Numerical planar projection of 3D meshes into UV space, allowing for accurate and replicable results instead of relying on Blender's "Project From View" (which is either non-repeatable by default or non-customisable in "orthographic" mode).
- Download VF_planarUV.py
- Open Blender Preferences and navigate to the "Add-ons" tab
- Install and enable the Add-on
- It will show up in the 3D view
VF Toolstab
Axissets the direction of the planar projection:X,Y, orZCentresets the centre point of the projection space, allowing for any specific location to be mappedSizedefines the scale of the projection, allowing for known numerical translation from object space into UV spaceSpacesets local or world space for both loading selection settings and generating the UV map
Load Selection Settingscalculates the bounding box of all selected vertices and sets the centre and size settings to exactly contain the selection (particularly helpful for mesh elements that aren't centred with the object pivot)Rotationswizzles the input coordinates to offer 90° variations in mapping orientation (this is akin to rotating a camera capturing the geometry; it efficiently rotates the space the coordinates are loaded in)Fliptakes the resulting UV mapping and flips the U values (this operates before alignment and works reliably with both options below)Alignmentdetermines how the mesh will be aligned to UV spaceImageis standard UV map usage, where the centre of the defined area will be aligned to 0.5, 0.5 in UV spaceZerois for situations where standard UV mapping principles may not apply, and the centre of the defined are should align to 0.0, 0.0 in UV space for reliable data storage within a UV map
Note that this add-on operates in object space, not world space. Planar projection settings centre and size will not take into account the object's position, rotation, or scale in world space.
This software is provided without guarantee or warranty.