Separate and attach UVs

Maya provides several features for separating, merging, and attaching UVs in the UV Editor. These are important for a number of operations:

To separate one shell into multiple shells corresponding to different parts of a texture.
To allow UV texture coordinates to freely unfold with as little distortion / overlapping as possible during an Unfold or Optimize process.
To join small shells typically created during an Automatic Mapping process.

To...	Do this	Example
Separate (cut) a UV shell along the selected edges.	Select the edges to separate. Select Cut/Sew > Cut, or in the UV Toolkit select Cut and Sew > Cut (shortcut: Shift + X).
Separate (cut) UV edges interactively	To separate UV edges in the UV Editor Select Tools > Cut, or in the UV Toolkit select Cut and Sew > Cut Tool Drag along edges to separate them. To separate UV edges in the Viewport Select UV > 3D Cut and Sew UV Tool. Drag along edges to separate them. For more information (including a list of shortcuts), see 3D Cut and Sew Tool.
Let Maya separate (cut) edges (or select edges for seams) for you	Select a UV shell. In the UV Editor's UV Toolkit, select Cut/Sew > Auto-Seams. Depending on the current Auto-Seams options, seams will either be cut into the mesh or selected without being cut.
Attach (sew) UV shells along the selected edges.	Select edges to be attached. Select Cut/Sew > Sew , or in the UV Toolkit select Cut and Sew > Sew (Shortcut: Shift + S).
Attach (sew) UV edges interactively	To sew UV edges in the UV Editor Select Tools > Sew , or in the UV Toolkit select Cut/Sew > Sew Tool Drag along edges to attach them. To sew UV edges in the Viewport Select UV > 3D Cut and Sew UV Tool. Shift + drag along edges to attach them. For more information (including a list of shortcuts), see 3D Cut and Sew Tool. Note: When moving between the Viewport and UV Editor, the 3D Cut and Sew UV Tool automatically changes to the Cut Tool.
Attach (sew) UV shells along the selected edges and move the shells together.	Select edges to be attached. Select Cut/Sew > Stitch Together > in the UV Toolkit.
Merge the selected UVs.	Select UVs to be merged. Select Modify > Merge . Merge UVs only merges the UVs that share the same vertex. You can specify an option for the maximum distance Maya will move UVs to merge them.
Automatically attach and move small shells.	Select all the shells. Select Cut/Sew > Move and Sew > . (Optional) Turn on Limit Shell Size and set the maximum size (in number of faces) for UV shells. Shells larger than this number will not move. Click Apply. After performing a Move and Sew operation, you can select the node (polyMapSewMove) and edit it in the Attribute Editor or Channel Box to adjust the Number Faces.

Notes

A single edge cannot be cut unless it touches a border.
Use the Select > Components > UV Shell in the UV Editor to select a UV piece after cutting.
When using the Cut Tool or Sew tool in the UV Editor, Maya will respect each UVs current pinning status (i.e. pinned UVs will stay put when cut and only be sewed if they can do so without moving).

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