3d-io unveils Unwrella-IO
Tools developer 3d-io has unveiled Unwrella-IO, a new standalone app based on the technology used in Unwrella, its UV unwrapping and packing plugin 3ds Max and Maya.
The software, currently in beta and due for release “soon”, makes it possible to automatically unrap the UVs of 3D models in “a few clicks”, via a “natural UI”.
Turning 3d-io’s UV unwrapping and UV packing technology into standalone apps
3d-io has recently been turning its technology – previously available as plugins for specific DCC applications – into standalone apps for users of any DCC software.
In May, it released Packer-IO, a free standalone UV packing tool based on the technology behind its existing UV-Packer plugins.
Unwrella-IO seems to be doing the same thing, but for one of 3d-io’s main commercial tools: Unwrella, its UV unwrapping and packing plugin for 3ds Max and Maya.
An intutive, high-performance standalone UV unwrapping tool
3d-io describes Unwrella-IO as providing “a natural UI and easy-to-understand controls for creating UVs” making it possible to unwrap 3D models “with just a few clicks”.
In the video above, the UI looks almost identical to Packer-IO – not entirely surprising, since UV-Packer is integrated into Unwrella – but with the addition of an additional section of the interface with UV unwrapping controls.
It includes preset modes for hard-surface and organic models, plus some simple controls for the placement of UV seams and the amount of UV stretching to tolerate.
The other workflows look similar to UV-Packer, with the user dragging and dropping a model in FBX format into the app, applying a readymade checkermap material, and semi-automatically unwrapping and packing the UVs.
A caption describes the process as a ‘five-second unwrap’.
Price, system requirements and release date
Unwrella-IO is “coming soon”. 3D-IO hasn’t announced the price or system requirements.
Read more about 3d-io’s software on its website
(No more information about Unwrella-IO at the time of writing)
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