26 Essential Blender Tips for UV Unwrapping Subdivision Surfaces

Speed up your UV unwrapping workflow in Blender with these tips from CG Cookie's Pothead character creation course!

Addon mentioned (not affiliates):

00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Using a Grid Texture
01:20 - Resetting UVs
01:40 - Placing Seams
01:58 - Live Unwrap
02:28 - Edge Tagging
03:15 - Working with Subdiv Off
03:57 - Why Straighten UVs
5:06 - Follow Active Quads
06:15 - Auto Aligning Edges
06:40 - Follow Active Quads cont.
06:58 - Pinning
08:11 - Moving pinned islands to the side
08:42 - Hiding finished islands
09:22 - Straightening Complex Islands
09:55 - Seams with subdiv cause pinching
10:20 - Visualizing modified UVs
11:14 - Advanced Follow Active Quads
13:33- Using Snapping to stitch UVs
14:12 - Using Pinning to guide unwrap
15:04 - Splitting concave areas
15:24 - Face area ratio causing subdiv stretching
16:53 - Fixing subdiv UV Smooth stretching
18:08 - How to unwrap basically anything by stitching
22:58 - Turn Live Unwrap off!
23:31 - Average Islands Scale
23:52 - Packing multiple objects
24:28 - Adjusting texel density
25:21 - Better packing algorithms
25:55 - Final thoughts

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[whynotanyting]

I'm starting to realize how much finding seams on objects is just like finding seams on clothes. Clothes are essentially made by taking a 2D pieces of fabric and stitching them together by the seams to create clothing that can fit over a 3D object. Probably not a bad way to get an idea of how seams should be placed.

[lawrencegirard]

Damn, I thought "26 min long for a lesson on UV unwrapping, it will be boring as hell" and then, 26min later I was like "what !?! it's already over ?". Thanks to teach me how wrong i was. That's what i call some quality course.

[aquill]

I never, ever leave comments under Youtube videos, but this tutorial has solved SO MANY of the problems I've run into while learning UV Unwrapping. You're a savior!

[MotherLoveGaming]

Hands down the most helpful UV Unwraping video I have watched in the last two years.... And I have watched pretty much them all. Thank you for this video.

[michaeljoseph]

This is pure gold. UV/Unwrapping can be daunting, but Jonathan showed how simple it can be with these few and simple tips. Thank you CG Cookie and Jonathan!

[burakozcan]

This tutorial is one of the best educational and well-expressed video among the others in YT. It is so clear and also detailed. Thanks for this amazing tutorial. I have learned a lot :)

[Argyll]

Definitely the best tutorial on YouTube explaining UV unwrapping.

[andrewsneacker]

Man! This is one of the best unwrapping tutorials! You really know how to explain thing fast and simple. Big thanks, i learned a few really cool things.

[sanya]

Easily one of my favorite unwrapping tutorials, incredibly densely packed with information. Thanks!

[AZSDXC]

I'm watching this course at the moment, and I like it a lot. So far I'm on the modeling, but can't wait to get to texturing phase

[amilcaretonnarelli]

I just begun with UV unwrapping this week and you drop this. PERFECT timing

[jasonrees]

This tutorial has totally reframed my view on UV unwapping. I was really struggling to deal with Blender's UV unwrapping system after coming from a different 3d modelling program and this one video has changed the game on that. Thank you!

[ilyashka_levelart]

The best tutorial I've found on YouTube for UV unwrapping. The explanation is not too complicated, so as being a beginner in blender, that was quite easy for me to understand perfectly where to mark seams on the model and the importance of them. Nice video, subscribed)

[billthomas]

That was a very educational 26 minutes. 6:50. I think I'm going to cry. That was beautiful!

[dougieladd]

Such a great video. Well explained. Thanks. Love the workflow for the UV's with holes... great work. Thanks!

[NicoleHam]

Can I just say... I was already learning a ton but I've basically given up on learning how to properly use seams. YOUR TUT JUST FIXED THAT. I can't believe how well organized the info and your process is here, thank you so so so so much!

[jakesullivan]

This is SO helpful. Thanks a ton! You do an amazing job of making the complex process of UV unwrapping feel more manageable.

[ZeroDean]

Just getting back into 3D after over a decade away. Learning Blender in the process... and this video was tremendously helpful. All excellent tips. Will definitely be watching again. Thank you.

[asthalis]

Lots of precious tips in this video ! Thanks for this awesome work.

[sswt]

This is by far the most useful uv unwraping video I have come across.. Thanks a lot