Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
What Is the Difference between UVW Map and
Unwrap UVW?
There are two different modifiers to do your unwrapping.
UVW Map and Unwrap UVW have two distinct uses, but you
can also use them together if you like.
UVW Map is great for either getting a starting point for
your Unwrap UVW or just quickly getting some UVWs so you
can preview a texture on your model quickly.
Unwrap UVW is the modifier you use to manually create
UVWs. It's got tons of functionality now with extremely useful
tools. If you need to very quickly preview a texture on your
model, go with UVW Map. However, once you learn Unwrap
UVW I doubt you'll be going back to using UVW Map much.
To each his own, though! I don't ever use UVW Map; as a
character artist, I don't have much use for it.
Introduction to Unwrap UVW
We took the unwrapping process as far as we could using the
UVW Map modifier. If we wanted to up the level of control,
the next step would be to apply the Unwrap UVW modifier.
Something to keep in mind is that all 3D objects inherently
have UVWs. The only way to actually see them, however, is to
apply the UVW Map modifier. Without UVs, there would be no
way to apply textures to your object, and without the UVW
Map modifier, you cannot see or manually edit UVWs.
The Unwrap UVW modifier was heavily updated a few
revisions of Max back. It got some great features like pelt
mapping (pretty awesome for unwrapping organic objects),
and much of the functionality of UVW Map was added to
Unwrap UVW. Technically you don't even need to use the
UVW Map modifier anymore if you're actually going to go
through the process of making some quality UVWs for your
