Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 1
This course will look at the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. We'll look at what makes a good model in Maya and why objects are modeled in the way they are.
# 1 09-01-2004 , 03:28 AM
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problem, hope you can help

Ok, I'm trying to follow a tutorial and I'm stuck at this one part. Here is an excerpt from the tutorial,

"With the square (MonitorProfileShape01) selected, Go to the Maya Outliner (you can select it in your viewport by selecting the Persp/Outliner Tab on the Left side Toolbar. You will see a List of all objects in your scene.

In the Outliner Press the (-) minus sign next to MonitorProfileShape01. You will see each side listed. Select the fist 2 sides and open the *Edit Curves*Attach Curves › Options Window. Set Attach Method to Blend and hit Apply. (leave the window open you will be using it again. Now select the first and third sides and repeat Attach Command. Next, select the first and fourth sides and repeat again (now you can close the › Options Window).

Finally, with the entire square selected, open the *Edit Curves*Open/Close Curve › Options Window. Set the Shape to Blend and hit Open/Close. You now have a square that is a Periodical Curve with no overlapping CV's."

Now I do that exactly but when I use the edit Curves Open/Close Curve I get an error message - Curve 3 invalid or something like that and my object either disapears or does nothing what it is supposed to do, it is supposed to round the corners of the object
HELP!!

THanks guys

# 2 09-01-2004 , 05:41 AM
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what tut is that?

# 3 09-01-2004 , 05:59 AM
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It's from a book: 3D Graphics & Animation

I can get 3 or 4 corners rounded It won't let me do the last one, Here is the whole portion, hopefully someone can enlighten my noobie mind.


Before proceeding, go to the modules menu set, located in the upper left corner (just below the File drop-down menu), and make sure you are in Modeling mode. In future chapters, you will change this to Animation, Dynamics or Rendering modes depending on the topic. When doing so, notice that the drop-down menus change.

In the Hotbox* menu, choose Windows*Settings/Preferences*Preferences. In the Settings window, verify that the "working units" - Linear value is set to Centimeters (default).

In the Side viewport, choose the Create*NURBS Primitives*Square › Options window. Select Active View, make the Side 1 Length 6 centimeters, the Side 2 Length 4 centimeters and press create. Name it MonitorProfileShape01.

Normally I would use more abbreviated object and filenames like MonRefShape01, but for a tutorial project I thought it would be beneficial to spell everything out. Note that I like to use caps for generally non-rendering objects like shapes, cameras and lights.

With the square (MonitorProfileShape01) selected, Go to the Maya Outliner (you can select it in your viewport by selecting the Persp/Outliner Tab on the Left side Toolbar. You will see a List of all objects in your scene.

In the Outliner Press the (-) minus sign next to MonitorProfileShape01. You will see each side listed. Select the fist 2 sides and open the *Edit Curves*Attach Curves › Options Window. Set Attach Method to Blend and hit Apply. (leave the window open you will be using it again. Now select the first and third sides and repeat Attach Command. Next, select the first and fourth sides and repeat again (now you can close the › Options Window).

Finally, with the entire square selected, open the *Edit Curves*Open/Close Curve › Options Window. Set the Shape to Blend and hit Open/Close. You now have a square that is a Periodical Curve with no overlapping CV's.

Next, delete all this history of the square to give it a "clean slate" so to speak.

With the square still selected, use *Edit*Delete By Type*History. You'll notice, in the Outliner, that the MonitorProfileShape01. No longer consists of 4 separate sides. It now has only one continuous side with rounded corners.

In the Perspective View, select the MonitorProfileShape01. Open the Surface*Extrude › Options Window. Set the Style to Distance, the Extrude Length to .15, Direction to X-axis, the Surface Degree to Cubic, the Curve Range to Complete and the Output Geometry to Polygons (set to Quads). Set the Chord Height Ratio to .05. This will smooth out the corners. Press Extrude and extrude the shape into a thin 3D panel but the object will be hollow. Have no fear we can fix it! Use * Edit Polygons* Fill Hole.. (see fig. 4.40b). Name the Extruded Surface, MonitorScreen01.

Save your file as BlimpMonitor01.mb and close it. Proceed to the Open Sweep (More Extrudes) tutorial.

Note that usually an artist builds an entire model within a single scene, but that would cause problems in the tutorial because we would have pieces from all of the tutorial sections mixed together, raising the possibility of something getting messed up accidentally. Therefore, instead of building the entire blimp in a single file, we're going to save each section off separately and merge them together later.

How do you post pictures? I could show you what it is supposed to look like, all it is, is a square w/rounded edges.

Thanks

# 4 09-01-2004 , 09:15 PM
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no one knows?, I'm sure it is really simple and I will probably hit myself after I find out how.

# 5 09-01-2004 , 09:39 PM
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Works just fine for me. not sure what the problem might be.

# 6 10-01-2004 , 05:26 PM
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Hmm, wierd, are there any settings that I'm missing in the attach curves editor?, I can get 3 corners rounded but not the fourth, it won't allow me to.

# 7 10-01-2004 , 05:35 PM
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Originally posted by MayaStudent
It's from a book: 3D Graphics & Animation

Ah, you're doing the bladerunner blimp tutorial....I didn't realize they made that book for Maya. I have the original but it's mostly done with 3DS....maya wasn't even born, yet....they do briefly mention Power Animator in the back though...user added image


"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."
# 8 10-01-2004 , 06:54 PM
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hey, I remember that book!

It was the first book I bought when thinking about whether or not I wanted to do this stuff. user added image

# 9 10-01-2004 , 07:18 PM
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Same here! user added image


"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."
# 10 11-01-2004 , 03:10 AM
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Yea it's a really good book, but I am getting frusterated with this part of the tutorial.

# 11 11-01-2004 , 03:16 AM
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So may I ask you guys, how you got to the level that you are at with maya? Was it alot of practice? Trial and Error? How many of you guys actually work in the field of CGI? Did you go to school or self taught, I'm really trying to get into this I spend probably 5-6 hours a day on maya.

# 12 11-01-2004 , 03:45 AM
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a little bit of all you just mentioned for me. although I haven't bean to a school my self. I don't work in 3d yet, but some around do..

# 13 11-01-2004 , 03:58 AM
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Lots of practice. Lots of looking at others work and wireframes and such. Study anatomy, get some good reference photos.

I went to school, but realisticly, upon graduation, I had only been taught the basics. I was then hired at the same school as a teacher's assistant and learned a lot that way.

I work as an artist at a video game studio, after about 3 years AFTER graduating from school and continued practice to better myself.

Unfortunately, my current website doesn't have very good work that's indicative of my current quality, as most of the stuff I've done over the last 6-10 months I can't show. user added image

# 14 11-01-2004 , 06:30 AM
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Cool, you guys are great, I've been interested in 3d work since I was in grade 10 that was 5 years ago, I did most of my work in 3ds max but never really got into it until this year. I went with maya because it seems like you can produce better things with it and It's Canadian Like me, I live an hour from toronto where Alias/Wavefront headquarters is. I'm quite glad I joined this site now, I can see I am going to grow learning from you guys.

Thanks

# 15 11-01-2004 , 07:30 AM
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Ok, Back to my problem, When attaching my corners I select the 2 first Curves as in the tutorial, then I pick the 1st and 3rd, then the 1st and 4th, after that I don't have pairs of curves to do the last corner in the upper lefthand corner, And I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong

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