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 31-03-2004 , 01:25 PM
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I'm making a 3D map ( real not texture )

Hi i'm doing an illustration of a map, In Maya I've created an polygon plane and turned the subdivisions to max settings 50 width/ 50 height and assigned my first draft map texture to it, what I want to be able to do is raise/lower specific areas (valleys hills etc), I can do this with the default verts asigned after creating the plane but because they are spaced to far apart I start raising areas I dont want to, could someone suggest the best way to say:- raise a specific shape/area of hill, can I simply draw on extra verts around a shape and raise it that way? or do I just need to increase the number of verts on my plane?

I've include a first draft pic to (hopefully) show more clearly what i'm after.

Thanks for any help

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# 2 31-03-2004 , 03:12 PM
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have you tried the sculpt tool?
If you dont have enough detail then best to add more u/v's.

# 3 01-04-2004 , 01:19 PM
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Thanks for the reply dragonsfire, the sculpt tool will only sculpt verts not individual areas as far as I can tell so it looks like i'm going to have to add more, could you tell me the best way to do this?

# 4 01-04-2004 , 01:34 PM
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S'ok I got it, didnt realise you could type in any amount when creating a new plane, I thought 50/50 was the highest.

# 5 01-04-2004 , 01:59 PM
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Ok so I have lots more verts now, only trouble is changing that has caused the texture map to become different size! Could you tell me how to resize is so it fits back the the size of the plane?

# 6 01-04-2004 , 02:32 PM
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If you open up the texture in the hypershader and graph it, the end node will let you manipulate it to what ever scale.

# 7 01-04-2004 , 02:33 PM
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S'ok worked it out.

# 8 01-04-2004 , 02:38 PM
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oops sorry didnt see your last post, I'll try it your way, ok open hyper shade>right click texture i'm using> select graph network and then...

# 9 01-04-2004 , 02:45 PM
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Open hypershader, select object, click on "graph materials on selected object", open up place2dTexture node, look at "repeat UV", you can increase/decrease with that.

# 10 01-04-2004 , 03:05 PM
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fantastic mate, thanks very much worked a treat!

# 11 01-04-2004 , 03:07 PM
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Why dont you use displacement mapping to do it? grab your map and paint a black and white (greyscale) version of it in photoshop. Then apply it to a plane with PLENTY of cv's on it as a displacement. You can then use the convert displacement to polys and then tweak it until you're happy.

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# 12 01-04-2004 , 03:22 PM
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sorry are you talking about shaping the map or placing a texture onto it?

# 13 01-04-2004 , 03:41 PM
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I think your talking about modeling if so then when I do what you suggested I end up with a great way to shape the map but it then becomes difficult for me to see the texture to actualy make changes, also why do I have to use a b+w image?

# 14 01-04-2004 , 08:51 PM
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you use a b&w image for the displacement map. The back areas would make a valley and all that is white would be the tip of moutains; all the gray is somewhere in between.
So if you turn that image that you have to grayscale, and then assign the file to a materials displacement, and then assign the material to the plane, when you render the pane it will look as if you had modeled the mountains and sutff.
A displacement map is "like" a bump map, except that it actually changes the geometry (so you use to for "Bigger" bumps than just bump maping.


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# 15 01-04-2004 , 09:15 PM
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this sound interesting, so I take a greyscale version of my map then in Maya create a poly plane with lots of verts open hypershade click the displacement icon and in attribute editor asign my g/s map to it, select my plane right click on the displacement node and choose assign material to selection?

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