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Is there a way to unwrap a symmetrical model so that the UVs for each side overlap? I'm working on a model which will have the same patterns on each side, and I'd like to avoid having to create half of a texture which isn't used, and make sure both sides match exactly

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  • $\begingroup$ you could put a seam on the symmetrical axis, unwrap, then in the UV/Image Editor, select the symmetrical half, mirror it with SX-1, and make the 2 halves coincide $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Jul 15, 2019 at 13:44
  • $\begingroup$ See this is what I though I could do, but whenever I unwrap the model Blender tries to optimise the space used up by the UVs, so they're moved around to be positioned better and never quite match the same size $\endgroup$
    – SolidSquid
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:36
  • $\begingroup$ and if you move, scale, rotate, etc. it is still not good? it should work though $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:37
  • $\begingroup$ Weirdly I managed to get that to work, but only if I unwrap the entire model in one go. Unwrapping individual parts at a time seems to be what's caused it to be distorted. If you post this as a separate answer I'll mark it as the solution, thanks $\endgroup$
    – SolidSquid
    Jul 15, 2019 at 15:29

4 Answers 4

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So, what you need to do is mark seam where the cut is supposed to happen, then unwrap the whole mesh with U > Unwrap, then in the UV/Image Editor, mirror the half with a SX-1, then move it, rotate it so that it overalys its mirrored version. In the UV/Image Editor you can use the Snap (vertex mode) option if you want the vertices to snap perfectly.

enter image description here

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I encountered the need to mirror my UV earlier so this is how I manage to do it.

  1. Duplicate my mesh
  2. Apply the mirror modifier on the duplicate mesh accordingly
  3. Transfer the duplicate mesh UV to the original mesh using Transfer Data modifier
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  • $\begingroup$ Already got an accepted answer, which seems to be a more general one, but this definitely seems like a good option to work around the multi-res issue I had if the UVs can't just be mirrored directly (had this happen before if not unwrapping the whole thing at once). Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – SolidSquid
    Oct 13, 2020 at 8:50
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The easiest way would be to only model half of the mesh and use a mirror modifier. If you unwrap the mesh the UV will be mirrored as well.

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  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately when I remove half the mesh and use the mirror modifier I lose a ton of detail that's been sculpted to a multires modifier, so trying to avoid that $\endgroup$
    – SolidSquid
    Jul 15, 2019 at 14:35
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After wasting a good amount of time on this exact issue, I've found a good solution; one that does not effect multi-res, vertex groups, shape keys, or anything else of the sort, as it works entirely in texture-space.

  1. In edit mode, select the faces you wish to mirror on the side of the mesh with the correct UVs
  2. Now select these faces in the UV editor
  3. In the UV editor, under the UV menu, select "Copy UVs"
  4. Return to edit mode and mirror your selection with Ctrl + Shift + M
  5. With the corresponding faces selected in the UV editor, select "Paste UVs" from the UV menu

This method will stack topologically identical sections on top of each other, for example: a bottom lip would get stacked on top of a top lip. To avoid this, repeat the process for each section individually.

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