3) UVW Unwrapping

Cube

In order to decently texture a 3D mesh, it must be unwrapped according to it’s UVW co-ordinates.

To do this, simply create your mesh, and then use to modifiers panel to select the “Unwrap UVW” modifier.

Selecting the Unwrap UVW modifier.

After selecting the “Unwrap UVW” tool, slick the button labeled “Open UV Editor…”, which will open a new window, from which you can edit the UVW co-ordinates.

At the bottom of the newly opened editor, use the “Polygon” Selection tool, after making sure that the “Select By Element XY Toggle” is turned on, which can be found next to the Polygon selection tool.

The UVW Editor, with the selection area highlighted.

Make sure that you select the polygons in the viewport, not the editor, as this makes the whole process slightly easier when dealing with complext, untextured meshes.

After selecting the entire mesh, go to the “Mapping” options at the top of the editor, and select “Unfold Mapping…” and use the default options to unfold the entire mesh in the editor. This should give you the unwrapped version of your mesh, as shown below.