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 Object Properties → UVPackmaster4 → Auto Repacking:

Note: while the entire UVPackmaster UI is located in the N panel of the UV editor, the object-related options are an exception to this - they are available in the Object Properties tab.

In order to enable auto repacking for the given object, turn Enable Auto Repacking on:

Expand the Add UV Map To Repack menu and select the UV map which you want to enable repacking for. Note that if the objects has multiple UV maps, you can add/remove/configure UV maps for repacking individually:

Ignore the Add To Repack Cluster for now - it is used for more advanced repacking scenarios (it will be explained later in the Repack clusters section below).

Once a UV map was added to the list, you can configure which option set to use when packing the map. If you want to define option sets individually per object / UV map, enable option sets for the given Blender scene. You will find more info on option sets here.

Configure multiple objects / UV maps in the scene for repacking using the procedure described above.

Operation type selection

For every UV map added for repacking you can also select which pack operation should be used when repacking the map - use the Operation Type menu in the map configuration. The possible values are:

Pack: the standard packing operation (the default),
Pack To Others: the islands of the map will be packed in such a way that they will not overlap the ‘Other’ islands (read this page for more details on the operation).

IMPORTANT: all UVs of a map are always automatically selected during repacking, that is why the only method of defining the ‘Other’ islands for repacking is by pinning them. When using the Pack To Others operation type, make sure the Pinned UVs As Others option is enabled in the Preferences multi panel - the packer will report a warning in the UI otherwise.

Note that changing the operation type for a map is treated in the same way as a packing option change - the map will be repacked during the next Auto Repack operation, even if its UVs have not changed in the meantime.

Repacking

In order to repack all objects configured for repacking in the scene, go to the main UVPackmaster tab (in the N panel of the UV editor), and go to the Other Tools multi panel → Auto Repacking panel:

Press the Auto Repack button. The operation will perform the following steps for every object / UV map pair configured for repacking:

If the object is currently hidden in the scene, report a warning and stop processing the object, proceed to the next object / UV map pair.
Select the object, deselected all other objects in the scene.
Make the UV map the active map.
If this isn’t the first repack attempt for the given object / UV map pair:
- check if UVs of the map or packing options have been changed by the user since the last repack operation was performed,
- if they haven’t been changed and Force Repacking is off, skip the current object / UV map pair and proceed to the next object / UV map pair.
Select all visible UVs in the map. If the map contains hidden UVs, report a warning (only the visible UVs are going to be packed).
Run the pack operation determined by the Operation Type setting (Pack or Pack To Others) for the selected UVs, using the selected option set (or default packer options if option sets are disabled in the scene).
If the Show Results option is enabled, pause the operation, switch to the Edit mode and show the packed UV map to the user. Wait until the user presses the Space button.
Proceed to the next object / UV map pair and repeat the steps.

The Auto Repack operation will output info on per object / UV map operation result in a summary:

Repack clusters

You can also configure a set of mesh objects to be automatically repacked together, in a single packing operation. For that you need to create a repack cluster and add the objects to it.

Go to the main UVPackmaster tab (in the N panel of the UV editor), and go to the Other Tools multi panel → Auto Repacking panel. You will see the Repack Clusters section in the panel:
Press Add New in order to create a new repack cluster. You can set the name of the newly created cluster to any name you want:
In the UI, you can add (the Plus button), remove (the Minus button), browse and rename repack clusters. In order to browse the repack clusters available in the blend file, press the icon to the left of the active cluster name.
If you have option sets enabled in the blend file, you need to select the option set to be used with a given cluster. The browse menu for option set selection is available right below the active cluster name.
Every cluster also provides its own Operation Type menu (read the Operation type selection section above for details) - it determines the pack operation to use when repacking the given cluster. Note that when a UV map is added to a cluster, the per-map Operation Type setting does not apply - the cluster setting is used for all maps belonging to the cluster.
After a cluster was created, go to the Object Properties tab, the UVPackmaster4 panel, where you configure UV maps for repacking. Select the object and configure its UV maps for repacking (see the Object configuration section above for details). Once a map has been configured, enable the Add To Repack Cluster checkbox and select the target repack cluster to which the map should be added.
Repeat the previous step for all UV maps to be packed together in a single packing operation (add them to the same repack cluster).
From now on, every time you run the Auto Repack operation, the packer will select all objects / UV maps belonging to the cluster and repack them together using a single packing operation. Repacking will take place only if UVs of any map added to the cluster or packing options have been changed since the last time the operation was run.
The packer will perform the previous step independently for all repack clusters configured in the blend file.