2025

UDIM and UVTILE in the Texture UV Editor

General

Since Cinema 4D 2025.3, the UV mapping extension UDIM ("U DIMension") and UVTILE are supported. Both basically do the same thing (in the following description, for the sake of simplicity, only UDIM is used as a term for the functionality). In general, the use of UDIM is recommended, as it is somewhat easier to read and understand due to its consecutive numbering.

Whereas UV mapping was previously limited to UV coordinates 0-1, any number of UV tiles can now be used, which follow the following naming scheme:

The previously used UV space corresponds to tile 1001 or 0.0. With UDIM, any number of tiles including the associated texture are now possible.

Each tile can be assigned an image file, which must then also have this number or its UV coordinates in its name. Each image file could have an individual resolution.

Sufficient UV and texture area: here 67 UV tiles were used to texture the Tower Bridge. model/textures: Milk vfx.
Note: The following applies to the texture file naming: The file name specified in the Redshift Texture Node must have the token <UDIM> or <uvtile> in the name (see also tile illustration at the top), e.g.: filename_<UDIM>.tif or filename<uvtile>.tif (see also UDIM/UVTILE file naming).
Please also note the UDIM functionality when opening a file in the Texture UV Editor: Open Texture....

If you move UV elements into negative areas of the UV coordinate system, the corresponding tiles will be coloured red. Negative areas can be used temporarily, for example, to move a UV island there because it is in the way or similar. Otherwise you should avoid using red tiles!

UDIMs therefore have the following advantages:

Other things to know about the UDIM functionality

Example

In the following scene - all 4 pictures hanging on the wall are a single object with a single material - the Texel Density is perfect in both cases at a greater camera distance (left). However, if you then move the camera closer to the lower left picture (top center), the living room image is insufficient - the picture appears pixelated and blurred.

However, if you now move the UV polygon of the image in question to a new UDIM tile and assign a new, larger and more detailed texture, the image is displayed in focus (bottom center). On the right, you can see the UV islands together with the texture.

Also take a look at these files to see the difference in file path and UV mesh (if necessary, load the associated UDIM textures in the Texture UV Editor to view UV mesh and texture):