RizomUV 2027: More UVs, Less Wrestling

For those who don’t know the tool: RizomUV is Rizom-Lab’s standalone UV unwrapping and packing application for preparing 3D assets for texturing, games, VFX and product design. RizomUV 2027 brings a redesigned interface, faster UV operations and cross-platform automation. Your UVs are still complicated; at least their software is trying to be accommodating.

Move the Furniture, Not the UVs

The most visible change is an interface that artists can actually reorganize. Dock, float or collapse panels, use different layouts for unfolding and packing, and export custom toolbar configurations for colleagues. Ctrl+K searches tools and settings, then shows where the matching control lives. A novel idea: let the user find the button before the deadline finds the user.

Under that furniture, Unfold and Optimize process islands in parallel and use a newer solver core per island. Rizom-Lab has not supplied an independent benchmark for a universal speedup, so treat the performance claims as release capabilities rather than a promise for every mesh. Live Update recalculates an island when an edge constraint changes, while Align Borders straightens boundaries toward the U and V axes during unfolding or optimization. The latter can help make packing less of a game of UV Tetris.

Scenes, Seams and Texel Budgets

The Scene Outliner now exposes objects, materials and polygon groups from OBJ and FBX files. Artists can isolate materials in both viewports, select a group’s border edges and distribute elements across tiles. Large FBX scenes can be loaded selectively, and cuts, welds and their undo operations now avoid unnecessary full-mesh rebuilding.

The new Density and Protect maps can derive values from ambient occlusion, directing fewer texels toward recessed surfaces and more toward exposed areas. A Density map influences Unfold and the initial packing scale; a Density brush updates optimization as artists paint. Brushes also work in the 3D viewport as volumetric strokes. Color IDs per polygon and texel-density overlays in UV snapshots provide useful handoffs to texturing workflows. Meanwhile, edge loops can cross seams and shortest-path selection gets a straightness control.

Python Takes the Night Shift

Pipeline developers get headless execution using -hl or --headless, with scriptable operations and console output for batch processing. Python becomes the default language on new installations, backed by a dockable editor and a command log that can replay recorded work. Embedded Python is 3.12 on Windows and 3.13 on macOS and Linux, an important distinction for custom modules.

RizomUVLink, previously Windows-only, now runs on macOS and Linux as well. Its client layer gains change notifications, more consistent errors and better concurrent-launch handling. UV constraints, pins, brush maps and symmetry-plane settings can be stored in FBX, while glTF 2.0 import/export adds a path toward real-time and web assets. On Linux, the portable AppImage targets RHEL, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux 8/9 plus Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, in X11 and Wayland sessions. macOS gets a notarized build for Apple Silicon and Intel.

Two Spaces, Several Licenses

RizomUV 2027 has been available since 8 October 2026. Virtual Spaces uses normalized UVs for CG assets; Real Space preserves real-world dimensions for physical-product workflows. Indie pricing applies to individuals and businesses below €100,000 annual revenue: VS is €149.90 perpetual or €14.90 per month rent-to-own; RS is €299.90 or €29.90 per month. Twelve consecutive rent-to-own payments yield a perpetual license. Pro licenses are subscriptions: €34.90/month for VS and €59.90/month for RS, with node-locked and floating options. Both editions offer a 15-day trial.

For historical perspective, our RizomUV 2025 coverage focused on CUDA GPU packing, a Windows-specific feature. The 2027 update is broader: artist controls, scene-scale editing and portable pipeline access. Studios moving existing DCC bridges or automated jobs should validate their scripts, embedded Python dependencies and license setup before rolling the release into production. The UVs can be unfolded in parallel; debugging still tends to happen one coffee at a time.