Rizom-Lab releases RizomUV 2025
Rizom-Lab has released RizomUV 2025.0, the latest version of its UV unwrapping and packing software for game development, VFX and motion graphics.
The update adds support for GPU-based packing on Windows, new packing ‘strategies’ for both GPU and CPU packing, and introduces a new Scene Outliner to help manage object visibility.
A standalone UV unwrapping tool for entertainment or product design
Available under its current branding since 2018, RizomUV is a standalone tool for UV unwrapping 3D models and packing the resulting UV islands.
It comes in two editions: RizomUV Virtual Spaces (VS) and RizomUV Real Space (RS).
Both have similar features, but whereas VS is designed for games and VFX, RS is designed for product design, and works in unnormalised UV space.
Support for GPU-based packing on Windows only
The headline change in RizomUV 2025.0 is the new GPU packing system.
The new GPU packing algorithm is a “ground up” rebuild of the existing CPU packing algorithm, resulting in more efficient packing: average tile coverage is increased by “2-4%”.
However, the main benefit is increased packing speed.
The CPU and GPU used for the comparisons in the release video embedded at the top of this story are several generations old – over eight years old, in the case of the AMD Threadripper 1950X CPU – but Rizom-Lab says that a speed increase of “3-4x” over CPU packing is typical.
GPU packing is CUDA-based, so it requires a compatible NVIDIA GPU, and is currently only available on Windows.
New ‘strategies’ to optimize CPU and GPU packing
In addition, users can now choose a packing ‘strategy’ for both GPU and CPU packing.
Four are available, including strategies designed to maximize packing speed and tile coverage and to minimize artifacts, plus one intended for assets with a pixel art style.
New Scene Outliner helps manage object visibility
The other major new feature is the Scene Outliner.
It works in a similar way to those in 3D apps, displaying the hierarchy for the asset being UV unwrapped, making it easier to control which objects are visible, or to isolate individual objects.
Other workflow improvements
Other changes include Pack to Tiles, a new option to pack UV islands from groups automatically into tiles when using UDIM or other tile-based workflows.
The algorithm for orienting UV islands according to their original orientation in 3D space has been “completely rebuilt for smarter results”.
Users can now switch between vertex, edge and polygon selections, with options to select the entire corresponding area, or only its borders.
In addition, it is now possible to save the settings for every preference in the UI and use them as the defaults for a new work session.
There are also a number of smaller workflow improvements, listed in the release notes.
Price and system requirements
RizomUV 2025.0 VS and RS are compatible with Windows 10+, macOS 11.0+ and RHEL 8.6+ Linux.
There are third-party bridge plugins for a range of DCC applications. The ones for 3ds Max, Blender and Maya are fairly up-to-date, but others have now not been updated for years.
Licensing varies between Indie users – artists and companies earning under €100,000/year – and Pro users.
Indie users get the option to rent to own or buy a perpetual licence; Pro users get a rental-only model.
Indie licences of both types are node-locked to two computers, while Pro users can also rent floating licenses.
For RizomUV VS, a perpetual license costs €149.90 (around $176) and rent-to-own costs €14.90/month ($18/month). Pro licenses cost €34.90/month ($41/month).
For RizomUV RS, a perpetual license costs €299.90 (around $350) and rent-to-own costs €29.90/month ($35/month). Pro licenses cost €59.90/month ($70/month).
Read an overview of the new features in RizomUV 2025.0 on Rizom-Lab’s website
Read a full list of new features in RizomUV in the online changelog
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