torus
 

how can i make a torus skinnyer. I want to keep the whole in the middle the same, but change the size of it.

aka changing a torus into the bottom of these chairs.

F1 - Hypershade and materials.

make the torus and select it, then under Inputs in the Channel Box you'll see 'Selection Radius' and thats what your looking for :)

ok
 

I dont think you guys understood what i meant. I meant making the hole bigger, but not the entier shape. i found it now.thx. The height ratio does it.

ooops
 

my fault. you were right. I geuss I found out how to do it with a NURBS to.

So now how do I make text with NURBS?

Nurbs text? Create>Text Options Box. Change the "Type" near the bottom to curves. Once you create the text, you will only have the outline (in curves obviously) of the text. You'll have to do some work to get a surface you can see, however. One way to do it is to duplicate the text curves and move them a bit behind the originals. Now you can select both curves and choose Surfaces>Loft. I've heard of other techniques to make curves into surfaces, but haven't really experimented much with text. I'm sure there is a better way.

By the way, make sure the Loft setting is on Nurbs.

ok
 

Thanks. i found a tut on lofting, so ill try that out. Im also having a problem with reflections. I have a surface that uses the granite material. how can i make it MORE reflective. (I have ray tracing on)

Well, first things first. Make sure the material is either a blinn or phonge. Those work best. You can change this by right-clicking the object and choosing materials>material attributes, then changing the "type" at the top of the window. Anyway, to make it shinier, you can increase the reflectivity in the attributes window under the Specular shading tab. That will make the biggest difference. I don't know the specifics, but the reflection limit can be uped under the Raytrace Options tab as well as the reflection specularity. You should probably read up a little on what these two options are for in the help files before you do anything with them.

Well, I just experimented a little with it all and found that the reflectivity value under Specular Shading is really all you should have to change. Although the slider only goes up to 1, you can change it to any number you like. 4 should work well with a granite texture.

awsome
 

aight. i got the reflections done. im goign to skip the text for now. Im messing around with lighting now. Trying to think of another objecti could add. hmm. I have a table. on the table is a cup with coffe in it, and a fork. what else?


PS: thanks for your help so far!

Plate, napkin, place mat, knife, spoon, glass, food, candle, ash tray, salt/pepper shaker, etcetc. Just look around your kitchen and find things to model.

holly god, i can do half of that yet. well, mabey i can. but it would suck:rolleyes:

:D

um. napkin sounds great. How do I do cloth?

DONE
 

I wil probably up date it, but hey. its ok. Now remember, ive only done Maya for a few days, like 4. but here it is.


The Tabel


Thanks for all of your help!!
Let me know what you think.