Not sure how to do this in Maya 2008 (Max3D splines?)

alexk

I've been going through eat3d.com's pillar tutorial DVD and even though it is done in Max, I've been able to follow along in Maya, except for one part. When he makes rebarb, he creates a basic straight peice and then uses something in Max called a spline(?) to make it bend. Not just a linear bend, but control point bending. And it looks like a great tool, as he's just duplicating the rebarb and then messing around with the bend points to create several rebarbs with different bends. I can't seem to find anything similar in Maya 2008. The closest I've found is maybe the CV curve tool, but then I can't figure out how to attach my object to it. Does anyone know how to achieve this effect in Maya 208?

MoP

A spline in Max is just the same as a curve in Maya.

I don't know if there's anything similar to Path Deform (which sounds like what he's using) in Maya, but I assume there must be. I'd suggest looking in the Deformation tab and trying the "Wire Deform" tool there (2nd from the right), it seems like it'd do what you want.

I tried it out and couldn't get it to work, I assume I'm using it wrong, will check the Maya Help later to find out

motives

i usually create a curve with cv curve tool and a nurbs circle and then go surfaces > extrude.
i have extrude set at:
tube
at path
component
profile normal

curve range: complete
output geomtery: polygons

tess meth: control points

then you will be able to control the mesh with your curve.


hope that helps

pior

Wire deform is more like a kind of fast spaghetti rig - I don't think it has all the path controls that pathdeform has (ability to make a shape 'crawl' on a spline and adjust it as desired)

Mark Dygert

I think instead of wire deform you might want to look up "loft" or "lofting" maybe it was called path deform I forget...

When I played around with it, I managed to get something close but it wasn't as easy as working with a max spline, kind of a major downer, I use splines all the time in 3dsmax. I had assumed that Maya had splines just like 3dsmax and couldn't find the same ease of use in Maya but stopped short of hunting around for scripts.