Creating and Editing Texture Coordinates (UVs) - An Introduction to Computer Graphics for Artists - page 176

Fig. 10.42 This is a high resolution mapping solution. If all the parts of the character were mapped
to the same UV space, it would be lower resolution because only one map could be used

Fig. 10.43 The reference map on left uses characters that are distinguishable regardless of orienta-
tion and mirroring. The map on the right is made of letters that cannot be orientated based on their
shape

10.7 Reference Maps

When working with UVs, it is handy to create and use a texture map to test your
coordinates for distortion, alignment, and tiling. This type of map is called a refer-
ence map (Fig. 10.43 ) . For a reference map, the image isn't very important. What
does matter is that it contains large circles or squares, to test aspect ratio and
triangle distortion, asymmetrical detail to test for backwards or misaligned coor-
dinates, and a pattern that tiles easily for placement on objects of varying sizes
and resolution.