I need some general advice…I’ve got to do some UV unwrapping, possibly a few projects, on complex models that were absolutely not designed with wrapping in mind, haven’t done it before…should I just use Rhino or is there some specialized software that’s gonna be way way easier?
Sounds like you need to do some retopology before uv unwrapping if I remember correctly from my Maya days
Blender can do it if you want a no cost solution
Not sure if there is an easier way these days.
Hi Jim,
I do UV work in Rhino, but I’m biased 
Let me know if you have a specific model you want to discuss.
I may send you something privately…
Are you dealing with meshes or NURBS? Until recently, some UV unwrapping tasks were nearly impossible in Rhino, now they might be possible, but you could probably still go crazy doing them. I haven’t tested new unwrapping possibilities in Rhino yet but I would be hesitant to rely on it in proffesional work.
You’d have to describe your task in more detail. Are these non-developable surfaces? If so, relaxing the mesh to avoid any distortion, or at least distortion in visible parts plays a role.
It also depends on how many models you have to unwrap. I’ve created dozens of UV unwrapping mesh models for textures like shoes, handbags, sofas, etc. I always organized mesh model in Rhino, but then exported it to OBJ and used Rizom UV. It’s the best program for this type of task, if the scale of the project justifies it, you shouldn’t shy away from it.
You can also probably achieve very good results in Blender with some plugins. For me, only the high quality unwrapping was what mattered, so I was happy staying in Rhino and do the job in Rizom. However, this program might seem odd at the first glance, kind of like ZBrush.
In short, the bigger the task, the better you would be with some specialized software, but that’s just common sense.
RizomUV is a very hyper specialized tools and worth it if you have to do a professional job.
Since I use Blender frequently, I’m quite familiar with UV unwrapping workflows and might be able to help you out.
To give you the best advice: is the data you’re working with primarily Mesh or NURBS?