[Maya] Problem with pivot, Component axis orientation mode

RawData

Hello guys, i select series of edges which make a rectangeler shape, but the rotation of the manipulator is wrong. I tried same thing in blender and it worked well. I cant understand what is the problem. Thanks.






Pivot of the object:

Alex_J

Looks fine to me. Maybe you are expecting Y to be up and Z to be forward? In this case, it doesn't matter as you are just needing to move the vertices around. 

You can press D to toggle pivot editing, and then you can transform the pivot however you like. If you are using Maya 2018, you can align the pivot to any component with a single click. 

Side note about using the D hotkey : every tutorial I have ever seen states that you need to hold D down. I don't know where this is coming from, but you don't need to hold D. It's a toggle.

In the tool panel, you can reset the pivot location by pressing reset, and you can reset the entire tool as well (which defaults to world alignment and centered on the object).

Check out the documentation for adjusting pivots, and how to use the various snapping options. This will go a long way to speeding up your workflow in the future.

RawData

well the problem is manipulator doesnt make 90 angle with object. @BIGTIMEMASTER

Alex_J

*** Will be easier to see if you post wireframe shots in the orthographic viewports.

Reset the pivot in the tool menu. If it is still not a perfect 90 degree angle, I think that would suggest that the edges you have selected are not perfectly flush with the rest of the object, in which case you can snap the pivot to a face and then use the scale tool to bring them together perfectly. 

If you reset the pivot and it does snap perfectly flush, that would mean that you might have accidentally adjusted the pivot at some point. 

RawData

reset doesnt work for me, i have six frames like that and i want to scale them at the same time. But custom pivot doesnt work like that, every frame scaled through manipulator when i tried it. i checked overlapping polygons and i checked if my frame was not flat. But i played with object pivot a lot while placing object to scene and frozen transformation at some where.

This is how it looks from top:

Alex_J

Just to be clear, you have the component (edges) selected, went to tool settings, clicked reset....


and the selection did not change from custom to component, and thus recenter on the component?


You can also press D to bring up the custom pivot manipulator, and then click the face in the center of the frame to snap the pivot to it.

Although, it's not exactly clear to me what your goal is. Are you trying to change the pivot of the entire object? Or trying to do something specific with this edge loop? You'll need to be more thorough with you explanation of what your goal is, and what you have tried. 

Alex_J

If you are trying to change the size of those frames all at once, you won't be able to do that with the scale tool. You'd need to select all the vertices along the top, move them upwards, grab all the vertices along the side, move them left, and vice versa. You can use camera based selection to make grabbing the vertices you want easier. 

Alex_J

Here's a short video showing what I'm talking about. I have some issue getting audio to upload on youtube, but I think you'll get the idea. 

Problem with using the scale tool is that you'll have a little more trouble getting each frame to be the same size. Of course you can make things precise afterwards by grabbing the vertices on one side and snapping them to the vertices on the other side (with only the relevant axis selected), but if you just grab them all at once and use the move tool its a little less work. 

Camera based selection means you only grab the components that the camera can see, rahter than grabbing through the model. This saves you from spinning around to deselect anything on the back side. 

At the end I am just showing how you can use the scale to to make all the vertices in a row align perfectly along an axis. You can also make you selection process easier by using the orthographic viewports.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hgSlT5h_Do&feature=youtu.be

RawData

yes i just scale six different edge loops at same time, they have same topology, if i select six faces it works, but six edge loops, manipulator rotates stupidly and i cant move correctly, if i make a custom axis orientation it works for one edge loop, but i want six of them same time because i want them same size. Only way i can scale them at same time with their individual origins( pivots) is using component axis AFAIK. If i use custom axis they wont scale their own origin(pivot). I hope i can explain @BIGTIMEMASTER and thanks a lot for your effort.

RawData

your four frame, make them at sime time this is where i struggle

Alex_J

I think there is some trouble with communication. I may be misunderstanding you. If you can make a video showing what you are trying to do, or screenshots at least, it will probably be easier. However, I think the problem you are having is probably coming from just not understanding the tools Maya has. If you spend some time reviewing the documentation, watching all the videos they have showing how to make selections, use the transform tools, and use snapping tools, I think you'll figure an answer for yourself. This doesn't seem like a bug to me.

RawData

i havent got time to upload a video but i will try to explain with an image



i try to scale outmost edge loop of each frame to their own center. I select the edge loops then i choose component axis mode but manipulator rotates i cant scale. Expected thing, manipulator axis should make 90 degree angle with the surface. Custom axis doesnt work for me because i cant scale them their individual center. @BIGTIMEMASTER

Alex_J

This is the simplest method I can think of. No need for a custom pivot. Just use world axis. You do the same thing on the right and bottom sides. This maintains the same size for all insets. 




Invest in yourself, and just go through all of this stuff in the maya learning area (link below). It's boring, and a lot of it you probably already know, but it's absolutely worth it to go through it all to make sure you know everything that is possible to do with the tools you got: 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-5C5F2B9B-BE16-4C49-B72B-70EA7CB4C688-htm.html


Also, check this guy on youtube out : 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNWfrhzNRMYx_p1YIUKVDKQ

Very beginner friendly, easy to follow tutorials. He makes basic things, calls out the hotkeys, and just having him play in the background while you work on your own stuff is a great way to pick up new ways of doing thigns you may not have thought about.

Alex_J

Also, looks like your door is symmetrical. If you select the faces on one side, turn symmetry on, then you should be able to scale them all at the same time.

If it's not perfectly symmetrical but you want it to be, drop an edgeloop in the center, delete one half, and then mirror. You can delete the edge loop out if you want to afterwards.

RawData

@BIGTIMEMASTER i think the youtube link is broken

Alex_J

Look up "Mike Hermes".

A really great channel for getting familiar with Maya in a fun way. Often times if I want to learn something new in Maya, like maybe how to use curves to build geometry, first I just google it, but many times Mike Hermes videos will be the first thing to come up. Usually I'll watch that to get a good idea, then I'll go to the Maya documentation which is much easier to read and understand if I've already got that plain language introduction.