UV unwrapping tons of small parts

[Sven71]

Here's my newbie question:

I currently work on an old model of mine (back then when I didn't mind UVs and didn't stuff for games). After import in 3DC I receive one hell of small to very small UV islands in UV editor besides the few large components. After having finished the non-overlap and edge stitching tasks to have islands of one model element combined and neat I shift them to a second UV set just to keep them out of the way. In UV editor those shifted parts aren't visible anymore while I stay in the original UV set which is quite handy. Sometimes I am left with small parts of model elements I falsely considered finished and then I have to find em somewhere in that large ocean of small UV islands. I know that when I have my cursor pointing on those parts in viewport the edges in the UV display are highlighted, but it's hard to see on small islands.

And here's my question: Can I select the UV island that I need directly by clicking on the respective model surface in viewport? I didn't find a way so far as 3DC keeps selecting edges when clicking around in viewport rather than giving me a selection of the respective UV island.

If that is NOT possible, I'd like to suggest that for one of the next updates as the current workflow is a pain: hovering the model, looking for a highlight on one of what feels like 1000 islands, keep an eye on that island while zooming in for the purpose of selection, move it to some distant space where I collect all islands that belong together for further edge stitching, then zoom out to have all islands back visible when I start over again with step 1. Selecting UV islands by one-click on the viewport model surface and simply moving it where I want it would be so much easier. On one island it may be a time difference of just a few seconds but regarding a vast number of islands .... well

- - - -

For better understanding: It is not a simple convex surface model, it is a military tank that has an interior part, too. Moving around for adding new seams on all those tiny buttons, ammo shelves, etc. inside has you lose oversight pretty quick. So I chose to proceed from the outer hull to the inside in the UV editor onion wise.

[artman]

Try "Sharp seams" in retopo menu,it will automatically mark seams based on creased angles,it is specifically intended for hardsurface meshes so for a military tank it might work well.It might save you all this stiching work.

I agree ,about selecting islands directly on mesh,that would be a great time saver when you tons of them.

[digman]

I put in a feature request for this ability in early November of this year. Add a +1 to the request if you so desire at Mantis. Also add your own reasons in the notes section.

http://3d-coat.com/m...view.php?id=770

[Sven71]

I put in a feature request for this ability in early November of this year. Add a +1 to the request if you so desire at Mantis. Also add your own reasons in the notes section. http://3d-coat.com/m...view.php?id=770

done

[Sven71]

Try "Sharp seams" in retopo menu,it will automatically mark seams based on creased angles,it is specifically intended for hardsurface meshes so for a military tank it might work well.It might save you all this stiching work. I agree ,about selecting islands directly on mesh,that would be a great time saver when you tons of them.

The latest update has 'sharp seams' placed in the UV menu, too. It doesn't solve all problems, but indeed it has the proceedings go more smoothly, so thank you for the input. It is highly appreciated.