Integrating 3D models with photography
Interested in integrating your 3D work with the real world? This might help
# 16 14-10-2011 , 01:23 AM
Acid44
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Posts: n/a

Z-plane Clipping/Fighting/Distortion

Q: My objects are too close together and appear to be coming through each other even though they aren't.

Example (Click to enlarge):
user added image
user added image

A: This is Z-fighting, they are basically fighting for their space in the z axis (from camera) and this is causing them to have the look of being on the exact same coordinates.

Fixes:

Easy way - Move them further apart, if possible.

Other easy way, but sometimes could be a problem - Adjust your camera's clipping planes. This can be done by going to View>Camera attribute editor, in the viewport (may vary by Maya version) From there the clipping options are under the Camera Attributes section. Try setting the near clip a tad higher, and the far clip a tad lower, you'll usually only need a very small change to fix it.

Example (Click to enlarge):

user added image
user added image

# 17 18-11-2011 , 08:39 PM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374

Face selection

Q: How come I can only select faces by hitting the center dot; or How can I turn off/on the center dot on faces; or Why does face selection look different on my computer?

user added image

A: You can change the face selection mode in the preferences
user added image

Change it to match a tutorial or to suit your preference.
user added image

# 18 23-01-2012 , 07:04 AM
bullet1968's Avatar
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 4,255
Q: How do I snap vertices to a grid...or line them up so I can mirror and merge. Also how can I snap a row of vertices to a particular vertice on my model?

A:Snapping_Verts.wmv - YouTube


bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes
# 19 27-03-2012 , 02:50 AM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374

Hard or soft edges

Q: How do I smooth or soften hard edges OR why do I have strange shadowing on my object?

A: The normals need to be softened or hardened. In the first case, select the edges to be softened, then Normals > Soften Edge. In the second case, select the edges, then Normals > Harden Edge.

Attached Thumbnails
Attached Images
# 20 27-06-2012 , 05:54 PM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374

Abbrs

Abbreviations/Glossary

AE: Attribute Editor
AI: Adobe Illustrator
AO: Ambient Occlusion
BG: Background (e.g. BG plate)
CV: Control Vertex
DM/Dis map: Displacement map - texture to create additional surface detail
FCP: Final Cut Pro
FG: Final Gather
FK: Forward Kinematics
GI: Global Illumination
Geo: Geometry
HiPoly : High polygon mesh - a dense mesh with a high number of poly faces
IK: Inverse Kinematics
LoPoly : Low polygon mesh - a mesh with a small number of poly faces
ma: Maya ASCII - file format
Max: 3ds Max - Maya's bitter rival (owned by Autodesk too)
mb: Maya Binary - file format
MEL: Maya Embedded Language - scripting language built into Maya
N-gon: Polygon or face with > 4 edges/sides
NM : Normal map - texture to simulate additional surface detail
obj: Geometry file format - contains geometry and UV information
persp: Perspective view or camera
Poly: Polygon or Face
Prefs: Preferences folder - on Windows, typically located in "...My Documents\maya\2013-x64\prefs"
PS: Adobe Photoshop
Tri: Triangle, a face with 3 edges/sides
UVTE: UV Texture Editor
Verts : Vertices, points on a mesh
Wires: Wireframe shading mode, usually wireframe on shaded
Z: Pixologic ZBrush


Link people asking about abbreviations to this post for reference. PM me to add more to the list.


Last edited by stwert; 28-06-2012 at 01:43 AM.
# 21 08-09-2012 , 01:43 AM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374
Q: How do I "delete" my preferences on Windows or Mac?

A: If Maya starts acting really strange, sometimes there's nothing for it but to reset the application to default preferences.

On Windows, the prefs folder can generally be found as C:\Users\YourUsername\My Documents\maya\2013-x64\prefs (or whatever version you have).

On Mac it is /Users/YourUsername/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/maya/2013/prefs (or whatever the version is).

The best way to kill the prefs folder without losing your preferences completely, is to just rename the prefs folder as prefs_2012-07-09 or whatever date you want to give. When you restart Maya the next time, a whole new set of preferences will be generated, and hopefully the buggy behaviour will be gone.

Note: You don't typically have to reset the whole folder, usually killing the userPrefs.mel file is enough.

# 22 02-05-2014 , 07:47 PM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374
I anticipate this will quickly become a FAQ in the coming months

Q: Where's Keep Faces Together?
A: In Maya 2015, Keep Faces Together has moved from the Edit Mesh menu to the Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences under the Modeling tab.

# 23 03-11-2014 , 01:06 AM
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Location: Prague
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@cdozier86 people here try and help out as much as they can. They do it in there spare time for free! Very nice of them I think and I personally am glad to have those sorts of people around.

Maybe you should invest some time in trying to help yourself.

24 hour ban.
Dave


From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
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