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# 8 19-02-2011 , 12:27 AM
bullet1968's Avatar
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 4,255
HI mate, I use CAD in 4 different packs..mostly a Surveying one but I use ACAD to do things after or before at work so I have LOTS of hours of pain up my sleeve in data transfer. First up Hamidz is correct...the scale and co-ordinates will not be on the origin..using real world (ie map grid) co-ords for me to Maya is painful and it took me a while to figure out the 'f' key LOL...so yes to the outliner, select then frame it.

As Hamidz pointed out...the extrusion can also be left in NURBS and you could convert later to maintain smoothness...or increase/decrease your subdivision on extrude on poly. You also HAVE to be careful HOW you have created the CV's in NURBS. For instance try and maintain a 3 point arc or more when creating a curve...so where the straight ends (tangent point) ALWAYS create an IP (intersection point) before the next tangent...this WILL affect the objects geo if you dont. For a standard curve I will have 2 tangents and 2 or 3 points on the arc (depending on the arc length of course). Maya isnt an engineering program so you have to help it in some cases.

Depending on what version of Maya you have...highlight the object and then press the 3 key on the num pad...this is the smooth preview...then press 1 to return to unsmoothed. You will also find IF you havent placed CV's opposite each other (like parallel arcs) then when you extrude you will end up with edges all over the place. Try and keep the CV's opposite and always err on the side of 'more is better' as you can always delete un needed lines and points. I dont always go with quads...they do some funky things...some objects it is fine...other times I use 'control points' to keep the integrity of the geo...its all about experimenting and having fun!

I hope I havent confused you LOL

Have fun

Cheers bullet


bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes