UV Mapping Modifier
Idea came to me while simulating liquids. It would be great to be able to unwrap the mesh but it changes each frame..
What if each frame, it performs an unwrap? Possibly a modifier that offers the different types of unwrapping and the unwrap options depending on which method is chosen from the drop-down.
EDIT - " I could see this being useful, just not in the example you use. In a fluid, the auto unwrapped uvs would be completely different for each frame. You'd end up with a flickering texture. However, having UV unwrapping in some arbitrary position in your modifier stack, would be incredibly useful. This would mean you wouldn't have to apply all of the modifiers in order to fix the mapping for the mesh. Almost all of the modifiers under the Generate category have an effect on UVs. This would be a good way to rectify the issues with the UVs and still allow the user to animate the modifier parameters, for instance. " - @dpdpforlife
What dpdpforlife commented above is what I was trying to suggest but failed. Thanks for the comment!
Here is a mock-up of the modifier:
5 Comments
I could see this being useful, just not in the example you use. In a fluid, the auto unwrapped uvs would be completely different for each frame. You'd end up with a flickering texture. However, having UV unwrapping in some arbitrary position in your modifier stack, would be incredibly useful. This would mean you wouldn't have to apply all of the modifiers in order to fix the mapping for the mesh. Almost all of the modifiers under the Generate category have an effect on UVs. This would be a good way to rectify the issues with the UVs and still allow the user to animate the modifier parameters, for instance.
@dpdpforlife: Yeah, I also see this useful.
Not that it is a must one thing but I would deffinitely love to see this come. There is similar modifier in 3ds max (Uvw map modifier) and it is incredibly handy in archviz type of work. Plus you can move rotate and so on this modifier so it is very fast way to tweak textures for less complex shapes in a no time.
@tomasluza.ih: Having a gizmo to adjust the location of the map like in max would be nice. I guess the Blender way of doing it would be to have an object selection eyedropper so you can use an empty to set position, rotation, and scale.
How would you prevent texture flickering in case if it's used in fluid simulation? For me, for example, Smart UV-project doesn't sound very useful in fluid simulation, because the islands would always be in a different place and shape.
I've been thinking fluid materials actually quite much and for me, the procedural materials have so far been the best option in Blender to be used with them.