How to UV unwrap complex models?

Question

I have a soccer locker that I am trying to unwrap and texture, but can't do either properly, the texture appears blurred or pix-elated, I tried marking seam, but I don't know how it works so couldn't do it properly, can you help? here's the blend file:

Answer 1

A simple way to unwrap your locker is to follow these three steps :

1. In edit mode, select all you vertices
2. Unwrap with the U key, then choose "smart UV project"
3. Validate using "OK" the "smart UV project" options

You will obtain an unwrapping optimized to fit the best the image texture (less loose of space) and keeping the surfaces proportion as possible.

You can also mark seams manually. For this kind of figures (as your locker), this is the principle of "the paper cube".

1. Mark the seems as shown below
2. Think about a cube as show in 2 (this is an illustration)
3. Unwrap using the first option called "unwrap"

For a cylinder, typically, use this kind of approach :

The way to choose the method (these one or others) will depend on the way you want to texture your model (texture painting, using images, baking...).