Basic Tips to help new Beginners in Maya!
Hey so ive been doing 3D for about 3 years now and im finally ready to get a job in it. I thought it would be a great thing to share some basic tips and problem solutions to help out beginners. I wish I had found these earlier as the problems they caused were holding me back for months.
I hope they help you on your path to success in the 3D industry!
1: When using the Quad Draw tool in maya; remember to use the high poly wireframe as a guide on where to retopologise your models. This will give your topology a really clean look and will increase your speed of work flow.
2: When UV unwrapping try to imagine unfolding your model like a paper cube as this will give your UV's a cleaner and neater layout while also minimising the amount of texture warping when it come to baking or texturing your model.
3: When a piece of your UV map is super small or invisible then highlight the piece and change its view type to planar (Other view types can work but I use planar). Next unwrap the selected piece and it should be at the correct size for you to work with.
4: When you need to reset your UV's I tend to not delete my UV's but instead highlight the entire object and set its UV view port to plainar as this will reset any pregenerated cuts on your models UV map.
5: If you are having trouble getting your UV editor to cooperate with your commands then make sure you have turned off the cut and sew tool as you cannot select a different tool when cut and sew is active.
6: Make sure your UV's are in the correct square in the UV editor as this will cause your model to not bake normals when baking a high poly texture onto a low poly model.
7: If your model is not baking at all then make sure to check you have turned on the maps you want it to bake in the baking menu.
These are not a guide but more just helpful tips to remember when 3D modeling in Maya and some other 3D software. I hope these help some people progress on their journey through learning how to 3D model. If you have any tips you would like to share then write them below of it you disagree with any of my tips and have a better solution then also write them below as im always happy to improve.
I hope they help you on your path to success in the 3D industry!
1: When using the Quad Draw tool in maya; remember to use the high poly wireframe as a guide on where to retopologise your models. This will give your topology a really clean look and will increase your speed of work flow.
2: When UV unwrapping try to imagine unfolding your model like a paper cube as this will give your UV's a cleaner and neater layout while also minimising the amount of texture warping when it come to baking or texturing your model.
3: When a piece of your UV map is super small or invisible then highlight the piece and change its view type to planar (Other view types can work but I use planar). Next unwrap the selected piece and it should be at the correct size for you to work with.
4: When you need to reset your UV's I tend to not delete my UV's but instead highlight the entire object and set its UV view port to plainar as this will reset any pregenerated cuts on your models UV map.
5: If you are having trouble getting your UV editor to cooperate with your commands then make sure you have turned off the cut and sew tool as you cannot select a different tool when cut and sew is active.
6: Make sure your UV's are in the correct square in the UV editor as this will cause your model to not bake normals when baking a high poly texture onto a low poly model.
7: If your model is not baking at all then make sure to check you have turned on the maps you want it to bake in the baking menu.
These are not a guide but more just helpful tips to remember when 3D modeling in Maya and some other 3D software. I hope these help some people progress on their journey through learning how to 3D model. If you have any tips you would like to share then write them below of it you disagree with any of my tips and have a better solution then also write them below as im always happy to improve.