Chapter 6. UV Mapping and Texturing

Many times, objects contain numerous attributes that define how they look, and they're not always perfectly uniform in relation to the object. For example, a used paint can would have paint dripping down the sides of the can if we were creating this can in 3D, we'd have to tell Blender that there is a specific spot on our 3D mesh that contains different attributes than the rest of the mesh. This is where UV mapping comes in handy. UV coordinates are, in simple terms, a two-dimensional representation of the texture coordinates of a three-dimensional object. They allow us to tell Blender specific properties about specific areas of our objects in a scene.

Imagine a bearskin rug for a moment. In order to create that rug, someone had to take the skin and unfold it from its original place on the bear's body so that it fit nicely on a floor. This is essentially what we are doing when we create UV maps from our 3D objects. Using special tools in Blender, we can "unwrap" the UV coordinates so that they lay out flat on a two-dimensional plane, just like our bearskin rug.