[Major Project] 01: Iron UV Mapping 01; First Attempt & Custom UV Grid

My Iron character has been fully textured to look like a Vinyl figure, however this was achieved solely within Maya. Without creating a reference object, the bump map would animate when Iron moved, which is not what I want. Rather than trying to avoid UV Mapping, I have decided I must get over my aversion towards it, especially in preparation for the eventual UV Mapping of my Oxygen and Water characters, because both have features that will definitely require a UV Map. My first attempt at UV Mapping Iron's head has turned out messier than expected, due to me performing an over-complex Automatic map, so I am going to restart the UVing process.

My custom UV Grid was created in Photoshop using this tutorial for the basic process. The UV Grid uses darkened versions of Graphite, Helium, Hydrogen, Iron, Oxygen and Water's primary colour schemes for its background. The letter squares use the Erlenmeyer flask from Elements Academy's logo.

My Elements Academy UV Grid

Current UV Mapping Progress

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Iron Head Close-Up with Maya Textures

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