UVPackmaster new feature: detect all UV map issues with a single click
glukoz writes:
If you work a lot with Blender you are probably familiar with this problem: you are preparing a UV map for your 3D model and you are wondering whether you properly unwrapped the entire geometry. What if you forgot to unwrap a part of your mesh? It will become a tiny single vertex in your map, being very hard to spot in the UV editor. And what about other issues like UV faces overlapping each other or faces with self-intersecting edges? Such errors usually happen if you unwrap the geometry with incorrect seams. Off-course you can always create a UV grid texture and try to find all those issues manually, but it requires time and there is always a possibility that you will miss something.
The developers of UVPackmaster work with Blender on a daily basis, so they know this problem very well. That’s is why they implemented a new functionality for their add-on which solves exactly this issue. Now you can simply select the UV geometry you want to check and click on the ‘Validate UV Map’ button. And that’s it: add-on will detect all incorrect UV faces for you in a second.
A picture is worth a thousand words so developers created a short video showing how the new functionality works. You can watch it below.
I’m really getting to dislike using Gumroad for add-on purchases. I didn’t realize that, as a Mac OS user, I had to install extra crap via something called home-brew…. and I have NO way to contact the developer. So I just blew $15 for something that I can’t really use for whatever reason.
If the interface of Gumroad was actually made for humans to use, I wouldn’t be in this situation. There’s so much info on the itty-bitty narrow windoid-whatchamacallit that I had no idea it was actually a read me instead of “testimonials”. I don’t like to mess around with the terminal and use it to install crap that I have no idea what the long-term ramifications will be just to use a single add-on for only Blender. Especially with a new version of OS X (Majave). I don’t want to have an entire day being consumed over trying to get this multiple-install-of-stuff to work in my system and not muck up other apps and stuff.
I think it would be nice if you clarified that you actually had a way to contact me (the developer) and it wasn’t actually so difficult :)
Regarding MacOS and Homebrew: unfortunately I am not aware of any way of installing OpenMP on a MacOS system without using command line. Despite that I think Homebrew is a standard component of the Mac platform and installing it shouldn’t be a problem even for a non-experienced user.
I was able to figure out that replying to the gumroad receipt was the sole way to contact the “author/developer/creator” only after a search on the Gumroad site. Again, as Gumroad likes to do, it’s obscured to the unseasoned user. So “not that difficult” –YMMV.
Home-brew IS NOT part of the standard Mac OS install, which (to me) is the only measure of something being a “standard component of the Mac Platform”. Anything else is just optional. Home-brew has to be downloaded and then installed. And the only time I’ve had to use the command line for ANYTHING was when I was beta testing and the dev had specific instructions for me to do. So I think your assumptions are a bit far off the mark. Not everyone is a developer. My computer is just a tool for me to create. I don’t have the time, inclination nor need to ever use the command line since Mac OS X was released. I’m also skeptical of installing anything that smacks of dodgy-ness. That means Home-brew and OpenMP (whatever that means… Oh, my bad. So sorry just remembered that It’s my responsibility search for any and all information whenever I’m confronted with a term I don’t know.)
I feel that requiring additional software for users of a specific OS and then charging them the same as others who don’t have to install anything extra, isn’t fair and burying the pertinent info that Add-on needs 2 additional installs of software after a group of testimonials just cements this attitude very clearly and it’s something I don’t want to support and I won’t. Again, I feel that something this important to the operation of the add-on should be in the first few paragraphs and not shunted to the end of the text after testimonials.
That’s all I have to say. I was just going to leave this topic alone, but you asked me for additional info, so here it is. Anyway… I have my refund coming, so thanks for that, and I am sure this is a fine add-on. It’s just too bad that Mac users seem to have to pay extra for this add-on with their time.
I could argue with many statements from your post, but I am afraid I won’t be able to convince you seeing how prejudiced you are towards command line :)
Just to summarize our position: the simple fact is that we haven’t received any report regarding problems with Homebrew installation so far, so we assume that this requirement is not problematic for users at all. It’s simple as that.
yeah this whole addon crap is getting annoying. These “Addons” should be native to blender in the first place which is a free program. This whole “addon” thing is starting to become a money pit. Why arent these “addons” inside of blender when you download it? Because its about “how can i make money off of this?” Im not buying any more plugins from anybody
Well, the new free (demo) version is not very usefull, really is time lost install this, but good luck.
The main purpose of the demo version is to give a possibility to test all pro version features for free. So a user can check whether the add-on will be useful for him without spending a peny for it. Don’t you think it is a useful thing? :)
Well Peter Mullins, it’s like this:
1) I have No idea what Home-brew (a name that doesn’t really instill confidence, btw) is and I would have to do research on it and see how to install it, if it even has a version that’s Mojave-compatiable. If so, then I would have to learn a bit about the terminal and how to safely install Home-brew. And include searches for any incompatibilities it may have.
2) then I would have to do the same for this MP thingie.
3) install UVPackerPro and see if it actually works as advertised.
So it’s not an easy or simple install for the average Mac User. In my experience, when additional components are required, it just makes the foundation of the “asking” thing really shaky and gives the developer of the thing a convenient excuse — just blame the additional component for not being whatever.
Last year I spent an entire afternoon installing a video driver that was required for an app to work faster. It didn’t and the app dev blamed the developer of the video driver for not having it updated. I dropped that app and moved on. Which is what I ‘d like to do with UVP.
Short answer, I don’t know how much time will be lost, but in the past with similar “install requests” I have lost most of a day just to get the damned thing to work. I’d rather not chance it.
P. Mullins wasn’t replying to you. He just said that the free demo of this plugin isn’t worth the time to install it.
I know, but it helped me to clarify things and get the rant out of my system.
That seems so weird, it’s just a normal blender plugin. You download the zip file and install it in blender.
to me it sounds like you found a phising site?
All you should need to do is go to “view product” in your gumroad library and download the zip file to install in blender.
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
oooooh wait no i see, weird it requires that for mac…
CARTOONMIKE, HomeBrew may sound kind of dodgy because of the name, but please believe me when I tell you that it is used *extensively* in the Mac world. If you are a developer on that platform, it is one of the first things you end up installing, as it takes care of software installations/dependency management for you. It is fair to characterize it as being for Mac what yum or apt are for Linux.
As far as UVPackerPro goes, I cannot speak for the product as I’ve not used it.
A very nice move, now it allows to pack without check when it needed.
Sometimes it marks a lot of normal polygons as incorrect, maybe that because of scale.
Hovewer, now it allows to find tiny details with wrong topology in more comfortable way.
Good progress)
Apologies to the Developer. I was an idiot. Shouldn’t be posting after chemo. Anyway, now that I’m in my “right” mind, I’ve tested the demo, after actually reading the entire post in Gumroad. I installed Home-brew, which wasn’t a chore and I was able to copy-paste from the description to the Terminal, avoiding typos and the other installs via the terminal were a breeze. Installed the Demo and it worked excellently on some of my meshes.
Buying the Pro version and adding a bit extra for causing unnecessary work for you guys. Thanks for a great add on and happy holidays to y’all.
Please help me to instal uvpackmaster pro. I have got brew, openmp, but I do not have uvpackmaster