How do I unwrap my objects for texturing?

[project6]

Hi.

I modelled some stuff in AliasStudio and import them to MAX for rendering, as STEP files. Works great, but I have one question:

Is there a good way to unwrap Pwr_ objects?

If I apply the default Max Unwrap tool, triangles are created throughout the entire model in a (very) messy way which makes the unwrapping difficult. Is this the only way to unwrap?

It seems like a strange workflow to me to convert the NURBS into triangles for unwrapping, keeping the NURBS surfaces in the UVW editor and beeing able to edit those would be very nice, since my models usually are 3-4 surfaces only but when I apply the unwrap tool it turns into 20-30, oddly positioned, triangles.

/p6

[Olaf Finkbeiner]

Dear p6,
Currently there is no special nurbs uv unwrap! I know they (npower) are working on it! So you have to deal with meshes!
But the meshes can be tesselated to your taste (resolution etc.), power nurbs is quite (very) good at this!
For that you have to play around with the viewport tesselation settings and then use nurbs query to create a mesh...

Have Fun

Olaf

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

The Max unwrap tools only support native max objects (Mesh, poly, and patches), excluding native Max NURBS. As Olaf said nPower is looking into the best approach to unwraping Pwr_ Objects. You can use the standard UVW Map, and there is also mapping options in the Face Display rollout. Both of these options will apply the mapping without converting to triangles.

-Eric

[project6]

Thanks for your replies!

I'll experiment with the tesselation settings until a new, hi-tech "NURBS-unwrapper" has arrived.
( A bit weird the MAX unwrapper doesn't support their own NURBS! )

Best regards,
p6