nurbs-insert isoparm
 

Hey all-
I'm trying to follow the Organic Modeling 1 vid from Gnomon and am having some trouble about half way through. We are basically working on building a head with NURBS. We have the two image planes and started the process by making a NURBS cylinder. The cylinder was then adapted through the makeNurbsCylinder to 180 degrees (like a shield) and rotated so the open end of the shield was facing in. We then moved and scaled Hulls to shape the head some (only 4x4 divisions...so its just a basic shape).
So we are now ready to Insert Isoparms. I think I'm understanding it correctly (and I am seeing the dotted line after I drag in between to existing Isoparms), but when I go to the dialog box for Insert Isoparms, Reset settings, and then select Between Selections I'm getting an error:
"Error:Insert:failed on the input surfaces."
I don't know what I'm doing wrong...can anyone help?

I think to use "between selections" you have to select to isoparms first... it'll then add an isoparm between the two you selected.

You have to pick TWO isoparms (the exact lines, and not dotted lines), in order to create a "perfect" in-between-isoparm.

I think this is it! :)

nope...sorry, I tried both ways and neither worked (i should have explained it better...sorry!) any other ideas?

i can't even "Rebuild Surface" on it for some reason...does this help any? The error I get when trying to Rebuild surface is this:
"Error:Rebuild surface failed on the current valid selection"

I did try to make a straight (no editing) NURBS cylinder and then select to isoparms and add one in between and it worked...so how come the edited head half doesn't?

hehe the rebuild surface option are a bit elaborate.

But I guess you have been told how to do this.

I cannot understand why you get errors.

Can you insert a "usual" isoparm insertion anywhere on the nurbs-surface?

This is how I usually insert an isoparm, the "usual" way;
1) Right klick an object and go into "view-isoparms-mode"
2) Right klick at an isoparm to get a specific isoparm-selection (not-dotted) or klick and drag to get a dotted line (any other isoparm position).
3) Anyway, with a specific isoparm selected (or any position on the surface) you should use the "insert isoparm" tool.
4) And voila.

To insert an inbetween isoparm;
1) Right klick a nurbs-surface and select isoparms from the marking menu
2) Select one isoparm (WHOLE LINE) and hold down the SHIFT key and klick another isoparm (WHOLE LINE) to add another isoparm to your selection (two in total)
3) Now go to the insert isoparms options menu and select inbetween option (I may remember wrong, but I think there is an apply button in the tool-box) and press APPLY.

Remember to shift klick the selection, in order to select more than one "thing".

Other things to know;
To deselect something; hold down Ctrl and select
To add to selection; hold down Ctrl + Shift, to ONLY add.
To add to selection OR/AND invert select; hold down shift and select (I usually use this to add to a selection, but you may accidentally invert select (deselect) something you have already selected.

maybe a screen shot will help

Yes, I have no trouble what so ever.

I now learned something new.

With "insert between selection" checked i the options, I found out that if you simple select a nurbs surface, maya inserts inbetween isoparms all over the object (between all its existing isoparms).

is it possible that I have done something that makes this surface not a NURBS surface anymore? I started with a NURBS surface and having been tweaking hulls and CV's, but I'm still not able to insert an isoparm and have been trying other things also. I just tried to modify-convert-to subdiv and it told me to open the script editor for the error. The errors are as follows:

nurbsToSubdiv -rn false -mp true -ch off -aut on -maxPolyCount 1348 |group1|organic_head:nurbsCylinder1|organic_head:n urbsCylinderShape1;
// Warning: nurbsToSubdiv1 (Nurbs To Subdiv Node): invalid input NURBS surface. //
// Error: Command nurbsToSubdiv failed. Open Script Editor for details. //

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

I really don't get this. :)

Try creating a nurbs cylinder, and insert isoparms. If you are unable to do this, then I'd suggest to plow through the manual (press F1 to view manual).

Try with a new nurbs, primitive, to see if you get the tool to work.

Yeah, a primitive does work...

another related question:
I started rebuilding this nurbs head according to the Gnomon video-Organic Modeling again...just to see if I missed something. I believe I explained before that we start with a Nurbs cylinder with no caps and then move hulls and CV's around to make the basic shape of the head. Then it comes to a part where he wants to close the top of the cylinder (to represent the top of the head). He says he is creating a pole (?), which he says is bad, but that we will be removing it later. He does this by selecting the top Hull in the side view and then he does something to snap the points to 0, then goes to front view and does the same...i can't figure out how he is doing this. I just moved the points to 0 from the Channel box, but would love to know how he did it. I do know how how to snap a point to the grid, but i don't know how he is selecting the whole hull and snapping all the points to 0 at the same time. Any ideas?

In 4.5, snapping lets you have the option to snap all the points together, or to snap them, but maintain their distance between each other. Double click on the Move Tool to get to these options.

thanks MT that was exactly what i was missing..."always check the options"