UV Mapping headaches

Well I'm at the end of my rope here. I'm trying to texture a mesh in 3D Studio Max, and I can't ever get it to map correctly. I've googled, tried following the various tutorials I've been able to find, but no luck. I really don't know what to do because I need to texture my models but I can't get the textures to line up correctly on the model at all.

I've tried the Mesh Select, UV Mapping, and UV Mapping Unwrapper, and can't get anything to line up.

Anybody have a clue where I can start with this? Some really good tutorial site for 3dsmax that I overlooked somehow? Because as it stands now, I'm completely perplexed.

well..I assure you Max can do just about anything..i would suggest you to learn how to create Unwrapped texture for your object(s)..thats the way you should go anyway..

youtube is your friend ;)

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=3dsmax+uvw+tutorial&search_type=&aq=f

Cool thanks! I think I'm getting the hang of it now :)

The problem was that all of the tutorials NEVER mentioned flattening the UVW map, before rendering. So it was always messed up because the faces weren't separated correctly.

You will need to use manual unwrapping too :) Alot of folks just expect the auto UV stuff to do the whole thing.

Doesnt Max come with a Manual ??? Must be a demo!

Well I have an electronic help file. But that was a bit complicated. It's like reading a text book, and isn't very intuitive.

The youtube tutorial was very informative though.

It is much better to follow a video-tutorial.

Use the Unwrap UV modifier. For information about how to use it, google "3ds max uv unwrap." The very first result is this great tutorial:

http://www.oman3d.com/tutorials/3ds/unwrap_uvw_mapping/

Also, this thread is content creation, not programming, so a mod should move it.