general workflow
 

I am working on my spider model again after a long hiatus learning texturing (and the rest of my life) and I am now starting the UV Mapping. What is the general workflow though for making a model

modeling->UV Mapping->Skeleton Rigging->BlendShapes

Bear in mind I might also want to scale the object at some point, so are there any pointers where I might have disastrous consequences?

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bit of a newbie at UV Mapping though, it took me over an hour to do one leg, and I have 8 of them to do, then the rest of the body!

Edward,

if the legs on your spider are all alike you can use the copy mesh attributes (select UV sets) command under the 'Mesh' menu (Maya 8 and upwards, I think it might be under 'Transfer Attributes' on earlier versions). This will prevent you from having to map each leg seperately and save a whole bunch of time.

Take it easy,

Mat.

Thanks. They are all part of the same mesh though, and they are slightly different, particularly near the body. I've worked out what caused the mess, and a quick way of dealing with it if that happens again, so the rest is easier. the 2nd leg only took about 10 minutes.

I don't know why but I just assumed that it was some sort of robot spider a-la Wild Wild West that you were making. I look forward to seeing your model.

Take it easy,

Mat.

You're probably thinking of the older spider robot that I did ages ago and never finished. Sadly because I was so new to maya at the time the model was too messy to do anything much with and so I had to retire it, though it was a good learning exercise. I'll have another go at it sometime (it's part of a cartoon I have in mind) but for now I am concentrating more on organic stuff like the spider in this pic.

Again this is for a cartoon I have in mind, and some other characters will go with it. Next up are some more insects and a slug, which is going to be a nightmare to rig, despite the simplicity of the model (compared to the spider)

sorry to resurrect my own thread, but I'm still wondering about the main question, since I don't want to have to redo stuff. Now I have the UVs sorted out, should I do the texture next followed by blend shapes and then the skeletal rig, or some other order? Is there anything I should watch out for that might cause problems, such as resizing the whole thing?

Thanks in advance