Speed Trim Unfold

Maya Versions

Tested in Maya 2022-2027

Speed Trim Unfold is a tool that will quickly unfold your trim sheets and also map those to any existing laid out trim sheet.

It's a one-click solution to save you time and make UVing a more fun and engaging process.

How it works

Important

The examples presented are all using the Unfold Horizontally - Long Align hotkey.

For the UI version check UI Button Functionality.

Depending on the type of component you have chosen the tool has different behaviours.

Please check the Rules section

• The tool works by selecting:

  • 1. Faces selection (automatic approach)

    

    Unfolding face selections

    • If you have selected only faces and those faces loop around in a closed circuit (like the faces of a cylinder) then the tool will create an automatic seam to cut through those faces.

      

      Unfolding a closed loop of faces

  • 2. Faces and edges selection (user-defined)

    • This operation requires the user to have faces and edges selected. The seams on your UV shell will be determined by your selected edges.
    • To select multiple different components at the same time hold down right click and select Multi.

    

    

    Unfolding a closed loop of faces

  • 3. UV selection (for aligning to existing shells).

    • Automatic UV Selection: Once your trims are unfolded, your selection automatically switches to UV points—preparing your shells for quick alignment.
    • With those points selected, select a UV point on any target shell. The tool will automatically orient (vertically or horizontally), scale, and move your unfolded trim to match the target's size and placement.
    • You are not constrained to moving one shell at a time. Select multiple shells and align them to the last shell UVs you selected.

    

    Aligning trim sheets

    • The orientation of your shell is entirely dependent on the target orientation.
      • The tool calculates the bounding box of your target uv shell to determine its orientation. If it's longer on the V axis, it knows it's vertical and will rotate your source uvs to match that orientation.

    

    Aligning vertically

    • After the operation the tool will unfold your UV in a gridified manner. The spacing (rows and columns) of your UV shell are entirely dependent on your topology (Longer sections will be unfolded horizontally).
    • The tool will unfold your selection horizontally and place all shells in the center of the 0-1 UV space so all shells occupy the same space.
      • This is done so users can map multiple selections of trims at the same time.
    Info - Further details

    • You don't have to have the entire shell selected, a single uv from the source to the target will suffice (same rule applies for the target as well).
    • The tool will deselect the target UVs after the operation so you can re-map your shell to another trim if needed.
    • If you have multiple UV's selected the tool will recognise the last selected as the target.
    • Works with multiple source UV trim shells from different selected objects.

    • Aligning Shells directly from the viewport

    • It is even possible to align to existing trims directly from the viewport - without opening the UV Editor. Simply select a face, convert that face to uv then select a target uv from a trim you wish to match.

    Converted Face + UV

    • This is the only way you can work within the viewport.
    • Although selecting 2 faces and converting those to uv will work, Maya cannot track the selection order thus failing to correctly map the correct trim sheet.

    

    Align shells directly from viewport

    

    Important - Aligning from viewport

    • Be careful when converting your selection to uv when working from the viewport.
      • When converting vertices or edges that share border edges you will also select uvs that are shared between shells.
      • This will mess up the number of shells to be aligned and possibly their orientation.

UI Button Functionality

Unfold U and Unfold V : When having faces selected these buttons will unfold your trims Horizontally and Vertically.

The difference these make is when you have UV's selected.

• When aligning UVs to a target shell, the tool calcualtes the bounding box of that target shell. That calculation is how the tool knows how to orient the source UV shells.

  • Clicking on the Unfold U (Length) button: will unfold your selected (source) Trim sheets alongside the Length of the targets bounding box.
  Tip - Hotkey

  • Since trim sheets are usually long thin strips of UV Shells, it is recommended to use this button as a hotkey, this will ensure your UVs will be aligned to the length of your target UV shells (horizontally and vertically).

  

  • Clicking on the Unfold V (Width) button: will unfold your selected (source) Trim sheets alongside the width of the targets bounding box.

  

  • Please note that the length of the source shells is being used to align towards the target shells.

  • Here's a basic demonstration:

Unfolding Horizontally / Vertically

Aligning shells anlongside the targets long/short bounding box sides

Rules

The tool will not work if you have only objects selected, it requires component selections.

• 1. Selection

  • Selection:
    • The tool only accepts Face, Face/Edge and UV selections.

• 2. Topology

  • No n-gons.
    • If any detected the tool will abort and select the ngons instead.
  • No triangles on your face selection as the tool unitizes each face.
    • If any detected, your uv shell will fail to be stitched in a gridified way.
  • Avoid irregular/jagged face selections (they usually mess up the spacing, and orientation of your uv shell).
  • Ensure you have square or rectangle face selections.

• 3. Track Selection Order

  • Order of operations matter for this tool. If you are experiencing issues with aligning UVs check Track Selection Order in your preferences.

    • Go to Windows -> Settings/Preferences -> Preferences -> Selection.
      • Under modifier you should see the Track Selection Order checkbox.

    

Options Menu

• Create Shelf Button - Creates a shelf button for this tool directly on your active Maya shelf.

• Documentation - Opens a link to the documentation.

• Store - Opens links to ArtStation and Gumroad.