How do you smoothen out the object?

# 1 30-08-2014 , 11:42 AM

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Hey guys,

This problem has frustrated me over several days and I have searched and searched for the answer but nothing came up can you please tell me how this guy smoothen his lines?! I'm following a tutorial and i took 3 screenshots of it shown in the attachments. PLEASE HELP ME I'M DYING I WANT TO ANIMATE ARRRRRGHGHHGHHG. user added image

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# 2 30-08-2014 , 12:15 PM

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There are a few ways to smooth a low res polygon object which include using Smooth Mesh or converting to Sub-Division.

What he is probably doing in this instance is using Smooth Mesh Preview, which means if you select an object and hit 3 on the keyboard you will see an approximation of what the low res mesh would look like if smoothed with the Smooth Mesh command.This is a great option and time saver while in the modeling phase, also if you intend to render using Mental Ray it will render the smooth mesh preview without you converting the geometry.

If you intend to use the Smooth command (found under the Mesh menu ) be aware of a behavior that catches out some beginners, if you smooth a mesh then delete your history you will be stuck with the high res geo and will not be able to return to the low res state (another reason for using smooth mesh preview).

You can also create a sub-d proxy object (also under the Mesh menu set) using Smooth Proxy/Subdiv Proxy although if you are not that familiar with proxies i would stick with smooth mesh.

i hope this explains and helps a little.

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# 3 31-08-2014 , 01:40 AM

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Hey thanks for replying quickly,

Well I tried that and it turned out like this. I mean the legs and arms are flawless but the torso... Any suggestions?

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Last edited by james9oo0; 31-08-2014 at 01:52 AM.

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# 4 31-08-2014 , 08:27 AM

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The vertices don't look connected

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# 5 31-08-2014 , 09:05 AM

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Okay clearly you need to learn the basics of Maya, i would suggest you download some of the free tutorials here such as modeling a hand https://simplymaya.com/autodesk-maya-...=326&sub_cat=0

You should also do the tutorials in the help documents because that will give you a basic understanding of the tools in Maya and most likely answer a lot of your initial questions about basic use.

Richard is right , you need to combine your meshes and then merge the vertices on the joins.

Also if you need to make a smoothed edge sharper you can reinforce it with another edge close to it.

Finally one thing i forgot to mention in my previous post is that to get out of smooth preview and back to your low res view hit 1 on the keyboard with the mesh selected.

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# 6 31-08-2014 , 09:16 AM

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Hey, thanks guys,

lol ya i thought a good way to learn the basics of animating would be through the creating of a character :?. I did connect the vertices though, I don't understand what's wrong with that. Do you have to connect the vertices when duplicate special with instance is turned on or? I did watch a long tutorial video on youtube and the in app tutorial's so I have a very basic understanding of the software.

Thanks alot!

P.S do answer the question inside user added image

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# 7 31-08-2014 , 03:27 PM

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To merge vertices the two pieces of geometry have to be combined into one object first (select both pieces of geo then under the Mesh menu click on Combine).Once you you have the single object you can then merge the vertices by selecting both vertices and under Edit Mesh click Merge Components.

Watch out for the spacing because the merge command has a distance value in the options and if its small then the verts have to be close to or on top of each other.You can also select a whole row of verts and merge in one command if you have your merge distance value set the the correct distance.

There is also a Merge Vertices Tool under Mesh Tools.

Personally i would not use the merge option when mirroring or duplicating as you don't have much control of the final result, i would stick to a model/duplicate/combine/merge vertices workflow for better results with more control ect.

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Last edited by jsprogg; 31-08-2014 at 03:32 PM.

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