STEP BY STEP

USE THE MAGIC WAND TO SELECT COMPLEX SHAPES

01 IMPORT AND SET UP

Import your model with no UVS via File>load. Go to Select>model Dialog. It shows the groups present in your model. Count your Model or Material groups. Go to Multitile in the UI'S lower right and set up a corresponding amount of tiles.

In Materials, press the In Tiles option. This distributes the materials into different UV tiles. Next, press In New Groups to group them. This sets up your UDIMS from the get-go.

02 MAKE THE FIRST CUT

On a hard-edge model like this, the best workflow is to start by cutting out the shapes that you need to be in one piece, and then letting Autoseam simply take care of the rest.

Make sure the Deviation button is active – the button text will be orange if it is. On the vehicle, I placed my mouse in the top middle of the chassis, and with a setting of about 30, I then pressed C to cut.

03 USE THE MAX EDGE AND SMOOTHING SLIDERS

When you use the Max Edge slider solo, it will typically select around sunken or raised areas, as seen on the left side of the screenshot. However, if you use the Smoothing (Noisy Shapes) slider, it increases the selection to include these, as seen on the right. This saves you the hassle of adding them manually. But be careful when doing this, as these areas typically need ‘room’ to unwrap, in turn causing distortion.

04 SELECT SHAPES

In addition to letting you define areas to cut, the Magic Wand also lets you define shapes. This is handy when you need to separate or group geometry before cutting it the way you need.

The Select Limited Group option enables you to select shapes like this. While its real function is to make sure selection holes are filled on the model when selecting, it's also super handy for selecting shapes – explore this together with the other sliders!