UVW mapping is a mathematical technique for coordinate mapping. In computer graphics

Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

, it is most commonly a to map, suitable for converting a 2D image

Texture mapping

Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...

 (a texture) to a three dimensional object of a given topology

Topology

Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...

. "UVW", like the standard Cartesian coordinate system

Cartesian coordinate system

A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...

, has three dimensions; the third dimension allows texture maps to wrap in complex ways onto irregular surfaces. Each point in a UVW map corresponds to a point on the surface of the object. The graphic designer or programmer generates the specific mathematical function to implement the map, so that points on the texture are assigned to (XYZ) points on the target surface. Generally speaking, the more orderly the unwrapped polygons are, the easier it is for the texture artist

Texture artist

A texture artist is an individual who develops textures for digital media, usually for video games, movies, web sites and television shows. These textures can be in the form of 2d or 3d art that may be overlaid onto a polygon mesh to create a realistic 3D model.Texture artists often take advantage...

 to paint features onto the texture. Once the texture is finished, all that has to be done is to wrap the UVW map back onto the object, projecting the texture in a way that is far more flexible and advanced, preventing graphic artifacts

Artifact (error)

In natural science and signal processing, an artifact is any error in the perception or representation of any visual or aural information introduced by the involved equipment or technique....

 that accompany more simplistic texture mappings such as planar projection

Planar projection

Planar projections are the subset of 3D graphical projections constructed by linearly mapping points in three dimensional space to points on a two-dimensional projection plane. The projected point on the plane is chosen such that it is collinear with the corresponding three dimensional point and...

. For this reason, UVW mapping is commonly used to texture map non-platonic solids, non-geometric primitive

Geometric primitive

The term geometric primitive in computer graphics and CAD systems is used in various senses, with the common meaning of the simplest geometric objects that the system can handle . Sometimes the subroutines that draw the corresponding objects are called "geometric primitives" as well...

s, and other irregularly-shaped objects, such as characters

Character (computing)

In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language....

 and furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

.