3D Prop and Environment Artist Sargis Ter-Grigoryan has launched UV Unfoldr, a UV editor plug-in for 3ds Max that replicates the Maya-style workflow with component modes, marking menus, a UV Toolkit panel, and a live 3D checker that updates on the model as you edit.

The artist says he has used 3ds Max for years, and UV work has always been the slowest part of the pipeline. He notes that the built-in 3ds Max's Unwrap UVW editor workflow involves a lot of clicking through dialogs and rollouts, and many fellow artists switch to Maya, RizomUV, or other tools for UVs and then bring the model back. This prompted him to build a fast, direct UV workflow inside 3ds Max.

UV Unfoldr lets you straighten curved quad shells like cylinders, pipes, trims, or belts into straight grids in one click, locally fix distortion with brushes, and ensure consistent texel density. The tool can also handle several objects together and manage UV sets. A fast selection option lets you Shift+click to select the edge run between two clicks, with a live preview. The packer follows each shell's real outline, fills holes, and keeps stacked or grouped shells together.

The whole UV unwrapping is run within 3ds Max, including selection, unfolding, straightening, brushes, packing, texel density, and UV sets. The tool offers a non-destructive workflow, as it runs on top of the standard Unwrap UVW modifier, which means that every edit can be reversed and scenes still open on machines without the plug-in.

The Shift+click edge run

You can select edges by angle

Sargis Ter-Grigoryan, the tool's creator, is a 3D Artist at Sperasoft, a studio that contributed to franchises such as Halo, Battlefield, Assassin’s Creed, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. To learn more about the artist's workflow, check out our interview with him, in which he discussed modeling and realistic texturing using 3ds Max, Substance 3D Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, and Plasticity.

UV Unfoldr is available on Gumroad.

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