Mike's Poly Head Tut
 

Hi,
Just a couple of simple newbie questions that the Maya Help doesn't just outright answer....

How do you make the choice to work with NURBS or polygons? I thought NURBS were supposed to be better when forming shapes like heads, etc. NURBS I haven't quite learned how to work in detail (convert to polygon?).

I have watched the first video so far and it is great. Looking forward to actually trying to do it. Mike or anyone interested to see what I come up with? (even if it DOES make you screech in horror?) :)

Shameless plug...you can see my first "serious" attempt in Maya here: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/s...#post268609463

-- Dan

When it comes to what geometry type to work with, it's usually a matter of preference. Both can create the same things if you know how to use them.

My preference is polygons. I use polys for about 99% of my work.

Glad you like the video so far. Feel free to post your results. :)

Mike's Head tut so far
 

Some thoughts so far....

I have just finished part 4.

On the previous parts, Mike expressed some concern on us "just watching him move vertices around". But in the meantime of him moving and shaping his vertices, I learned a wealth of things like how to correctly append polygons and combine them. Lots of good "best practices" info that I have lacked. Lots of great techniques. You make it look easy Mike!

On part 4, I noticed a fairly good-sized jump in Mike's confidence and skill and this part of the tut runs very smoothly.

Where should I post my finished product when done?

Thanks,
-- Dan

HELP!!!!!
 

I am not sure what has happened, but I opened my head scene to continue with pt 5 of the tut, and the only thing I have is the nose and my reference images. I suspect the head is there because the pcube1, etc is in the Outliner. I have told Maya to Show--> All and everything else I can think of. Any ideas!!!??
I might have made it transparent last night before saving, but I don't think I did. The nose was already combined with the head, so I don't know what is going on. When I choose what should be the pcube for the head in Outliner, it does not show me anything but transform info in the attribute editor. HELP!!!:(
Also...the thing that makes me think the head is actually there, is I saved my work in Six different increments (each scene saved separately) and in each one, the head shape is missing except for the nose...which leads me to believe something is set in Maya that is hiding it somehow.
--Dan

I'm glad you're enjoying the tutorials. The reason for the boost from part 3 to 4 is because there was a good month or two between them because of getting a job with a game studio... the work I've done for them has really helped me improve. :)

I'm not sure about your head issue. One thing I do in the video often is make the geometry transparant so I can view the image planes. If you've done this, you should only have to select the head and go to the last tab in the attribute editor for it's material options.

If that's not the case, perhaps try uploading it to here so we can take a look.

As for posting your progress, the VIP forum if you'd like to keep it between subscribers, or the more public WIP forum if you don't mind everyone seeing it.

Looking forward to it. :)

Head be gone
 

Hi,
Thanks for responding! I uploaded the file and titled it "Dan's Head attempt".
I'm afraid it is gone. I counted the total faces and they equal the nose and the reference eye and pics. I am not that familiar with when you should delete history, but there are a few times in the tut you say to delete history. Could that have done it?
In any case, the head does appear in my very first save, so perhaps all is not lost, but man I did a LOT of work on the eye socket.
I sure do appreciate it if you get a chance to look at it and see if there is anything there.
Thanks,
-- Dan

Head update
 

Hi,

Don't worry about looking at the file I uploaded. I have used my first file and reconstructed what I had done and am continuing on. In fact, if it is possible to delete the upload "Dan's Head attempt", from the forum that would be great.
-- Dan

Well, I don't think you ever actually uploaded it. If you did, I never saw it, I'm afraid.

Hi,
It is in Models-->Downloads-->Anatomy-->Dan's Head attempt.

-- Dan

Ah, I see. Yeah, that might not have been the best place for it, as the uploads/downloads area is more like a model bank where people can upload complete models for people to use.

If you just want to attach your WIPs to your thread, that's probably best.

Thanks. Is there a way I can delete it from the uploads area?
-- Dan