A rookie in need of advice about joining objects together- can you help?

Zain_Maleek

Hello lovely people of poly count,

I am new to the world of 3d of modelling and in need of advice. I am using Maya to create items/objects. My question is in regards to combining objects togther. I am following youtube tutorials and have noticed that in some tutorials, the "tutor" doesn't join the vertices of the 2 objects they want to put togther, they just press the "combine" button and then the object becomes 1. Now is this the "right" way of joining 2 objects togther or do you have to join vertices togther?

If this makes no sense, please check out a youtuber named Mike Hermes, who makes great tutorials, but he does this "combine" quite a bit and I'm not sure if its correct or not (btw Mike Hermes I love your tutorials, please do not be offended). Some tutorials, like those by youtuber James Taylor, go to great lengths to make sure they join the vertices of both objects togther so this confuses me as to which way is correct.

My overall goal is to create assests for videogames. Thought I'd add that, incase it makes a difference. Please can you help guys.

Thank you for your time.

PyrZern

... It depends ??  Game objects don't have to be 1 whole solid mesh... An arm could just overlap with shoulder and with the body if there's a shoulder pad covering the gap. (though usually these days arm and shoulder and body would be all in 1 piece... but again, it depends on the character) Neck doesn't have to be connected to the body if the shirt collar is high enough... Etc... 

AtticusMars

Couldn't you have just linked to the youtube video with the section in question?

Anyway if what you're asking is whether or not you need to weld all of your vertices together to create an "airtight" mesh such that there are no open edges or holes then the answer is no, in most cases that is not explicitly necessary.

Bek

Yeah, it depends if it's logical to do so. If things need to deform / animate you'll likely need them to remain separate objects. There are also some technical considerations.

Zain_Maleek

AtticusMars said:

Couldn't you have just linked to the youtube video with the section in question?

Anyway if what you're asking is whether or not you need to weld all of your vertices together to create an "airtight" mesh such that there are no open edges or holes then the answer is no, in most cases that is not explicitly necessary.

Thanks for the reply. This is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u29TeN0JcKg.

So in what situations is it necessary? Welding all the vertices together would be so hard if someone modelled the interior of a car engine?

Zain_Maleek

Bek said:

Yeah, it depends if it's logical to do so. If things need to deform / animate you'll likely need them to remain separate objects. There are also some technical considerations.

Great article. Thanks for the reply.

So let me get this right....please confirm if this is what you mean: So if I was modelling lets say, a book shelf. It would need to be one whole mesh welded together because its not doing there, just sitting there as a prop but if it was a gun, where it would be animated, like the chamber cocking back everytime it was fired, they have to be seprate peices?

Zain_Maleek

PyrZern said:

... It depends ??  Game objects don't have to be 1 whole solid mesh... An arm could just overlap with shoulder and with the body if there's a shoulder pad covering the gap. (though usually these days arm and shoulder and body would be all in 1 piece... but again, it depends on the character) Neck doesn't have to be connected to the body if the shirt collar is high enough... Etc... 

So I can basically hide the gaps is what your saying? Ok, thanks for the reply! Appreciate it!

AtticusMars

The only instance I can think of where you need an airtight mesh with welded vertices is for 3D printing. There are probably others but that's the only thing that comes to mind.

PyrZern

............... Personally, (could be right or wrong) I ask myself... 'Does this thing DEFORM, or does it TRANSFORM.' [Transform as in Move, Rotate, Scale] If it deforms, like elbow, then it'd better be in 1 piece. (unless you make Lara Croft like in the very original...) If it transform, then it'd better to be separated pieces. If it doesn't deform or transform, then it doesn't really matter.

Exception is when it can't be seen. 

AtticusMars

Even then, lots of things deform but are split into multiple objects with unwelded edges for games. The most common example of this is reused body meshes with replaceable heads, typically the head is broken off into a separate object to be modeled.

Zain_Maleek

AtticusMars said:

Even then, lots of things deform but are split into multiple objects with unwelded edges for games. The most common example of this is reused body meshes with replaceable heads, typically the head is broken off into a separate object to be modeled.

Thanks for the reply!

Zain_Maleek

PyrZern said:

............... Personally, (could be right or wrong) I ask myself... 'Does this thing DEFORM, or does it TRANSFORM.' [Transform as in Move, Rotate, Scale] If it deforms, like elbow, then it'd better be in 1 piece. (unless you make Lara Croft like in the very original...) If it transform, then it'd better to be separated pieces. If it doesn't deform or transform, then it doesn't really matter.

Exception is when it can't be seen. 

OK got it! Thanks for the reply!

Zain_Maleek

AtticusMars said:

The only instance I can think of where you need an airtight mesh with welded vertices is for 3D printing. There are probably others but that's the only thing that comes to mind.

OK, I'm glad to hear it, thank you for replying!