what i've found so far

i would firstly like to say i will primarily be looking into hard surface uv mapping.

this is only because i have heard it's slightly easier so as a beginner i thought it might be a good place to start.

by hard surface i mean anything that isn't organic.

so what is uv mapping?

once a 3D model is made it has its own polygon mesh, this is made up of all the edges and faces just like normal shape but a bit more complex. e.g. a cube has 12 edges and 6 faces.
UV mapping is the stage before 'texturing' (the applying of an image on a surface). So to allow the texture artist to easily paint the mesh it has to be mapped out.
UV mapping is the process of unwrapping the 3D mesh of a model down flat then connecting the edges to make as little seams as possible, the more seams the harder it will be to texture.

To get the initial UV map you select model you want to map, then click create UVs.
there are a few different ways of getting your initial map. It usually depends on the shape of the model when deciding what type of UV to create.
chosing what mapping you choose is crucial. basically what it is is the angles that the model is unfolded from if that makes sense?
e.g. automatic mapping is from 6 different areas, top, bottom and all four sides. Spherical mapping instead of unwrapping from such rigid angles tries to do it from all angles and unwrap it slightly smoother.

automatic mapping




spherical mapping




a little clearer?... hopefully as i go on it will explain itself... lets hope so anyway.

there is also planer mapping which is just from one angle, this would be good for this such as walls etc.
and cylindrical mapping which is quite self explanatory considering the other ways of mapping i have described.

so like i said i am a beginner so will start at the bottom and try work my way up from that and do some slightly more interesting models.