/ Recent content in UVPackmaster Documentation on UVPACKMASTER 4 Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us /48-other-topics/1-option-presets/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /48-other-topics/1-option-presets/ In order to speed up your workflow, you can save all current packer properties to a preset file. This feature can be accessed using the Option Presets icon in the header of the Packing and Aligning panels: In addition to the option to Save and Open presets, there is also the Reset To Defaults option for all packer properties. After pressing the Save button, the file browser window will pop up, where you can choose the name and location for the preset. /48-other-topics/3-running-from-script/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /48-other-topics/3-running-from-script/ In order to run a packing operation from a script in Blender, use the following basic example (you can adapt it to your own needs). Note the script requires a working UVPackmaster engine installation to run properly. # MIT License # # Copyright (c) 2022 Lukasz Czyz # # Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy # of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal # in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights # to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell # copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is # furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: # # The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all # copies or substantial portions of the Software. /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/05-grouping-editor/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/05-grouping-editor/ The Grouping Editor provides tools exclusively dedicated to defining and tuning island grouping schemes. It is available in the Grouping Editor multi panel: To learn more about multi panels read this page. In the Grouping Editor you can: create/remove grouping schemes add/remove groups in a scheme edit groups (e.g. group names) manually assign islands to groups in a scheme edit group target boxes apply automatic grouping to a grouping scheme /48-other-topics/5-inconsistent-islands-error-handling/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /48-other-topics/5-inconsistent-islands-error-handling/ The user may specify parameters on a per-island basis for some packer operations (e.g. group number, per-island rotation step, lock group number etc.). The problem is that Blender does not internally maintain information about UV islands. That is why the user needs to specify aforementioned parameters on a per-UV face basis in the Blender UI. During the operation, the packer uses those per-face values to determine values assigned to UV islands. /48-other-topics/10-heavy-uv-maps-handling/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /48-other-topics/10-heavy-uv-maps-handling/ Version 3.1.0 of the packer introduced significant performance improvements for handling UV maps with a huge number of faces (a few millions and more). Benchmarks show that the packer is now able to process a UV map containing 15 millions of faces in a few minutes. There are still a few considerations the user should have in mind, when packing such a UV map. Heuristic search considerations In order to achieve the most dense packing possible, one should enable the Heuristic Search functionality. /30-packing-modes/10-single-tile/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /30-packing-modes/10-single-tile/ This mode provides the most basic type of a packing operation - it packs the selected islands into a single target box in the UV space. In order to use the Single Tile packing mode select it from the Packing Mode selection menu: By default the mode packs islands to the unit UV square (box of coordinates [0-1][0-1]): The default box can be overwritten in the Custom Target Box subpanel: Supported packing functionalities The mode supports the following packing functionalities: /20-packing-functionalities/15-basic-packing-and-options/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/15-basic-packing-and-options/ After you have installed UVPackmaster, you will see it provides a ton of different options. Fortunately, you don’t need to tweak anything in order to perform a basic packing operation. The default packing mode used by the packer is Single Tile - the most straightforward and intuitive mode which packs a set of UV islands into the unit UV square. Simply select UV islands you want to pack and press the Pack button. /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/20-other-tools/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/20-other-tools/ The Other Tools multi panel gathers functionalities which are not related to any of the previous modes: To learn more about multi panels read this page. Orient UVs to the 3D space The Orient UVs to the 3D space functionality rotates every selected UV island so that the resulting UV mapping for that island matches a selected 3D axis with a selected UV axis. You can think about such a match in the following way: with given two axes matched, the texture direction on a 3D geometry along the given 3D axis will be the same as the texture direction along the given UV axis in the UV space. /20-packing-functionalities/20-packing-to-others/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/20-packing-to-others/ Watch the following part of the tutorial for an introduction to the functionality: Every time a packing mode is selected in the Main Mode selection menu, the addon will display two buttons: Pack Pack To Others By pressing the Pack button, you instruct the packer to perform a standard packing operation: the selected UV islands are packed as determined by the logic of the currently selected packing mode. On the other hand, when you press the Pack To Others button, the logic of the operation will be different: the selected UV islands will be packed in such a way that they will not overlap the unselected UV islands. /30-packing-modes/20-tiles/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /30-packing-modes/20-tiles/ The Tiles packing mode packs the selected UV islands into a set of tiles. In order to use the Tiles packing mode select it from the Packing Mode selection menu: You configure the target tiles to be used in the operation in the Tile Setup subpanel: An exemplary UV map packed to a tile grid 5x2: Tiles filling limitations A UV map can be usually packed such that it properly fills up almost every number of tiles. /48-other-topics/20-vulkan-gpu-acceleration/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /48-other-topics/20-vulkan-gpu-acceleration/ Starting from version 3.3.0, UVPackmaster supports packing on GPU using also the Vulkan API (alongside with Cuda). Note that Cuda is still the default API to use on all NVidia GPUs - UVPackmaster doesn’t list NVidia GPUs as supporting Vulkan. Vulkan can be used to accelerate packing on AMD Radeon and Apple M Silicon GPUs. Contrary to Cuda, Vulkan devices are disabled by default. In order to enable a device: /20-packing-functionalities/25-normalize-scale/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/25-normalize-scale/ The Normalize Scale functionality automatically scales selected islands before packing so that the average texel density is the same for every island. The process is called normalization. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Packing Options panel → Normalize Scale subpanel. Optionally you can also enable the Island Scale Multiplier option to specify scaling factors (multipliers) to be applied after normalization is done on a per-island basis. Using such multipliers you can prioritize islands i. /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/30-auto-repacking/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /40-miscellaneous-functionalities/30-auto-repacking/ Using the Auto Repacking functionality you can configure a number of mesh objects for UV repacking and then repack them all at any moment in a single-click operation. Note: the Auto Repacking feature is supported starting from Blender 4.2. Object configuration In order to configure a mesh object for repacking, make it the active object, then go to Viewport 3D → N panel → UVPackmaster4 → the Object Options panel: /30-packing-modes/30-groups-to-tiles/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /30-packing-modes/30-groups-to-tiles/ The video tutorials describing the Groups To Tiles mode: The Groups To Tiles mode packs UV islands split by the user into a number of groups. The target UV area (where a given group is going to be packed) is configured independently for each group. In order to use the Groups To Tiles packing mode select it from the Packing Mode selection menu: The Groups To Tiles mode is a group-based mode, that is why the Grouping (Packing) multi panel will be displayed in the addon UI after the mode is selected: /20-packing-functionalities/30-pixel-margin/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/30-pixel-margin/ Watch the following part of the tutorial for an introduction to the functionality: The Pixel Margin functionality allows the margin of the resulting UV map to be determined in pixels of the active texture. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Packing Options panel → Pixel Margin subpanel. With the Pixel Margin functionality enabled, the Margin option from the Packing Options subpanel will be ignored and the packer will determine the correct pixel margin set by the user in the Pixel Margin parameter. /30-packing-modes/40-groups-together/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /30-packing-modes/40-groups-together/ The Groups Together mode packs UV islands split by the user into a number of groups. All islands are packed into a single box in the UV space, so that islands belonging to the same group are neighbors in the resulting layout. An example of 4 groups packed using the Groups Together mode: In order to use the Groups Together packing mode select it from the Packing Mode selection menu: /20-packing-functionalities/40-heuristic-search/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/40-heuristic-search/ The video tutorial describing the Heuristic Search functionality: The default packer algorithm provides a decent packing for every UV map, but in most cases it won’t be the most dense one. If you want to obtain a very dense packing, you should enable the Heuristic Search functionality. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Packing Options panel → Heuristic Search subpanel. When the Heuristic Search functionality is enabled, the packer will perform many packing iterations (slightly randomizing the process every time), saving the best result it could find. /20-packing-functionalities/45-advanced-packing-options/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/45-advanced-packing-options/ In order to access advanced options, expand the Advanced Packing Options subpanel: Pack strategy The pack strategy options define the scheme how the islands will be packed into target UV boxes: Particular strategies are presented in the video: Other functionalities Other advanced packer functionalities provided by the packer: Lock Overlapping / Lock Groups Stack Groups Non-Square Packing Custom Target Box Island Rotation Step Scripting /30-packing-modes/50-groups-independently/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /30-packing-modes/50-groups-independently/ The Groups Independently mode packs UV islands split by the user into a number of groups. All groups are packed into the same UV space (a tile or optionally a grid of tiles). Groups are packed independently - when packing a single group, the packer ignores all islands belonging to other groups. As a result islands belonging to different groups will likely overlap each other after packing is done. In order to use the Groups Independently packing mode select it from the Packing Mode selection menu: /20-packing-functionalities/50-lock-overlapping/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/50-lock-overlapping/ The video tutorial describing the Lock Overlapping functionality: Using the Lock Overlapping functionality the user can make the packer not split certain islands during packing. When the functionality is enabled, every group of islands which are overlapping each other will be logically processed by the packer as a single island - their relative positions will be maintained during packing. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Lock Overlapping subpanel. /20-packing-functionalities/55-stack-groups/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/55-stack-groups/ The video tutorial describing the Stack Groups functionality: Using the Stack Groups functionality the user can make the packer automatically align (stack) particular islands on top of each other before packing and then pack stacked islands together. Stacked islands will not be split during packing. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Stack Groups subpanel. Stack groups may be defined using two approaches: /20-packing-functionalities/57-track-groups/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/57-track-groups/ The video tutorial describing the Track Groups functionality: Using the Track Groups functionality the user can make duplicated UVs track (follow) transformation of original UVs during a packing operation. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Track Groups subpanel. Tracking setup In order to set UV tracking up, first duplicate a set of UVs and move duplicated UVs by an offset in the UV space: /20-packing-functionalities/58-texel-density/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/58-texel-density/ Certain texel density tools can be used in the context of packing. For example: you can make the packer automatically set texel density for the input islands before packing by enabling Set TD Before Packing. All texel density tools are available in the Texel Density multi panel. Refer to the multi panel description to learn about texel density features in the context of packing. /20-packing-functionalities/60-non-square-packing/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/60-non-square-packing/ In order to pack islands to a non-square texture, you need to enable the Non-Square Packing functionality. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Non-Square Packing subpanel. Next perform the following steps: unwrap your islands in the usual manner so that they are not deformed when displayed with no texture open is the UV editor, open or create a non-square texture in the UV editor. /20-packing-functionalities/70-custom-target-box/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/70-custom-target-box/ Using the Custom Target Box functionality, you can pack islands to an arbitrary box in the UV space. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Custom Target Box subpanel. You can specify the box coordinates manually in the subpanel, you can also press the Edit Target Box button in order to enter the Box Edit mode. In the Box Edit mode the add-on renders the box in the UV space so you can modify it with visual feedback. /20-packing-functionalities/80-island-rotation-step/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/80-island-rotation-step/ The Island Rotation Step functionality allows the rotation step to be defined individually for every island. Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Island Rotation Step subpanel. By default all islands will have a special G rotation step value assigned to them – it means that they will use the global Rotation Step setting from the Packing Options panel. Assigning the rotation step value 0 to particular islands will prevent them from being rotated during packing at all. /20-packing-functionalities/95-scripting/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /20-packing-functionalities/95-scripting/ The Scripting functionality allows the user to run a custom set of scripts before and after every Pack operation. Every script can optionally be group-based (using a grouping scheme). Location in the UI: the Packing multi panel → Advanced Packing Options panel → Scripting subpanel. After navigating to the subpanel, press Allow Script Execution: The Scripting subpanel provides two lists for defining scripts: scripts to be executed before every Pack operation and scripts to be executed after every Pack operation. /version.txt Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /version.txt 4.0.0