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UV Confusion

Stryder87Stryder87 Posts: 899
in The Commons

Hi All

I see a lot of discussions about UVs and using them on different characters and I'm still pretty foggy on what that's all about.  What benefits are there to using a UV from one character on another that didn't come with one?  Just what is a 'UV' exactly?  (I have GOT to stop seeing it as UltraViolet!!... hence the confusion... haha)

How do you even go about using a UV from one character on another?  Where are they generally located for browsing?  Are they cross-gender capable?  HD vs default - is there such a difference?

Like I said, I have no idea what you can do with them... I'm just getting used to changing surface textures (I learned a new skill!) on things like clothing and furniture and such.  Is there even a benefit to being able to use a UV from V6 on, say, Mei Lin 6 (if that even makes sense as a possibility)?  The last thing I figured out was how to create a custom label for a bottle and getting it to show up!  That was a big victory for me as I usually just use the default items and all these skills I could learn only add to the creation capabilities!

Thanks for the help.  You guys are always great about helping newbies learn!  yes

Comments

  • nemesis10nemesis10 Posts: 3,793

    A very quick answer is that a uv map is a form of map projection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections shows you the effect on a world map); the UV refer to the style of coordinates. If there is any topography, a rational map has to made so that navels are where navels are supposed to be etc... Things that are all one texture like a rock don't often get uv maps.   Often Daz3d iconic characters are given different uv's because the creator's want to prevent distortion such as chest areas in males and females or they need extra detailed areas in places where there are geografts, details in the face, allowance for HD characters etc...  The newest generation of figures use a totally different style of uv which is much more common outside the hobbyist world.  If you search for SnowSultan who makes easily the best guides for particular uv maps of Daz characters, you can see examples.  The uv maps are visible in the Surfaces Tab: select your character, go to surfaces, find uv and you will see the array of uv's available for your figure.

  • larsmidnattlarsmidnatt Posts: 4,511
    edited August 2015

    What nemesis10 said should get you started.

    In order to use different UV sets you typically buy the Daz Character that launched those UV. So Mei Lin 6 came with her own UV. You could use the Mei Lin shape without her UV. You can use Me Lin shape with V6 UV and skins if you want. And Vice Versa.

    Men and Women especiallly would use different UV map as their figures are largely different. But women with slightly different shapes can leverage the same UV with minimal texture distortion. So if you wanted to use Lilith's skin on Victoria 6, most people wouldn't notice the stretching. And if they have clothes on, even less likely.

    When you apply a material preset for a character's skin, it will automatically update the figure to use the correct UV. (assuming its a modern DUF preset). You can manually change the UV a character is using inside the surfaces tab. By doing this you can actually see what happens when the wrong UV is used for the texture. Each texture is designed to work for a certain UV.

    When daz marketing references HD, it is nothing to do with UV maps or textures. HD just means they have "high definition" morphs for the shape. HD morphs work regardless of the UV you choose for the character. When rendering with 3DL, the HD morphs will automatically trigger basically. When using external rendering tools or Iray, you need to manually set the Sub-D of the figure to about 3(some say 4, but that might kill your system).

    Post edited by larsmidnatt on
  • Stryder87Stryder87 Posts: 899
    larsmidnatt said:

    What nemesis10 said should get you started.

    In order to use different UV sets you typically buy the Daz Character that launched those UV. So Mei Lin 6 came with her own UV. You could use the Mei Lin shape without her UV. You can use Me Lin shape with V6 UV and skins if you want. And Vice Versa.

    Men and Women especiallly would use different UV map as their figures are largely different. But women with slightly different shapes can leverage the same UV with minimal texture distortion. So if you wanted to use Lilith's skin on Victoria 6, most people wouldn't notice the stretching. And if they have clothes on, even less likely.

    When you apply a material preset for a character's skin, it will automatically update the figure to use the correct UV. (assuming its a modern DUF preset). You can manually change the UV a character is using inside the surfaces tab. By doing this you can actually see what happens when the wrong UV is used for the texture. Each texture is designed to work for a certain UV.

    When daz marketing references HD, it is nothing to do with UV maps or textures. HD just means they have "high definition" morphs for the shape. HD morphs work regardless of the UV you choose for the character. When rendering with 3DL, the HD morphs will automatically trigger basically. When using external rendering tools or Iray, you need to manually set the Sub-D of the figure to about 3(some say 4, but that might kill your system).

    Is this related to the sliders where you 'dial in' percentages of a character to change the body shapes?

    When you say "When you apply a material preset for a character's skin, it will automatically update the figure to use the correct UV.", is this similar to where you can, say, apply makeup options for one character to a different one, and sometimes totally screw up the color of the face because it's not compatible?  I've run into that and it's totally weird and never really understood why.

    For some reason this particular topic is having a hard time clicking in for me.  ugh  laugh

     

  • larsmidnattlarsmidnatt Posts: 4,511

    HD morphs do have dials. I don't know if they work well in small amounts because they are subtle details to begin with. Maybe?

    Regarding makeup, Yes, that sounds correct. One thing to keep in mind is each surface for a figure can have a different UV. So usually the skin would all use the same UV. However you could use totally different eye UV and not break the skin.(like Evil Troll Eyes, from the troll pack with Troll UV).

    So with makeup, you either stick to using makup for that character or use the LIE tool to layer on makeup. Personally I just use photoshop but I happen to enjoy that process...so not for everyone.

     

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