UV Layout Question -move as needed-

[system]

So, this is just a quick question, and is obvious for many of you, but as eluded me as of yet.

In all the books I read, and guides I read, and video tutorials I watch, tutors talk about the importance of the UV sheet, well it seems like it can be a difficult task in Maya, setting up each individual object in a model, as each different part has its own best method for generating a uv that suits it well. Sphere for the head, cylindrical for the arms, whatever.

When i make a model using the back and forth maya zbrush workflow, i typically like to texture in zbrush, and if i need to blur, blend whatever on the model i can applink to photoshop, and if i want to drop textures to make the texture i use projection master, i get all that. But i dont get why i’m not suppose to use the universal zbrush UV auto map that makes the little cubes, it exports fine to maya after its inverted, does it not work on normal maps? Or do game engines not like it unless its in order.

I’m a very lazy person and these UV tutorials make me angry and frustrated when i think i can just do it the auto zbrush way.

So it is okay to do it this way? (please note: i never plan to texture the model in a program outside of zbrush)

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[aurick]

If you never plan to work on the texture outside of ZBrush there is absolutely no need to do your own mapping. The sole exception to this is if you’re going to be creating a tangent-space normal map, which makes seams in the UV’s stand out. For all other purposes, Tiles-type UV’s are just fine.

Just remember to set the texture size before you select your mapping method. In the PC version this is done by applying a blank texture of the desired size to the model. In the Mac, simply set the size using the Tool>UV Map menu. Either way, you’ll get the best results if your map size is a power of 2 such as 1024x1024, 2048x2048 or 4096x4096.

[system]

Okay, so i do have one follow-up question then, working with the unreal 3 engine (ued 4.0) which i plan to work with soon, (as soon as i can find a pc copy of GoW) Do i have to use tangent space mapping for normals within this engine?

Because ultimately i would like to be able to quickly model, quickly detail, quickly texture, automatically uv normal and texture, and then drop it into the unreal engine. And once i have figured out this work flow i could be on the road to making my own game.

Do any programs absolutely require that method of normal mapping that i cant do with the auto uv from zbrush?