How much mesh modification is okay after UVs have been done?
@tarrosion Great question. I understand how adding the lattice in this last step can be confusing and your question cuts right to the heart of it.
One of the benefits of Modifers, like the Lattice Mod, is their non-destructive nature. Meaning that you can add modifiers and not worry that the UVs will be negatively affected; they’re always intact at the “base level” of the mesh. This is why we can add the lattice and the UVs behave well as one would hope.
Does it matter that the modification in this step is by lattice modifier, rather than directly pushing verts in edit mode?
Again the non-destructive nature is the key significance in using a modifier instead of changing base mesh. Consider how cube-ish we constructed the chest throughout the course. We only had to worry about our shapes being perfectly oriented toward the absolute axes: X, Y, Z (aside from the curve of the lid). This means our mind can operate in the comfort of 90 degree angles / increments and true orthographical perspective.
As soon as we adjust the proportions to be slanted and “wonky” for the sake of style, we lose that comfortable cube-ish context. UNLESS we wonkify the shape with the modifier because we can simply turn that modifier off at any point and make changes in the cube context again, including UVs.
I hope some of that makes sense…it’s a hard thing to explain textually.
