I found it beneficial to log issues I’ve found along the way and their corresponding solutions. This both notes what I have learned and acts as a useful resource in the future if I come across any of these problems again.
MAYA
Non-manifold geometry (status: solved)
I learned that being manifold meant keeping my 3D object “unwrappable”. Ie if it was made out of paper, it should be able to unwrap fluently. I fixed this by deleting any duplicated edges, unneeded faces and vertices and making sure Type History was cleared and Transformations were Freezed.
Source: https://www.sculpteo.com/en/3d-learning-hub/create-3d-file/fix-non-manifold-geometry/
Transform manipulator tool (status: solved)
I found that the transform manipulator tool had begun working from an uncentred axis. It was effectively rotated so my “up” movements weren’t really upwards, more of a 70° angle. The solution for this was to go into the tool settings and simply reset.
Smooth preview (status: solved)
I had been working with smooth preview on by accident which was misleading in terms of what the actual subdivisions I would output were. I found it quite shocking going back to regular poly preview, however I found a solution for this was to simply increase the smoothness to 1 or 2.
SUBSTANCE
Mesh normals are invalid (status: solved)
Use cleanup tool and make sure to Freeze Transforms and Edit, Delete by Type, History on everything.
Source: https://forum.substance3d.com/index.php?topic=23426.0
UVs not being filled (status: solved)
I had an issue where the UVs surrounding the centre-point of the helmet were not being appropriately filled by the texture I was applying in the mask. Upon going back into Maya, I noticed that my edges in that area were crowded and disorganised. Hence, I took an older save and copied forward that helmet, restarting the UVs. This time, I cut it directly down the middle and then at a 45-degree angle just below. Whilst not perfect – and I think this was due to the slightly complex area I had built – I was able to texture the way I wanted to back in Substance.
*update: UVs still were not working in the way I wanted them to.
This was because they were overlapping:
MISC
UV overlaps (status: solved)
A lot of my UVs were overlapped, and I noticed this when I took them into Substance wand wasn’t able to single them out in the way I wanted. I remembered what Alec had showed me and the solution ended up being to use a planar map and fold intricately and sparingly. For example, for the breathing tubes I cut just down the middle and – whilst not perfect – this made a much more linear, clear UV map.
