yeh perfecto...I think I know what TDW meant..though I dont know why you would bother...depending on your version of Maya..there is also the 'smooth' tool in the UV editor, and relax tool as well...under tool of course.

Yes you can select faces and do it that way...and you can still select the edges you want to seperate. Nilla has mentioned 'Unwrella' ??? maybe this would be the tool you want TDW.

cheers bullet