Chetal Gazdar shows how to transform and morph an object into a UV Layout view in Side FX Houdini.

This new tutorial from Chetal Gazdar shows how to morph an unwrapped 3D object into a UV Layout view and animate the results.

A few years ago, Lumi 3D Studios offered a free Houdini node that would allow you to visualize UVs right in the 3D viewport. You can still get that for free here.