GeoUV and Texture Mapping

Texture mapping is an important process. It defines your models. It makes s a model appear as wood, marble, etc. It gives a dress or a couch a fabric texture, suede texture, etc.

According to Wikipedia,

"This process is akin to applying patterned paper to a plain white box."
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texture_mapping

Texture mapping is important. It is one of the components that makes a model look realistic. Quite simply, the better the texture map, the more realistic the model.

This post is about GeoUV from Geometric Informatics, the company whom I am employed by. GeoUV is a plug-in for Maya and 3D Studio Max. GeoUV excels over other texture mappers by automating the mapping process while minimizing distortion. It increases the amount of memory used for each object, resulting in more efficient memory use and more realistic detail. It is available for Windows or Linux platforms, allowing you to work in your environment of choice.

Here are some examples from GeoUV. This first example illustrates how GeoUV creates a more realistic texture map.

The following images are a tree and its associated texture map.

This last image is of a teapot. I've included it for its beauty.

Click here for an evaluation version of GeoUV. This page also includes links to videos that act as GeoUV tutorials for both the Maya and 3dsMax versions.

Please keep the following in mind when you use the evaluation version.

The evaluation version has limited functionality. Meshes are limited to
triangles; quads are supported in the full version only. The evaluation version
displays the texture coordinates as a flat 3D mesh rather than as actual UV
values. However the full version displays the texture coordinates as actual UV
values.