Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.
# 76 19-05-2005 , 09:51 PM
mhcannon's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Waianae, HI
Posts: 1,275

Comparing renders

You can easily compare multiple renders within the render view window. Once you've rendered a scene, click the icon with the down arrow. This save this image into the render buffer. Change a scene or render globals attribute and render the scene again. You use the slider at the bottom of the render view window to switch between buffered renders.

Attached Images


AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

Last edited by mhcannon; 05-06-2005 at 05:52 PM.
# 77 29-05-2005 , 04:16 PM
mhcannon's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Waianae, HI
Posts: 1,275

Deleting Edges

There is an understandable desire to use the "delete" key when removing edges from a mesh. This, however, does not always leave a clean edge since it often leaves behind unneeded vertices. To avoid these unwanted vertices, you should use the "delete edge" option under the edit polygons menu. In fact, I recommend making this a shelf icon if you do a lot of poly editing.

Attached Thumbnails


AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

Last edited by mhcannon; 29-05-2005 at 04:27 PM.
# 78 04-06-2005 , 11:34 PM
R-Tillery's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ventura California
Posts: 966
Hey Im glad to see this Up as a stickyuser added image

I'll just add one to the pile.

When working in Perspective mode you can bring up a larger screen with out going into your Display tab and closing all the tools and time slider. Just hold (Ctrl + Spacebar) It’s a whole lot faster. :attn:


Last edited by R-Tillery; 04-06-2005 at 11:37 PM.
# 79 05-06-2005 , 05:49 PM
mhcannon's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Waianae, HI
Posts: 1,275

Exact CV postitioning

Ok this is for the control freaks out there (you know who you are). You can place CVs at exact coordinates as you create them. After creating the first CV, open the channel box and select CVs under the shape node or open the attribute editor and expand the components flag. Both of these will give you the fields to enter specific X, Y, and/or Z coordinates. As a tie-in, remember that you can press the middle mouse button to switch to the move manipulator for the current CV, allowing you to position it before creating the next CV. Add to that Jango's Alt + arrows to nudge control.

Attached Thumbnails


AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

Last edited by mhcannon; 05-06-2005 at 06:01 PM.
# 80 07-06-2005 , 05:57 PM
mhcannon's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Waianae, HI
Posts: 1,275

Quick Vids from Alias

This is s site tip. Go to the Alias website and enter the Alias Community section, then go the 3D 101 section. Here you will find scores of short (very short) vids that demonstrate the various tools and functions in Maya. This a great place for noobs to check out when they need an example of how to use a particular tool or function. These are very basic vids (no sound!)... no competition for SM, but they are numerous and quick to download/view. Just another learning asset to be exploited.

https://www.alias.com/glb/eng/communi...equestid=54188
direct link to the 3D 101 section.



AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

Last edited by mhcannon; 08-06-2005 at 09:20 AM.
# 81 07-06-2005 , 09:51 PM
Renderizer's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Germany
Posts: 276

UV Snapshots: getting around limited image resolution

Since I just came up with a little tip and mhcannon thought it would be a good idea to post it here, I will do just that.

Maybe some of you have found out before that Maya limits the image resolution of the UV Snapshot to 2048x2048, which should be enough for most things, but sometimes you just need more space.

To get this done, follow these easy steps:

1. Close Maya if it happens to be running, otherwise you may experience problems.

2. Track down a MEL script called 'performUVSnapshot.mel' (should be somewhere here: [Program Path Dir]\Alias\scripts\others).

Copy it to your scripts folder (eg. my documents\maya6.0\scripts). Maya will give these scripts prioity over those found in Maya's install folder, so you can keep it for later use, just in case you have to reinstall Maya. In case you want to leave the script where it is, make a copy of it before you apply any changes.

3. Open the script in notepad and look for these lines:

int $kPLEMaxX = 2048;
int $kPLEMaxY = 2048;

Once you've found then, simply change the two occurrences of 2048 to the maximum resolution you might need to use (I set mine to 4096).

4. Save the script and restart Maya. Select your geometry, call the UV Snapshot window and set the resolution to your heart's content.

5. Shut down the machine, pick up your girlfriend and go out for a little walk in the sun and enjoy the fresh air.

Amen!


Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!
# 82 08-06-2005 , 12:20 AM
R-Tillery's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ventura California
Posts: 966
Right on!! Thanks Renderizer,, this helps me out a whole lot. you Rock :attn:

# 83 08-06-2005 , 09:05 AM
R-Tillery's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ventura California
Posts: 966
As I finally read thro all the post and so I don’t put up a tip that has already been posted I think I got something someone might be able to use.:p

Using the duplication Options box you can make all kinds of cool things that would be rotated. Like a staircase or in this example a chain.

Just open up your duplication options box in your Edit tab and set a torus up to be copied.

Keep copy checked and set Group under to world.

I have my grid set up to units of 16 by 256 so I had to scale up my torus then set up the Y-axis in the options box 122. 45 leaving the scale set to 1 and instant chain.user added image
user added image

# 84 09-06-2005 , 02:36 PM
vladimirjp's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: stuck in the 90's boston, USA
Posts: 1,871

Re: UV Snapshots: getting around limited image resolution

Originally posted by Renderizer

5. ... go out for a little walk in the sun and enjoy the fresh air.

NEVER!!!!



----

fyi: u can also adjust the size of the UVsnapshot in PS to whatever u want, it will not affect the texture, its just there as a frame of reference.

# 85 09-06-2005 , 10:13 PM
Renderizer's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Germany
Posts: 276

Maya and multilayered TIFFs

Originally posted by vladimirjp
NEVER!!!!


Tzzz... user added image


With Maya 6, there came the opportunity to use PSD files in your scenes. But what if you don't have Maya 6 or better?

Did you know that you can save multilayered TIFFs in Photoshop?

They include all your layers, alpha channels, blend modes, adjustment layers and even paths, so that the handling is pretty similiar to 'true' PSD files.

The good (and obviously not too well known) thing is, that Maya can read these multilayered files to use them as textures. This is possible because PS saves a full resolution composite layer along with all the meta data that makes up your image.

Might come in handy at times.


Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!
# 86 24-06-2005 , 04:16 PM
Mayaperson's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 24
I'm having trouble modeling. I don't really know if I'm doing it right. I want to model a man but I can't find a tutorial for one. Is there anything that makes modeling easier?:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:


Ryan
# 87 25-06-2005 , 08:45 AM
dae's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 780
lots of practice and try start with a more simpler subject, try Kurts cartoon dog tut found here

Dae


"I THINK, THEREFORE I AM"
René Descartes

www.mvorster.co.uk
# 88 06-07-2005 , 08:27 PM
Insanity Projects's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Earth IX
Posts: 30

kool

kool thread. Exactly what I am looking for. :attn:


<a href="https://insanityprojects.tripod.com">Insanity Projects</a>

ICQ#- 277234669
AIM- jsprpettit4
# 89 07-07-2005 , 10:31 AM
stylish_chemist's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: England
Posts: 70
I'd like to take this opportunity to say:

:attn: :attn: :attn: :attn:MHCANNON IS A GOD:attn: :attn: :attn: :attn:

# 90 11-07-2005 , 07:04 PM
mhcannon's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Waianae, HI
Posts: 1,275

Random extrusions

Umm, first off, thanks for the positive feedback... I don't think I rate godhood, but thanks again anyway.

Ran across this option the other day and thought it would be a cool way to make quick landscapes or rocky surfaces. In the Polygon's Extrude Faces options is a slider for random extrusions. This options is normally "greyed out," to access it you first have to uncheck the "Use selected curve for extrusion" option. Then you can either enter numbers or move the slider. This causes the resulting extrusion to become rough... the higher the numbers the rougher it looks. Enjoy.

Attached Thumbnails


AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."
Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads