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How to properly merge vertices and edges in Maya?

ned_poreyra
polycounter lvl 4
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ned_poreyra polycounter lvl 4
I want to merge the selected vertex with the one above it. But when I do, it seems like it merged properly, but it really didn't. The result geometry is a mess. Those two edges are not real edges - I can't bevel them, they're not part of a loop, they break multi-cut and so on. I really don't understand how Maya works.

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  • oglu
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    oglu polycount lvl 666
    Could you post the geo here please.
  • ned_poreyra
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    ned_poreyra polycounter lvl 4
    Unfortunately I deleted the whole geometry and made it from scratch. It doesn't behave this way anymore, for some reason. I don't know what happened.
  • Alex_J
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    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    Use Mesh>Cleanup tool to identify weird geometry.

    Also can use smooth mesh preview to quickly find hidden extra verts or unwelded verts.

    If you find some edges wont bevel that ought to, sometimes easiest thing to do is just delete associated face and bridge back together, rather than hunting down problem vert/edge.
  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    It's not uncommon to end up with multiple edges that share the same two vertices in maya - you can sometimes fix it by selecting both edges and merging them explicitly but if not you're stuck deleting one of the faces. 

    I get around these issues by not using Maya to model things. 
  • gnoop
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    gnoop sublime tool
    poopipe     Using  3d max for modelling?      Is there any other soft that could deal with it on its own?
  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    I like Max and Silo but anything that actually pays attention to the topology of a mesh will simply not allow things like this to happen.

    I imagine modo and blender are fine, I've barely used them.
  • gnoop
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    gnoop sublime tool
    poopipe said:
    I imagine modo and blender are fine, I've barely used them.

    They both easily let you to make a mess of polygons ans edges  if your are not careful or just accidentally.  Double coinciding edges , double or even triple coinciding faces sharing same vertexes.   I once saw a whole second layer of faces  laying on same vertexes.    

    Blender has a few "selection  by traits" option to select and kill such a mess  still you can easily miss a few and waste forever then  trying to figure out what's wrong.  

    I love edit poly in Max since it just doesn't let you do so.    One of few thing I love about MAx  actually. 
    Wonder if Silo  have something like that too?
  • Alex_J
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    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    not to refute anything said here, i realize maya is by far not the strongest modeler out there, but in its defense, not making bad geo like that isn't difficult to avoid once you know what you are doing, and cleaning it up usually only take a couple of steps. just a couple tricks like the ones i mentioned is usually enough to clean up a model in just a matter of minutes.
  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    Cleanup is fine if you know what the problem is, know how to resolve it and just need the problem areas highlighting

    The problems come when you run an auto clean up and it splits the wrong edge when it finds non-manifold geometry or it deletes the wrong laminar face etc.  Your model still looks like shit yet it passes the tests and you have no clue what to do.

    Knowledge goes a long way - with Maya you need more of it than you do with a proper modelling package

    Gnoop,. Silo doesn't let you make shit either
  • CheeseOnToast
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    CheeseOnToast greentooth
    Being able to temporarily make non-manifold geometry is sometimes useful, e.g. extruding fur planes or an eyelash strip straight from your base model. I wouldn't dismiss that as "shit", but it definitely adds another layer of potential fuck-up for someone who doesn't know about "bad" geo and how to fix it.
  • Henrik
    In Blender there are numerous techniques to visually highlight problematic or erratic components, like poles, doubles, laminars, nonmanifolds, tris, n-gons, whatever you can dream up really.

    Big question: Is there any solution out there (stock built-in or otherwise) that can help me to VISUALLY DIAGNOSE my meshes??
  • Benjammin
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    Benjammin greentooth
    1. Run Mesh clean up, but set the options to select problem areas rather than auto fix them. Also, read those options, and only check the ones you need. ie: Doing a check to find faces with zero UV area won't help you much if you haven't UVed yet.
    2. Smooth mesh preview  (number 3 on keyboard) is really useful for seeing issues, because anything funky won't smooth the way you expect.
    3. Sometimes selecting problem vertices, run 'detach', then 'merge' again will resolve issues.
    4. Deleting and bridging faces works sometimes too, as mentioned above.
  • Alex_J
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    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    Henrik said:
    Big question: Is there any solution out there (stock built-in or otherwise) that can help me to VISUALLY DIAGNOSE my meshes??

    After you run mesh cleanup and have it set to "select" not clean, press ctrl+1 to isolate the selected problem spots. If there is a lot you can even make a quick select set so that you dont got to find them again.
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