Blender packing algorithm is not perfect, we all know that, right?
The add-on is available in two versions: basic and extended. The functionalities provided by the two versions are depicted are listed below:
The basic version is available for free. You still can make a donation when downloading the basic version in order to reward our work, but we generally recommend buying the extended version.
Why is the extended version worth buying:
New functionalities planned to be implemented include:
Iterations: number describing how exact the algorithm will be when searching for island placement.
Margin: margin to apply during packing.
Rotation Enable: allow packer to rotate islands in order to achieve better result.
Pre-rotation Disable: disable the initial rotation of islands before generating other orientations. The pre-rotation operation usually optimizes packing, use this option only if you have a good reason
Rotation Step: rotation step in degrees to apply during packing.
Automatic Overlap Check: automatically check for overlapping islands after packing is done.
Heuristic Search Time: the time in seconds the add-on will spend searching the optimal packing solution using the heuristic algorithm. Value ‘0’ means the feature is disabled. This feature is most useful when a single packing pass doesn’t take much time (a few seconds). Use it with a limited number of islands and with limited island orientations considered (‘Rotation Resolution’ == 1). The current heuristic algorithm is most efficient for packing UV maps containing limited number of big islands of irregular shape.
Use Texture Ratio: take into consideration the ratio of the active texture dimensions during packing.
Pack To Others: add selected islands into those already packed in the unit UV square (no scaling will be applied).
You can learn more about the tool here.