This 20-minute video tutorial from FlippedNormals will teach you how to cope with UV in Maya.

The video covers the basics of UV mapping. Maya is used as the basic software, but the process also works for Blender, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, and other 3d modeling software. Let this tutorial serve as a reminder of how important simple shapes are to UVs.

Thanks to FlippedNormals you can now revise your UV foundations a bit.