What you'll learn

In this series of tutorials, we will learn the basics of preparing 3d models for texturing by creating UV layouts in Maya. UVs and UV layouts are important aspects of creating textures for our 3D models. The UV information serves as a bridge between the 3d objects we create and the 2d textures that we apply before rendering. UVs let us tell Maya how to apply the textures across the surface, so having a good UV layout can really make a difference in speeding up the texture creation process and making your textures easily editable down the pipeline. We'll start by talking about the basic concept of UVs before moving on to learn about some of the different UV projection methods. We'll also talk about editing UVs and using multiple projections. We'll then cover the creation of UV snapshots to give us a guide when texturing and discuss a multi-tile texture workflow. In the end you'll have a good understanding of the purpose behind UVs and the knowledge you need to start creating and editing your own UV layouts. Software required: Maya 2014.