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UVW Map

UV editor for SketchUp pieces: it unfolds the mesh, maps it automatically or by hand and writes it back to the model, live.

Where it is in the app
UVW Map
Plan
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Section
Tools

The numbers on the screen are the steps in Step by step.

What it does

Unwraps and maps the texture of a SketchUp piece, such as upholstery, curved pieces and joinery, which SketchUp alone doesn’t handle well. The app reads the selected piece, you adjust it in 3D and in the 2D layout, and the mapping goes back to the model on its own.

The Simple mode does it in one click, with adjustments for direction, size and position. Advanced has seams, unwrap, relax, projections and pack.

Before you start

  • SketchUp open with the FLUIO. extension connected.
  • In SketchUp, select a group, component or faces of the piece.
  • For components, the UVs go to the definition: every copy gets the same mapping.

Step by step

  1. Bring the piece in

    On the UVW Map tab, click Bring from SketchUp. With more than one window open, choose which one under SketchUp window. The piece arrives unchanged; nothing is written until you change something.

    • If the piece already has a textured material, it shows in the layout and in the 3D view.

  2. Map it automatically

    In Mode Simple, click Automatic: the app picks the seams, unfolds the piece into parts and packs them.

  3. Adjust each part

    Click a part of the piece. Use Rotate and Straighten for the grain, Smaller and Larger for the scale and the arrows for the position. Match another part copies the adjustment from another part.

  4. Choose how to write it

    Under Apply in SketchUp as, choose Checker grid to check for distortion, Material at real-world scale to use the texture at its real size, or Painted texture.

  5. Check in SketchUp

    Writing is automatic, less than half a second after each change. The footer shows “SketchUp up to date” and how many faces were written. Write now forces the whole piece to be written.

Tips

  • Ctrl+Z undoes in the app and rewrites in SketchUp. When the app’s history runs out, it undoes the last FLUIO. mesh operation in SketchUp.
  • In the 3D view: the middle button orbits, the right button pans, the wheel zooms. F frames the piece and Esc clears the selection.
  • In Advanced, the steps go from Mesh to Close: Apply seam C, Unwrap U, Relax R, Project J (box, planar, cylindrical or spherical) and Pack P.
  • H turns on the distortion map: blue is shrunk, red is stretched.
  • Switching tabs doesn’t close the piece or lose the history.

Common problems

When“Select a group, a component or faces before unwrapping.”
What to doSelect the piece in SketchUp and click Bring from SketchUp again.
WhenA warning that the extension doesn’t have unwrap yet.
What to doClose and reopen SketchUp to load the new version of the extension.
WhenUndo is refused: “The model was changed in SketchUp after the FLUIO operation.”
What to doUndo in SketchUp itself, with Ctrl+Z there.
WhenPainted texture writes fewer faces than the piece has.
What to doThis mode only writes to faces with a textured material. Paint the piece or use Checker grid.

Keep going

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Didn’t find the answer?Open a ticket right in the app, in Your account › Support. It already includes your computer’s versions and the error history, and the reply arrives in the app.
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