Unwrap Me - Step by Step

This short guide will take you through the basic ideas of Unwrap Me, for more in-depth information of each setting hover over it with your mouse cursor to read the documentation pop-up.

Unwrap Me is installed like a regular Blender addon. You will then find Unwrap Me in Blender's UV Mapping menu ("U" key by default). For quick access it's recommended to assign it to a shortcut (Right-Click on Unwrap Me -> Assign Shortcut) such as "Shift + U".

1. Growing a single chart

1.1 Developability

Rather than cutting seams by hand, Unwrap Me intelligently grows your entire UV chart (island) directly on your mesh. The amount of distortion (stretch error) in the final unwrap is controlled by the Developability setting.

1.2 Choosing a starting face or cluster of faces

To grow one chart you can select one face or a cluster of faces connected together. This will change the initial normal for the growth calculations.

1.3 Iterations

The charts are grown based on a complex algorithm which repeats to get better results each time. The Iterations setting controls the maximum amount of repetitions. You can see how the algorithm is doing by going into Window -> Toggle System Console in Blender.

2. Growing multiple charts

To grow multiple charts you simply select multiple faces, or face clusters, or let Unwrap Me choose them for you.

3. Covering the entire mesh

With the "Fill Surrounding" option charts will continue to grow to fill any holes until the mesh is covered or an existing seam prevents it from continuing.

4. Covering low-poly meshes

For low poly meshes you have the option "Fill Surrounding" which will continually grow more charts until the mesh is covered, or it hits an existing seam. You also have the option "Limit By Auto Smooth Angle" which will use Blender's Auto Smooth to stop charts from growing into high angle areas.

5. Other Features

• With highly complex meshes, once you unwrap there may be some overlaps—you can use Blender -> UV Editor -> Select -> Select Overlaps to see if there are any. You can remove these with the Remove Chart Overlaps feature. The overlaps will be cut and your UV charts will be re-packed.
  
• You can merge charts together
• You can select the faces through which a seam runs and straighten the seam
• More in development!

6. Future plans

• To make this the best automated unwrapper, not just in Blender, but in any software. Thank you for your support.