It really seems like there ought to be a simple tool out there that does this without being clunky to use or costing an arm an a leg (though even something that works and costs an arm and a leg is preferable to nothing).
Unwrapping is one of the only reasons I am still using Cinema 4D... you can't beat body paint (in-app basically full photoshop abilities, layers, blend modes, and UW unstrechting, stitching... and best, it syncs with photoshop, so I can edit the texture in photoshop, see the effects in Cinema 4D, and then bake the texture). The act of unwrapping itself can not be automated, you need to paint/create the textures, after all... and there it REALLY matters where the seams and splits are.
Ps.: if you are ever not frustrated by UW mapping and texturing, you are doing it wrong ;P It is INSANE amount of work to create good textures, and multiply that by 10 for a high detail model. Yeah you can get away with basic colors and a few grunge lines at the corners.. but that is not texturing
That is something unwrapping tools can do automated.
Also ALWAYS keep your textures in PSD, export them to TGA in separate folders to prototype in Unity, but never never never skip the PSD step, never flatten your layers, never don't make backups... ;P
TL;DR, I textured all Star Ruler 1 ships, and made all the tech icons, so believe me when I tell you that textures takes time and patience and skill, and tons of practice, and even a sort of asset library for elements to be put into the texture.. and testing. often you won't find the weirdness of Unity and texture mapping until you test (like 1-2 pixel shifts that suddenly make borders appear where you were pixel perfect mapping the UW)
Ps.: Texturing also takes huge space.. I have a 16GB archive with source assets,
just source assets! A simple thing, like this stuff (basically 3 basic models)
http://steamcommunity.com/id/eRe4s3r/myworkshopfiles/Takes about 260mb, with backups and source psd's. (though that was relevant, because Unity..) ;P And making this simple building set took me nearly 30 hours.... (had to figure out how to get it properly working in the import tool too) and the pipeline was
Cinema 4D (modeling/wrapping/texturing) -> 3dsmax (making sure everything is connected/merged properly) -> export / import into the game. Seems like a crutch, but without bodypaint I'd not be able to texture anything... I have texture elements as layers, and in bodypaint I can move and rotate them, and sometimes adapt the mesh to fit the texture better (with detailing) etc.
# so yeah, I know this was an old topic, but it still is interesting because many people don't realize how much it really costs to do textures (even half-assed). If someone knows of an AI that can texture/unwrap my meshes, I'd welcome it ;P
