Help with making a UV map for a geosphere

I think it mainly depends on what detail and surface are you planing for this model.

I would unwrap it in few equal chunks like here : http://www.noir.org/tutorials/Sama…tiQuadrants.jpg, and for big beams I would cut and try to figure out how to have the best pixel ratio and more occupied space in the uv shell : http://i49.tinypic.com/i5cf2u.jpg.

But, best way to achieve that is to try by yourself, your errors will teach you more than our advices

I'm working on a similar type of object right now (a complicated sphere). Since you are using max I would try and get my stack to look like this and I would split the beams (as 1 UV island group) from the interior dome/triangles (2nd UV island group) and then offset the triangles into your random stacks to get the mirroring effects you want:

Unwrap UVW

UVW Map Modifer --> Spherical mapping selected

Editable Poly

Then just adjust the vertices on your UV until happy. Alternatively you can split the beams like Em' is suggesting and mirror those across your UV space in a random pattern for the triangles to get the random texture look I think you are heading towards.

One final alternative -- if the engine you are shooting for allows and you do not require close-up and personal views of the dome, you could just normal map it onto a low-poly cube with spherify applied, collapsed, and then UV mapped. This is what it looks like the MW3 team did when I google searched the dome. The beams themselves appear normal mapped whereas the lattice control points for them (the n-gons on your model) are an actual mesh element instanced across the model.

But I am not the best by any means and am still learning lots so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

i suggest make everything you want on a cube and then use the speriphy (model
) modifier. this way your uvwmap will shaped in a perfect rectangle and you still have your round object. (in 3DS MAX)