Glossary

UV Mapping

Unfolding a 3D surface into 2D texture coordinates so an image can be wrapped onto it.

A UV map gives every vertex a 2D coordinate (U and V) in texture space, as if the 3D surface had been cut along seams and flattened. The texture is then sampled at those coordinates. A good layout keeps distortion low, hides seams in less visible places, uses the square texture space efficiently and keeps texel density even across the model. Overlapping UVs save space on mirrored parts but prevent baking unique detail such as ambient occlusion into them. On Grab3D, every textured model ships with its UV layout, so base color, roughness, metallic and normal maps line up in any engine and any of the offered formats. If you want to recolor a model, edit the base color texture or texture-paint it in Blender. The UVs stay as they are.