Okay,

Basically, what I'm wondering is this.

I have an exterior vehicle model all ready completed.  I'm trying to map the textures to it.  Planar view in UVMapper just isn't good enough.

I'm wondering if I can do multiple texture maps, say, Planar and Box, and combine them on one sheet and apply it all to the model when finished?

The reason for this is, I can't get to some sections of the model such as tail lighting and headlight areas.

Thanks in advance all, any advice appreciated.

You should be able to put a UVW Unwrap in your modifier stack.  Max lets you arrange your map the way you want it that way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPrnp_kLOvY 

Cool --- thanks!    Was wondering how that would work.

Quote - I have an exterior vehicle model all ready completed.  I'm trying to map the textures to it.  Planar view in UVMapper just isn't good enough.

I thought you were using 3D studio Max 2013. That's $3500-$4000 software right? Why are you trying to do this with UVmapper, surely Max has more sophisticated UV tools?

Quote - Thanks in advance all, any advice appreciated.

Here's my advice: Delete 3DstudioMax and try something affordable like Wings3D or Hexagon. You don't appear to be a 'read-the-manual' kind of guy, so with a more modest toolset I think you'll have a better chance of actually getting the hang of the software in this lifetime, learning what it can do and making the most of its strengths.

Wings is free and very easy to learn, but it is more than capable of making any content you might want in Poser. Max might have way more sophisticated tools and many more options for each operation, but if you don't even know the tools exist or where to find them, how useful are they to you?  

Great question, yes you can map different areas of a model with different mapping modes.

Some forthought while modeling can help here but assign different material names to each area or group of polygons that require a different mapping approach, that way you can easily seperate them in your mapping program. First of all I highly recommend "Lithunwrap" its a free download. I started out using uv mapper like everyone else, then found lithunwrap, never looked back. Yes its a pain in the ass to learn yet another program but lithunwrap is easy and vastly superior to uv mapper (in my opinion )

Mapping is sort of like solving a puzzle, becoming proficient at it will greatly inhance your models and the quality of your work. Box mapping is usually the best for most situations, decal is good for flat surfaces, and of course cylindrical for cylinders. I dont think planar is good for anything, I dont even know why they invented it, its useless. When modeling picture in your mind how you are going to apply textures to differnt parts. dont be affraid to break a model up into many material zones if it helps with applying textures. I do most of my texturing in photoshop but there are times when zbrush really comes in handy for this.

can use more then one map too, dont try to get the whole car on one  map, blender has some nifty tricks for uv mapping so I am sure max has the same if not better!! take an hour or two out and learn the tools you have

As for Poser, as for all his other software tools we directed him to the manuals, to youtube where he can find a zillion tutorials from basic to expert for each of his software tools.

MAX has some of the best uvmapping tools around.

But?
You have to read and study the manual.
Have to go to Max forums and read and study.
Have to go to youtube to look, listen and study.

No clue why Johnny models in MAX and then tries to uvmap in uvmapper.

He has MAx, Zbrush, Hexagon, but does not read manuals or does not search for tutorials.

Please Johnny, start simple and finish something.

Build confidence on simple projects.

Read, study, look, listen and learn.

There are enough tutorials on each of your softwares to keep going. 

• For modeling => Poser likes quads => Poser likes Lo Poly, certainly in the beginning. Even poly distribution is as important as avoiding tris or neons. Learn hard edges, soft edges. Learn Polygonflow. Avoid SubD at ALL cost during your first models. First finish something easy before going on.

• Uv mapping => An art of its own => Single maps are the most user friendly. Work as hard as required to stay single map.
  Poser supports BIG maps and prefers map sises of :1024x1024, or 2048x2048, or 4096x4096, or 8192x8192

• Texturing => Probably the easy part if you have a good UV map

• Rigging => Probably easy, but damm hard to get fine tuned

• Posing => Should be OK, if the aboves are OK

• Light => Ah, another trap to get over
   

using basic mapping will lead to crappy UVs. you need to cut up the model into logical sections on the map/maps.

ie  wings, trunk, doors,. hood, glass, wheels, tyres etc.

Correct 3anson

And Max has better @ more uvmapping tools then uvmapper.

All it takes is lots of study and some weeks of practice on easy objects.

There are NO FAST shortcuts in 3D.

I'm a lazy bastard who uses 3D-Coat to UV map because it is done automatically.  I hate UV mapping.  I recently started UV mapping clothing for Poser.  Only did it for buildings and spaceships before.

To get a good uv map is sometimes harder then to model the obj file.

I used uvmapper free when I was modeling in anim8or.
Now I model and uvmap in Hexagon.

Both require lots of planning before making the first polygon.

Sometimes I start the other way around.
First decide what goes in the modeling and what will go into the displacement map.
Then making a rough picture of how I would like the texturing to be.

Think beforehand what parts will shrink or strech when bending.

Only then start the actual modeling.

UVmapping takes skill, patience and time. It's definitely not something you're going to learn overnight. FWIW, NEVER use box mapping unless it's, well, a box, and never use planar unless it's flat and for both of these, personally, I never use them. Your best bet is to do what the others have suggested and cut it up and unfold - however this takes experience to cut it the best way to make it flat and not stretch when you unfold.

Laurie

'NEVER use box mapping unless it's, well, a box'

Quote - I dont think planar is good for anything, I dont even know why they invented it, its useless.

It's useful for ground planes, posters.  Basically anything you would do with a plane or other non-concave surface.  

Learning Wings' UV tools has improved my work tremendously. 

To me, Blender is the best program I have found for doing complex UV mapping.

I have done it in a tons of other programs, but prefer Blender over all of them.

Planar, box, etc are irrelevant in Blender as well. You just mark where you want the splits/seams, select the faces you want on that image map, unwrap it and set it up. You can make it so the model uses 1 map or 100 maps easily.

Blender is also excellent for remapping to another UV setup as well.

I imported an OBJ model (a single mesh that had multiple material zones on it) into 3D-Coat 3.7 just now.  It created a UV map for each material zone.  I did the auto uv mapping after I imported the mesh, rather than during the import, because 3D-coat needs to have the entire model loaded first so it knows there are more than one UV to generate.  I prefer it this way instead of scrunching all the UVs into one map.

Poser 6 imported the OBJ with all the UV texture maps 3D-Coat created.  I used Hexagon 1.21 to make the material zones on the OBJ mesh before importing into 3D-Coat.