Asset Creation: Maya Character UV Mapping and Texturing - Creating Games with Unity and Maya - page 241

Step 13: Rotate the seam to the inside of the arm. The center circle of the
projection manipulator is a handle itself. Click-drag this handle to rotate
the seam (where the two red rectangle handles meet) to the inside of the
arm ( Figure 9.9 ).
Figure 9.9 Rotating the seam to the
inside of the arm.
Why?
Of constant concern to the artist tasked with UV mapping should be
where to hide the seams. Hiding the seam across the back of a character
might seems like a good idea at first until the game becomes third person
and suddenly all we see is the back of the character. A much smarter
place to hide seams for things like legs and arms are where the seam is
tucked between two surfaces. It turns out that the inside of the arm and
leg also have natural seams since that's where the fabric of shirts and
pants are often sewn together.
Step 14: Rotate the projection to match the rotation of the arm. At the
bottom edge of the projection cylinder is a little red T ( Figure 9.10 , left).
Clicking this T will reveal a new set of manipulator handles ( Figure 9.10 ,
right) that allows the projection to be moved, scaled, or rotated. Use the
rotation handles to rotate the projection to more closely match the angle
of the collection of polygons being mapped.
Tips and Tricks
Getting back to the first set of manipulation handles can be done by
clicking the little red T again.