Best practices for unfolding

Unfold multiple meshes	For complex meshes, you can cut the mesh into smaller sections and unfold each section separately. While this method gives you more control, you need to plan ahead and determine where you can safely cut the mesh and re-sew UVs, if necessary.
Plan your cuts	Cuts are important because they allow the UV texture coordinates to freely unfold with as little distortion as possible during the Unfold operation. When unfolded, the mesh should lay flat without overlapping. Plan your cuts to obtain the best unfolded result. The better the cuts, the better the correlation between the original mesh and its corresponding UV shell. Anticipate that cuts will result in texture mismatches along edges, and locate edges on the model where they are least visible. For example, make cuts under the arms or on the back of the legs of a character. See Prepare a UV mesh for unfolding.
Create Quick Select sets	Create Quick Select sets (Create > Sets > Quick Select Set) when you need to repeatedly select UVs for pinning. Note: Pinning options are available when you use the Legacy unfold Method (See Unfold UVs options). The Smooth UV Tool and the Unfold3D unfold Method automatically pin unselected UVs.
Highlight texture borders	It is critical to view and select border edges in both the scene and the UV Editor. Turn on the display of texture borders by selecting Display > Polygons > Texture Border Edges. This displays the UV borders on the polygon mesh as thicker lines so you can see your progress as you cut the UV edges.
Constrain the unfold operation	By default, UVs unfold in all directions in an unrestricted manner. You can constrain the unfold process so the UVs are constrained to unfold in either the vertical or horizontal direction as they appear in the 2D view of the UV Editor. This can be useful when the appearance of the UVs is fine in one direction, but needs refinement in another. Note: When using the Smooth UV Tool, you can constrain the direction of the unfold operation by holding the Shift button while dragging the mouse. Note: The Unfold constraint option is only available when you use the Legacy unfold method. See Unfold UVs options.
Align UVs	Use UV > Align to snap UVs to match any vertical or horizontal lines that would naturally occur on the texture. See Align UVs options. Tip: You can align UV edges that run down the axis of symmetry. For example, the line of UVs that run down the spine of a symmetrical four-legged animal, can be selected, aligned. and then pinned so they act as a benchmark for further unfold operations.
Use the UV Lattice Tool	The UV Lattice Tool can be used to modify a region of a UV shell before performing further Unfold operations.