latest version 2.01 with the full Max 2010 support from the download page:

Unwrella 2 is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit (new)
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit (new)
Maya 8.5 32 bit
Maya 8.5 64 bit
Maya 2008 32 bit
Maya 2008 64 bit
Maya 2009 32 bit
Maya 2009 64 bit

Requirements:

Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit)
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2008)

Unwrella2 for Maya released!

igor — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:53:47 +0000

Unwrella, the automatic and optimal unwrapping plug-in, is now available for Autodesk Maya.
Unwrella is a long awaited solution for all Autodesk Maya artists who have to deal with mapping and unwrapping of 3d geometries. Unwrella for Maya offers a fast and easy to undestand workflow to create automatically optimized UV maps, unfolds meshes for texture baking and packs UV parts efficiently.

Unwrella Maya Highlights:

The popular Unwrella plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max is now also available for Autodesk Maya
Automatically unwraps and packs UV maps for meshes
Optimal quality UV layout that avoids texture deformations
No visible texture seams due to uniform pixel distribution over the mesh surface
Resulting UV maps have optimal quality for texture baking
Supports both user placed texture borders and procedurally generated borders

The Unwrella unwrapping plug-in for Autodesk™ Maya™ 8.5, 2008, 2009 (each 32bit and 64bit) is now available for sale and as a freely downloadable trial version on its homepage: http://www.unwrella.com

About 3d-io
3d-io games & video production GmbH is specialised company for high-end software development, modeling, animation, rendering, CG effects and 3D industrial design. 3d-io GmbH, headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, has an established strong presence in game development, design & video production, digital content creation as well as in graphics and animation. We are dedicated to provide easy-to-use software products accompanied by dedicated support team, experienced programmers and top notch 3D artists. Our latest product on the gaming market was nominated for the German Game Developers Award 2008 in best graphics category, and CG products are used by many famous Game and Design Studios worldwide.

Contact:
www.3d-plugin.com / info@3d-plugin.com

Free Training Tutorial and 3D Assets!

igor — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:45:49 +0000

Following the requests from many Unwrella users and listening to their questions, the professional 3d-io Artists Igor Posavec and Antoan Simic are proud to announce the first Free Training Unwrapping lessons for freating optimal UV Maps for the Texture Baking and character mapping design.

The comprehensive 3D Tutorial "Create optimal UV Maps for professional 3d Characters" is a detailed Step-by-Step Course, backed with original 3D Assets from the Game Production for your own learning, and illustrated with an 3d page illustrated PDF, completly free for download!

We invite you today to download the fully working Unwrella Trial version, 3D Models scenes and the learning PDF and step into the complex, yet easy explained UV creation process of 3D Map Design.

Download the PDF Tutorial from by clicking here:

The Tutorial covers following aspects of the production:

Unwrella Step by Step automatic unwrapping and texture baking tutorial
3. Introduction
4. Content
10. Defining Seams in Max
16. Applying Unwrella
20. Texture Baking
29. Final Result
30. Unwrella FAQ, user manual

In this comprehensive tutorial we will guide you through the process of creating optimal UV texture maps.

Despite the fact that Unwrella is single click solution, we have created this tutorial with a lot of material explaining basic Autodesk 3DSMax work and the philosophy behind the „Render to Texture“ workflow.
This method, known in game development as texture baking, together with deployment of the Unwrella plug-in achieves the following quality benchmarks efficiently:

- Textures with reduced texture mapping seams
- Minimizes the surface stretching
- Creates automatically the largest possible UV chunks with maximal use of available space
- Preserves user created UV Seams
- Reduces the production time from 30 minutes to 3 Minutes!

Please follow these steps and learn how to utilize this great tool in order to achieve the best results in minimum time during your everyday productions.
best regards
Igor Posavec and the team at 3d-io.com