Hi folks, this may have been discussed before, but after playing with a demo version of Silo, one thing I found is it's UV Map tools included a quick easy way to straighten out all edges along a horizontal (or vertical) line.

IOW, I have 3 rows of 7 polys across, and the only way I know how to clean up it up into nice straight lines is to grab and move each vert, which is both time consuming, and sometimes frustrating.

Is there a way to grab the desired edges and use a keystroke, or other method, that would automatically straigten them all out no fuss, no bother?

OK, I just realized, you can't really select anything but verts in the UV Mapping window (that I know of), so what I'm looking to do can't be done.

That said, however, I see 2 options in the UVs list to Straighten X and Straighten Y, but I'm not sure how that works.  Any suggestions?

Hi Miss B

Hope I explain this well but when I want to straighten several edges along either x or y axies in the UV editor in Blender this is how I have done it

either using bonding box selection or using shift alt to select a series of edges

Then hit the "G" key to grab then the "Y or X" for axies

the Zero key on the numpad

then the "S" key and my edges are then straighten along the axies I chose. I came across this combo by accident sometime ago and has worked for me pretty well to give me nice straight edges in my UV maps I hope this helps. I am sure someone else might chime in with another way to do what you ask but that is how I do it .

Thank you for the quick response Lobo.  I'm going to make a note of these steps and try it out.  :-)

Anytime hope they work out for you

If you loop select the row of verts/edges in the uv image editor window and then press the "W" key a range of options will come up to straighten the selection.  Selecting the "Auto Align" will align your verts along the axis that is closest to that which the majority of your verts are already aligned to.  "Straighten" will align your verts along a line between the first and last verts in the selection.  The other options align relative to the defined axis.

Another technique that may assist you in the example you have given is to unwrap your mesh using the "Follow Active Quads" option.  To use it look at the mesh you want to unwrap and select a face that is still a quad.  Use the "L" key to select the remaining faces of the mesh.  Press "U" to bring up your uv mapping options and select "Follow Active Quads".  There is a box that appears where you can choose one of three options.  The "Even" option will unwrap your mesh so that all the faces have been laid out in a perfect grid.

YAY!!!  It works a dream.  Only thing is, I thought horizotal from left to right would be X axis, and vertical up and down would be Y axis, but then I remembered that Blender doesn't do the X,Y or Z axis like some other non-modeling 3D apps.

Thanks Lobo, that just made my day.  :-D

Thank you keppel, I'm going to keep these in mind as well.

Quote - If you loop select the row of verts/edges in the uv image editor window and then press the "W" key a range of options will come up to straighten the selection.  Selecting the "Auto Align" will align your verts along the axis that is closest to that which the majority of your verts are already aligned to.  "Straighten" will align your verts along a line between the first and last verts in the selection.  The other options align relative to the defined axis. Another technique that may assist you in the example you have given is to unwrap your mesh using the "Follow Active Quads" option.  To use it look at the mesh you want to unwrap and select a face that is still a quad.  Use the "L" key to select the remaining faces of the mesh.  Press "U" to bring up your uv mapping options and select "Follow Active Quads".  There is a box that appears where you can choose one of three options.  The "Even" option will unwrap your mesh so that all the faces have been laid out in a perfect grid.

Glad it worked and also thanks keppel I wasnt aware of that way of doing it either and will keep that in mind also. One of the best advantages is that there are always more than one way of doing things and we have so many great members who are willing to share :thumbupboth:

another thing that can help (depends on mesh) is pinnng a row of verts then unwrap again

eg you unwrap a head(something that should be symetrical) and one side is bigger then the other side

select the centre line and align it then pin [P] then unwrap again

you can also check the uv map for stretch, is on bottom of tool panel [N] in uv editor

tick the box

have fun

Thank you heddheld.  The mesh is actually my first attempt at hair, so I may not have a need for this now, but certainly good information to keep handy.