Prepping for Zombie Details with UV Unwrapping - Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity - page 100

Laying Out a UV Sheet
In this section, you'll arrange your UVs to create a UV layout that can be exported and
painted in other programs. This UV layout will also help organize UV faces and grids for
baking normal maps, which you'll do in Chapter 5, “Sculpting for Normal Maps.”
There is no standard way to lay out UVs and the layout largely depends on your own
preferences. The only guideline is to fill the UV grid up the best you can. UV islands that
hold lots of texture detail—like the face and any interesting clothing (the coat in this
model)—should also be the largest. The UV grid is the boundary of any UV image you
will export. This exercise will show you how to create a layout that matches the texture
images included in the online materials for Chapter 6, “Digital Painting Color Maps,”
so follow that if you do not wish to create your own textures.
1. Continue with your model or open C04_Zombie_Unwrapped.blend from the Chapter 4
folder at the topic's web page. This exercise assumes you have a similar topology to
that found in the online version of the model.
2. Go to the UV/Image Editor Header bar and click the UVs menu entry. Click the
Constrain To Image Bounds check box. This tool ensures that any changes you make
to the UV layout do not cross the boundary of the layout grid.
3. Check one more time to make sure that no geometry is criss-crossed. If so,
RMB+click to select the geometry and press G to move them into a better position.
Any time you move vertices in this way, press P to pin the vertices in place before you
deselect them. Pinning vertices keeps them in the same place if you decide to re-
unwrap the UVs. You may want to do this to create a cleanly unwrapped UV layout.
4. Once your geometry is clean, you can begin moving and rotating your UVs into
place. The goal here is to move UVs out of the way so there is a nice space for the head
UVs to occupy near the center of the image. Grab the UV island that will be the back
of the coat by pressing the L key and moving the island to the lower-right corner of
the UV boundary. Rotate it 90 degrees by pressing R and then entering -90 .
5. You will want to raise the arms a bit as well. Press B to activate box selection and
highlight the forearm UVs. Move them to the right a bit and then rotate them so the
arm is straighter (Figure 4.26).
6. Press L to select the front coat UVs. Move the UV for the zombie's right arm into the
upper-right corner of the boundary and move the other side just right of the lower
center, as shown in Figure 4.27.
7. Take the shirt UV island, rotate it 90 degrees, and move it into the upper-left corner
of the boundary. Scale it up so it fills the space better, as shown in Figure 4.28.
8. Move the hands into the lower-right side of the boundary next to the coat back.
Rotate them a bit so they face opposite of each other, as in Figure 4.29.