Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 14th May 2013 at 8:13 PM
Default Mesh Mirror & UV Maps Help
I can't get the UV map to flip with the mesh when either using Mirror Left Right or Cat's Mesh Mirror. Is there a tool I'm missing that can do this?
Advertisement
Mad Poster
#2 Old 16th May 2013 at 3:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by 2lalaland
I can't get the UV map to flip with the mesh when either using Mirror Left Right or Cat's Mesh Mirror. Is there a tool I'm missing that can do this?


MilkShape Plugin : Cat's UV Flip (horizontal, vertical)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#3 Old 18th May 2013 at 8:45 AM
Thanks for your help, fakepeeps. I do have that plugin already & it doesn't work for the purpose of mesh mirror though. When I use the mesh mirror, the UV map stays in it's original spot & doesn't flip with the mesh on the uv map. When I then use Cat's tool, the whole gosh darn thing flips so I have the front on the left & the back on the right. It looks like I'm going to have to disect the mesh further in order for it to flip right. Seems like a whole lot of work for a simple uv flip. As of right now, I do not forsee a problem leaving it this way because when I tweak the uv, both sides get tweaked. I have just never seen a map like this before & wonder if I'll run into problems with it down the road? Everything else about the uv map looks normal except where I mirrored is halved. The textures sit perfectly on the side I mirrored, it's just the map itself is only half of what it is suppose to be.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 18th May 2013 at 6:51 PM
You have to select certain vertices. I can vouch that the UV flipper does work; I used it to flip just the front top piece of a Maxis mesh (because it was a mirror image of what it should have been). Read through the comments for the UV flipper. Cat has explained why some flips don`t work (you may have to separate the pieces first).
Sockpuppet
#5 Old 18th May 2013 at 8:57 PM
Another simple flip is:
-Export/save the part your going to mirror.
-Mirror your meshpart
-save as ms3d.
-Open the ms3d with lithunwrap
-flip coordinates
-export as LUV
-import the LUV in Milkshape
-Import the first saved meshpart
-Move the coordinates from either one of the parts(connect/move them)
-regroup the parts
Mad Poster
#6 Old 18th May 2013 at 11:35 PM
That's simple?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 20th May 2013 at 4:07 AM Last edited by 2lalaland : 20th May 2013 at 6:04 AM.
Actually, Bloom's way would be easier depending on how much moving I would have to do from import from LUV. The problem is lithunwrap costs money.

The more I think about it, the only problem I will have down the road is if I want to have a texture sit different on the mirrored side but I never see myself wanting to do that as I can do that with textures alone. And IF I ever did, I can split the mesh in 2 parts, name them the same & carry on. Maybe this is the reason the uv doesn't automatically flip with a mirrored mesh, why would you need to change it if you're mirroring it, right? Can you foresee any problems leaving it just the way it is? As this will be a base mesh for more meshes to be built off of so I have to have this part right, you know?
Mad Poster
#8 Old 20th May 2013 at 6:14 PM
I don't know. Maybe if you posted a picture of what's going on, I could give better advice.

If it's something you're making for personal use, I'd say don't worry about it. But if it's something you're going to share, keep in mind that people might want to make recolours... and that can be frustrating with a weird UV map.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 20th May 2013 at 7:19 PM
Thank you for your thoughts. I'm still tweaking the UV so I haven't had a chance to test it out thoroughly with textures yet. I am starting to wonder if the textures will be mirrored that way too. So far only tested on things that I want mirrored. This has been 1 long project & getting pretty sick of UV's, LOL! I am taking a female top mesh that has been stretched & scaled to huge proportions & adjusting the UV to fit accordingly (as in the textures won't look so stretched out & scaled). When I get done, I'll take a pic of the before & after & you will see the madness of this, LOL! I truly see it being worth all the effort because textures sit soooooo much nicer on her now.

After further testing with textures & I do see a problem, I probably will just buy the lithunwrap if Bloom can confirm that the moving after import isn't a lot of work. I see myself using this mirror option a lot more in the future as it makes life so much easier because it tweaks the UV on both sides at the same time or when you are done with 1 side you can mirror the side you have done instead of having to do both sides. By the time I get done tweaking a UV, I'm so sick of them I could puke, LOL! With Bloom's way, I'm just importing, exporting, regrouping...easy. I'm hoping this lithunwrap is just a simple realigning the 1 whole side to match up, not individual vertices, now that would be worth the investment
Mad Poster
#10 Old 20th May 2013 at 9:55 PM
I'm still confused as to why Cat's tools won't work for you. I've used them twice with weird Maxis meshes to mirror (or, rather, un-mirror) parts of the UV map. They worked great, and I didn't have to spend any extra money to do it. I guess I just can't visualize what you're trying to do.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 21st May 2013 at 4:48 PM Last edited by 2lalaland : 21st May 2013 at 5:13 PM.
Thank you for your help, fakepeeps. I have the left half of a female mesh top that I made all my changes to (vertice moving as well as UV). So I deleted the right side, duplicated the left side & mesh mirrored it. I was EXPECTING the whole UV to flip. I did read thru Cat's UV Flip instructions to see if I was doing it right & I was? Your last post prompted me to go re-read the mesh mirror download. Ironically, her demo pic is exactly what I'm doing, LOL! It says it right there that it won't flip the UV & that I need UV flip. So went back to the UV flip download & read the 'comments' section & sure enough a person posted about some of the issues I was having. I thought that area was for thanking Cat, not explaining things in better detail, duh. The advice Cat gives about selecting the vertices in the UV map instead of on the mesh helps tremendously. I still need to realign that area because it flips in place but way easy to select all & move I'm STILL tweaking the UV so I've only half butt tested this but I'm pretty sure this will work.

Thanks again for your help. In hindsight, I think I should have posted this in Cat's 'comments' section, but like I said, I thought that was just for thanking, which I will be doing very soon . So if I should have any other questions, I should post it there right?
Mad Poster
#12 Old 21st May 2013 at 6:10 PM
Yeah, it would probably be best to post there. Cat built the flipper, so she knows exactly how it works!
Sockpuppet
#13 Old 22nd May 2013 at 11:08 AM
Test Subject
Original Poster
#14 Old 22nd May 2013 at 12:18 PM
Oh, most excellent! Thank you so much for the link, Bloom. This gives me options, yeah! I'll try both out & see which will be easier for me. Or whichever 1 keeps me out of the map the most, LOL! I can't believe how much time it takes on some of these maps, geez! Some are easy, others I've spent up to a week on! So you can see I get pretty sick of them, LOL! I'm just super glad I started learning how to use mesh mirror & getting this uv problem worked out! Thanks so much for your help you 2!
Back to top