Hey guys, when I unwrap > average island scale, the Texel Density looks correct on my model; however, there is so much wasted space within the UV map. For example, I can scale up the handle of a hammer in the UV's to fill in more space, but now the texel density is no longer uniform (the checkers are smaller on the handle than the head of the hammer). I'd assume this isn't really a problem, but I'm not sure. I would share an image, but I don't know how lol.
Thank you!
** EDIT:
I went back to the pothead course and realized that this is normal behavior and that the island scales don't need to be exactly uniform (all the checkers being the same size). I'll just pack it tightly to get as much texel density as possible so my whole model will have nice resolution even though the handle will have slightly smaller checkers now.
Yeah it's a normal thing to do. You can prioritize which area gets more resolution by scaling the UV island up and having more pixels in there, or you can make certain UV islands smaller because you know that part isn't going to be seen and you don't want to waste pixels on that. Or you can just make things the same size. Totally up to you, no way is a wrong way.
I rarely use average island scale, I prefer to have more control on texel density of each island.
When I have a model to unwrap and want to pack the islands eliminating as much wasted space as possible,
After unwrapping I will manually scale islands to achieve the texel density based on where I need more or less detail.
I will then pack the islands as close together as possible, usually a minimum distance of 2 pixels,
starting in the bottom left corner (where the 2d cursor is) with the largest UV islands first, then amplifying out in both x and y directions equally,
filling any gaps with smaller islands maintaining the 2 pixel minimum.
Then I would scale all the islands using the 2d cursor as the pivot point.
