Pelt Mapping Tutorial

Pelt mapping is a new mapping method in the Unwrap UVW modifier in 3ds max. I haven't used it until recently (3ds max 9), and several people has asked me about it. So, I have decided to write a simple step by step tutorial that I can refer others to easily.

Here I got an editable poly of a weird mask. The few horns on the mask make it difficult to Unwrap with traditional plane, cylindrical, or spherical mapping methods. It can done with the traditional ways, but this model is much faster with pelt mapping.

1.Like with any unwrapping task, I add Unwrap UVW modifier first.
2.Then click on edge to enter edge mode.
3.Here I prefer to turn off map seam here to simplify the viewport, since it's not needed with pelt mapping.

Now imagine you are trying to flaten a paper mask. You will need to have some cuts to minimize the amount of crease. Pelt mapping is the same, so select the edges that you think would be the best place to cut.

Click [Edge Sel to Pelt Seam] on the bottom of the rollout to turn selected edges into pelt seam. You will see those edges change their color to blue, which indicate that they are now pelt seams.

Now change to Face mode and select one face like so.

Click [Expend Face to Pelt Seam] and all the faces suround by seams will be selected. You can see that the horns are not selected, because they are completely cut off by seams. (You can choose not to cut it off, but in this case I think it's best to map them separately.)

1.Now you can start unwrapping the selected faces with pelt mapping by clicking [Pelt].
2.Next, rotate the unwrapping plane to a logical angle.

Click [Edit Pelt Map] on the bottom of the rollout and the Edit UVWs and Pelt Windows will pop up.

In the UVW window, you can see that the pelt stretching lines are not very well aligned to the model. So you can fix it by spin the stretcher with the rotate tool.

When it is more aligned, use the scale tool to scale it up a bit to give the model more space to unwrap. Then click the [Simulate Pelt] a few times to pull it open.

From the 3d viewport you can see that the mapping has a lot of distortion.

Correct it by using the Relax tool, which can be access from the manu of the UVW window under Tool.

The best settings for me on this model are Relax By Face Angles, Iterations:80, and Amount:0.2. Click [apply] until satisfied with the result.

Now it is much better. You can scale it down to make it fit within the UV box.
Repeat the unwrap for other parts one by one.

You are done!