Model creation
 

Hi, i'm basically a maya newbie.
I have some experience in Hammer editing for games and stuff, but i'm new to maya and i want to learn it.

I need to model a sail, the type you would see on a yacht, and have it interact with wind in a way that I can specify without having to keyframe. What would be the best way of doing this?

Thanks for your time!

Do you have cloth? Its very easy with maya cloth but if you dont you need to use softbodies with springs.

yep, sure i have cloth.

but my problem is not as much what to use, more how to use it.

i know how to make a nurbs plane and stuff, but i need to know how i wud shape it right using curves.

also, what is the difference between cv and ep curves?
thanks.

cv and ep are two methods of creating curves, ep is with edit points which are points that lie on the curves surface and depending on where you places two of the points the tangent is decided. The CV curve is short for control vertex and its more like drawing the tangents of that curve, personally i prefer the cv curve as you get more control.

Just make your sail with a four sided curve that join up end to end, make a cloth object out of that and then constrain some of the cv's of that cloth object to your pole, maybe using locators for the joins. Ill post screens if you dont understand.

ok sweet thanx a lot for your help.

a few screenies would be great if you could...