HELP! Combining UVs to one UV map

[3don]

Hey, this texturing project is due tomorrow for my class, and I am unsure of what to do with some of the texturing for smaller pieces.

I am working on a helmet with multiple objects and I don't know if I should combine the UVs from about 16 small objects (bolts, antenne, etc) into a single UV map.

Is there a way to combine the UVs from multiple objects into one UV map? Or is it better to keep separate individual UV maps for every object?

thanks,

jeff

[hell-raiser]

Well,

from how I understand it, the UVs are just another attribute set attached to a polygon. That means, the UVs are object-attributes, not texture-attributes. Just another pair of 2D-coordinates to navigate on any map.

However, in XSI, having multiple copies of an object in the scene, you could group these objects, apply the material to the group, and then, perhaps, even copying one of the already set-up texture-projections/supports to the group. Unsure of the TSup applyable to a group, but if not, you could still paste it to alle the other objects.

[misner-1]

The best way to do this is with subprojection texturing in XSI 2.0. It's pretty quick to setup each piece with it's own UV subprojection, but on a single map.

Having all the pieces on a single texture map is faster to render and load, easier to keep track of, color correct ect... It also has the advantage of being able to control the blend between different subprojections on the texture.

Actually I just noticed this is for your class tommorrow so perhaps it's not useful advice, but worth keeping in mind for the next one... You can use my UVCopy tool in XSINet to transfer the UV from one cluster to another if you're using 1.5.