You can Shift drag edges if they are OPEN which will give you the same effect. But note that max doesn't weld open verts to closed verts. You can just snap the verts together but they wont be welded.
DUNCE question time: In Maya how do I change the colour of my objects wireframe in the viewport ? There is a wireframe colour selection under display but when i change it to say black, or any other colour for that matter it doesnt do anything, im left with default green.
To change the default (unselected) wireframe colour: Window>Settings/Preferences>Colour Settings>Inactive>Polygon Surfaces
Change that to black and all of your wireframes will be black from now on.
To change other stuff like edge colour and selection colours go to Active instead of inactive and start changing the sliders around. You should keep an object in your scene with the mode you want to change open as it updates automatically.
Is there a way to make Max extrude an edge like Maya? I want to make the plane the guide feather on the dart without using 6 polygons. Only one plane.
I apologize, if I am asking too many questions...I know you like to type Vig, I can find the post that says so :P haha
Yea it was in my sig for a while =P
Anux is right, you can only extrude or shift drag an open edge. You can open the edge by clicking the little box next to the chamfer button (chamfer menu) setting the amount to 0 and clicking open. It's a bit like hardening edges in Maya only it makes a hole in the mesh. Which is what happens on export from maya to just about any format or game engine.
There are other scripts (I think they where already linked to), that do a better job of faking the harden edges, smoothing groups are kind of nuts I'll dig em up if you have trouble finding them, I use them all the time so I have them somewhere.
Polyboost has a split option which works better but has some funky rules to it.
I normally make sure its an open edge or extrude in poly mode.
Sadly shift dragging a poly does not extrude like it does on open edges, it clones the poly leaving it detached and floating.
They fixed this (or rather Lagnecrantz did) in polyboost/graphite modeling tools. There are poly bevel and extrude tools that work by clicking and dragging on polys, so much faster than the clunky menu based system in edit poly. If you're on 2010 they're in Graphite Modeling Tools > Polygons (make sure your in polygon mode first).
Or the real solution is just to not have geometry crossing the centre line. That's what causes those extra verts, because it welds the edges in the middle, and splits the polys at the centre line.
also just untick the box "slice along seam" and even if something does go across, you'll just have an open edge you can manually fix by collapsing the verts. I personally just go to open edge mode, select all, convert to vertices by ctrl+click on verts, scale to 0, and move to 0, and that will give you a flawless symmetry every time.
FWIW, I find the Maya method of edge extrusion very scary. You're a simple click away from mind-bogglingly broken geometry!
Being able to extrude an edge from the middle of a solid group of face creates nightmarish geometry where you have two vertices connected to non-continuous geometry, yet treated as a single shell. It's really quite bad that Maya lets you do this, since there is very little application where this sort of geometry is "allowed".
It also makes it worryingly easy to create faces with zero area, or strange surfaces where there's a "hole" which only has two edges and two vertices (which really isn't a hole at all, yet somehow gets treated as such).
Nasty stuff.
Poopinmymouth: Yep, I do that from time to time too. Although the "select all open edges" trick obviously only works if you don't have open geometry anywhere else on the mesh
Hehe Mop, I tried explaining those risks to a Maya toolguy once and I just gave up. ''But it's THREEDEE! If maya let you do it then its safe, it can only be legit!". Thats the point when you walk away hoping TArtists were actually modeling stuff, sometimes hehe
Maya does let you do all manner of fucked up things to your geometry. But at least it has a fairly reliable tool for finding said geometry.(fixing it is a different matter)
Speaking of which, is there a max equivalent to the Cleanup tool? (specifically for checking for ngons)
Maya does let you do all manner of fucked up things to your geometry. But at least it has a fairly reliable tool for finding said geometry.(fixing it is a different matter)
Speaking of which, is there a max equivalent to the Cleanup tool? (specifically for checking for ngons)
theres plenty of scripts and the new xview in max 2010 for finding problems, ngons etc, but in the end its mostly down to the modeller and their technique. noobs meshes seem to have lots of problems than someone who is an experienced good modeller
Poopinmymouth: Yep, I do that from time to time too. Although the "select all open edges" trick obviously only works if you don't have open geometry anywhere else on the mesh
Select all in Boarder mode? It only works for me in Editable poly mode. In Edit Poly the modifier, it selects all the edges not just the boarders. Or is there a different way to select all open edges?
Speaking of which, is there a max equivalent to the Cleanup tool? (specifically for checking for ngons)
In 2010 there is a Select Non-Quads option inside Graphite/polyboost selection tools.
Illusion catalyst does this one step better and lets you set the min number of tris to look for. There also are a few different modifier based checks that look for different kinds of bad geometry.
I have no idea how to search this, but I know how I would ask you.
In Maya, when my transform gizmo gets away from my mesh, I would hold down the "D" key. The arrows would go away, and I could move my transform gizmo around to a more suitable location.
I assume that is an issue with the pivot point, just go to the hierachy tab in max it's the square with the three little square branching out of it. Activate the move pivot only and position it where you want it. Now you might have to do a reset xform for it to stick, it depends on what you are trying to do.
Yeah just go to the hierarchy tab, and click effect pivot only. Then centre pivot or you can manually move the pivot.
In the later versions you can set a work pivot that is like a temporary pivot for sub selection. You can access that from the drop down menu where it has your transform type (view, screen, local, gimble, working pivot)
In Maya when you extrude an edge, it comes out as a plane.
ah I just saw this thread, I dunno if anyone already mentioned it but Editable Mesh allows you to shift+drag closed edges unlike Editable Poly. Once you convert back to Epoly it should split the nonmanifold bits off again.
just in case you still want to mess up your geometry since that post
What are you talking about, who doesn't want a triangle at the very tip of their chamfer. LOL Terrible, They did fix that in Max 2010 though, now you have the option to get it done the right way, cause the old way was sooo damn good! So peeps it's not horrible, it's a feature it's supposed to be that way.
sorry if this has already been asked in here, i couldn't find it.
In max, is there an option similar to maya's 'retain component spacing?'
I'm trying to snap some verts to a face on another object, just wondering if there's an option to turn off the spacing so I don't have to scale the vert selection before snapping it.
Chamfer in max is always a bit messy if you're working in quads since it normally creates tri's. Polyboost/graphite has some nice tools to create quads on the ends of chamfers (under loops, build end & build corners).
If its a quad corner you're after, most people will use "connect" instead of chamfer, to create two new edges and then use the push setting to move them out next to the outer edges. Or they'll select the entire loop then chamfer.
Sometimes I'll use SwiftLoop (polyboost/graphite) to insert the edges since its a little faster and gives a good preview.
ah I just saw this thread, I dunno if anyone already mentioned it but Editable Mesh allows you to shift+drag closed edges unlike Editable Poly. Once you convert back to Epoly it should split the nonmanifold bits off again.
just in case you still want to mess up your geometry since that post
You have to be careful in newer versions of max maybe older too, but you can extrude (actual extrude, not shift drag) a closed edge in editable/edit poly but it keeps your geometry manifold by adding a bunch more geometry.
So if you're going to extrude a closed edge be very mindful of the mode you're in like Funky Bunnies said and be sure to clean up after it.
As some of you may have seen in the thread I started, I'm learning 3D modelling, but I haven't decided on a 3D program yet.
I played around with Max yesterday and liked it. It felt much better than Blender, easier to learn, more intuitive etc. The only thing I don't like is that Z is up.
I'm surprised at the Lightwave hate though. I've had a decent play around with lightwave too and found it to be easier to use and more intuitive than Blender. Sorry Blender fans - I didn't like Blender's UI at all, and found it harder to get to grips with than Max and LW.
I should probably try Maya too though.
In regards to some of the earlier posts - I saw the connect tool mentioned in Max. What does it do?
Something I've been wondering about is the best way to weld/merge objects. IE say you make a human out of seperate cylinders for the body/limbs etc, what is the best way to just cut a hole out of the body and an arm, and merge them together?
I saw the connect tool mentioned in Max. What does it do?
Select two parallel edges and click connect. There is a small box next to the button with a few expanded features. Polyboost/graphite modeling tools has an really nice feature called swift loop.
Something I've been wondering about is the best way to weld/merge objects. IE say you make a human out of seperate cylinders for the body/limbs etc, what is the best way to just cut a hole out of the body and an arm, and merge them together?
You can do that, or extrude the arm from the body. A quick way to do this would be to make a n-gon 5-6-8 sided poly and using the geopoly in graphite modeling tools to round it out then extrude the arm and tweak it as needed. Illusion Catalyist also has a similar function that works on loops.
You can also select the open edges and use the bridge tool. Or target weld one vert to another. Or select the two verts and weld with a high threshold.
Guys Ive got another n00b question, My viewport panel menu has dissapeared, and ive no idea how to get it back. Its the little menu that sits above every viewport where you can set the shading settings etc. Ive restored all ui elements,
Unhid all ui elements no cigar so far....
i tried max out the other day for a couple of hours and the one thing that bothered me the most was adjusting pivot. In maya I can hold down the d key and snap my pivot to vertex or the grid, really useful when aligning components. In max I couldn't even move my pivot around freely, not to mention when I centered it to my selection it didn't center properly.
Creating a custom shelf in Maya is key to getting the most out of it. Take the time to find the tools you're always using and it makes working so much faster. Also gotta love the Smooth preview in Maya (3 key), such a quick way to visualize your subD.
I really like max's spline modeling and how you can just render a curve or path deform an object around it, wish maya had something like this. Such a useful way to make wiring or curvy detail. Its so annoying and time consuming in Maya to have to create a cylinder, place it in the right spot, and extrude a face along the curve. Path deform in maya is fucked too, such a mission to do a decent path deform (unless im doing something wrong).
I was going to learn max, but I dont want to dedicate my time to learning a program that seems to have tons of issues as well. I think im gonna give Modo a shot as I've heard some nice things and the UI seems very friendly.
Its so annoying and time consuming in Maya to have to create a cylinder, place it in the right spot, and extrude a face along the curve.
Paint Effects> Attach to curve>Decide number of sides you want (diameter and division), the percent of the curve to have geometry and convert to geo, tapering and other stuff, it will be UV mapped properly and ready to go. And can also be animated.
Also to deform an object with a spline, create a lattice with as many divisions as you need, then go Animate>Motion Path>Attach.
Paint Effects> Attach to curve>Decide number of sides you want (diameter and division), the percent of the curve to have geometry and convert to geo, tapering and other stuff, it will be UV mapped properly and ready to go. And can also be animated.
Are you referring to Paint Effects>Curve Utilities>Attach Brush to Curves? Just tried that and it worked alright but I seem to be getting some issues like this:
Digging through the hundreds of options i found Sample Density (amount of segments to flow around curve), Tube Sections (number of sides) and Global Scale (size of circumference). Were those what you were also referring to?
ah, i see, I had to turn it from "off" to "on". Thanks Lamont, this is pretty damn useful! Are u using a different version of Maya than 2009? seems like your options have different names.
Bumping this thread instead of creating a new one.
I'd consider myself very advanced in Maya. I've used it for particle effects, map generation, modeling, UVing, lighting, rendering.. etc etc. I originally started out in Max before I knew anything about CG. I am still comfortable editing other artist's files at work, navigating around max, and the principles of modeling in max as they are basically one in the same. I may have a work opportunity that is based almost completely on Max.
I've been watching 3dBuzz and other videos as far as the basic navigation stuff and simple modeling techniques but this is all very beginner and basic. I was curious if anyone had any links and or essential Max advice coming from a very strong background in Maya and self teaching myself Max. i.e essential plugin's to pickup.. what are the most commonly used tools, and maybe some general workflow ideas or videos demonstrating such.
Draster's Switcher plugin gives you Maya viewport and clicking behavior. This is not only handy for easing the transition, but if you use them both at the same time, having a single set of viewport controls allows to switch back and forth seamlessly (especially if you have both open at the same time, you don't have to keep switching your mind back and forth).
TexTools goes a long way towards bringing Max's UV Tools to parity with Maya's.
Script Spot has a lot of good Max scripts. One script gives you a center pivot hotkey like in Maya, another allows you to set hard/soft edges like in Maya, although it isn't really reliable for keeping them perfectly when exporting to obj.
The biggest advice is to set hotkeys in Max to the same or similar functions in Maya. For example, Ctrl-Shift-Z is 'create edge loop' in Maya for me, so I set Connect in Max to the same hotkey. Even though they work differently, since I've already memorized to hit that key combo if I want to create an edge, my workflow doesn't change.
I think the biggest thing is to have someone who knows Max handy to ask questions, either a buddy in person over aim. That way you can ask a lot of questions for the first couple weeks, stuff like "how does max do this", because it's easy to get hung up on stuff that is easily answered by someone familiar with it.
Draster's Switcher plugin gives you Maya viewport and clicking behavior. This is not only handy for easing the transition, but if you use them both at the same time, having a single set of viewport controls allows to switch back and forth seamlessly (especially if you have both open at the same time, you don't have to keep switching your mind back and forth).
TexTools goes a long way towards bringing Max's UV Tools to parity with Maya's.
Script Spot has a lot of good Max scripts. One script gives you a center pivot hotkey like in Maya, another allows you to set hard/soft edges like in Maya, although it isn't really reliable for keeping them perfectly when exporting to obj.
The biggest advice is to set hotkeys in Max to the same or similar functions in Maya. For example, Ctrl-Shift-Z is 'create edge loop' in Maya for me, so I set Connect in Max to the same hotkey. Even though they work differently, since I've already memorized to hit that key combo if I want to create an edge, my workflow doesn't change.
I think the biggest thing is to have someone who knows Max handy to ask questions, either a buddy in person over aim. That way you can ask a lot of questions for the first couple weeks, stuff like "how does max do this", because it's easy to get hung up on stuff that is easily answered by someone familiar with it.
Ive given pretty much everything (except blender) a fair try over the years. My heart still belong to Lightwave when it comes to modeling or animation work. I tried Modo a while back and promptly grew a big rubbery one - seems its basically LW reborn.
That being said, Ive been using Max professionally for the better part of 7 years now which makes it the program Im best with. I cant put my finger on why I love LW so much, but it just flows for me unlike max, maya or xsi... I do have to admit tho that Max is entirely more versatile.
Im just waiting for Autodesk to gobble up the rest of the industry so we can have 3DS-MayaWave-odo: XSI 2015 sp2 or whatever they are gonna call it. I just made myself sad
Yea, slide edge in Maya is way better than edge constraining in Max. I think you pretty much have to do each vert separately if you want it to be good.
CSslide does it too, but same thing - it will drag the whole loop hence you want to remove the little connecting edge before performing it. Honestly its not great, but good enough.
Elte, yeah it's kind of annoying Max doesn't seem to do more than slide each vert along the same percentage, resulting in loops that are not very logical. What i do in such a case, is use edge constraints to slide the edge completely into the edge I want to align it with, then let go of the mouse button, and then slide it back.
This is a simpler case I experimented. All I did was just extruding the face. The first is uniform 8 side cylinder, the other one is 8 sided, with some edges between.
Replies
http://zacharyrussellphotography.com/__oneclick_uploads/2010/01/maya-extrude-edge.jpg
In Max, when you extrude an edge, the geometry expands.
http://zacharyrussellphotography.com/__oneclick_uploads/2010/01/max-extrude-edge.jpg
Is there a way to make Max extrude an edge like Maya? I want to make the plane the guide feather on the dart without using 6 polygons. Only one plane.
I apologize, if I am asking too many questions...I know you like to type Vig, I can find the post that says so :P haha
To change the default (unselected) wireframe colour: Window>Settings/Preferences>Colour Settings>Inactive>Polygon Surfaces
Change that to black and all of your wireframes will be black from now on.
To change other stuff like edge colour and selection colours go to Active instead of inactive and start changing the sliders around. You should keep an object in your scene with the mode you want to change open as it updates automatically.
Anux is right, you can only extrude or shift drag an open edge. You can open the edge by clicking the little box next to the chamfer button (chamfer menu) setting the amount to 0 and clicking open. It's a bit like hardening edges in Maya only it makes a hole in the mesh. Which is what happens on export from maya to just about any format or game engine.
There are other scripts (I think they where already linked to), that do a better job of faking the harden edges, smoothing groups are kind of nuts I'll dig em up if you have trouble finding them, I use them all the time so I have them somewhere.
Polyboost has a split option which works better but has some funky rules to it.
I normally make sure its an open edge or extrude in poly mode.
Sadly shift dragging a poly does not extrude like it does on open edges, it clones the poly leaving it detached and floating.
They fixed this (or rather Lagnecrantz did) in polyboost/graphite modeling tools. There are poly bevel and extrude tools that work by clicking and dragging on polys, so much faster than the clunky menu based system in edit poly. If you're on 2010 they're in Graphite Modeling Tools > Polygons (make sure your in polygon mode first).
also just untick the box "slice along seam" and even if something does go across, you'll just have an open edge you can manually fix by collapsing the verts. I personally just go to open edge mode, select all, convert to vertices by ctrl+click on verts, scale to 0, and move to 0, and that will give you a flawless symmetry every time.
Being able to extrude an edge from the middle of a solid group of face creates nightmarish geometry where you have two vertices connected to non-continuous geometry, yet treated as a single shell. It's really quite bad that Maya lets you do this, since there is very little application where this sort of geometry is "allowed".
It also makes it worryingly easy to create faces with zero area, or strange surfaces where there's a "hole" which only has two edges and two vertices (which really isn't a hole at all, yet somehow gets treated as such).
Nasty stuff.
Poopinmymouth: Yep, I do that from time to time too. Although the "select all open edges" trick obviously only works if you don't have open geometry anywhere else on the mesh
Speaking of which, is there a max equivalent to the Cleanup tool? (specifically for checking for ngons)
theres plenty of scripts and the new xview in max 2010 for finding problems, ngons etc, but in the end its mostly down to the modeller and their technique. noobs meshes seem to have lots of problems than someone who is an experienced good modeller
In 2010 there is a Select Non-Quads option inside Graphite/polyboost selection tools.
Illusion catalyst does this one step better and lets you set the min number of tris to look for. There also are a few different modifier based checks that look for different kinds of bad geometry.
I guess Maya has better "bad geometry" clean-up tools because it really needs them
I have no idea how to search this, but I know how I would ask you.
In Maya, when my transform gizmo gets away from my mesh, I would hold down the "D" key. The arrows would go away, and I could move my transform gizmo around to a more suitable location.
How would I do this in Max?
In the later versions you can set a work pivot that is like a temporary pivot for sub selection. You can access that from the drop down menu where it has your transform type (view, screen, local, gimble, working pivot)
ah I just saw this thread, I dunno if anyone already mentioned it but Editable Mesh allows you to shift+drag closed edges unlike Editable Poly. Once you convert back to Epoly it should split the nonmanifold bits off again.
just in case you still want to mess up your geometry since that post
Of course! I love messy mesh's!
@Sage - or anyone else who knows.
Where is this setting to get the better edge flow on edge chamfers in Max 2010? The only option I see is "Open" and that's not it ...
In max, is there an option similar to maya's 'retain component spacing?'
I'm trying to snap some verts to a face on another object, just wondering if there's an option to turn off the spacing so I don't have to scale the vert selection before snapping it.
If its a quad corner you're after, most people will use "connect" instead of chamfer, to create two new edges and then use the push setting to move them out next to the outer edges. Or they'll select the entire loop then chamfer.
Sometimes I'll use SwiftLoop (polyboost/graphite) to insert the edges since its a little faster and gives a good preview.
So if you're going to extrude a closed edge be very mindful of the mode you're in like Funky Bunnies said and be sure to clean up after it.
I played around with Max yesterday and liked it. It felt much better than Blender, easier to learn, more intuitive etc. The only thing I don't like is that Z is up.
I'm surprised at the Lightwave hate though. I've had a decent play around with lightwave too and found it to be easier to use and more intuitive than Blender. Sorry Blender fans - I didn't like Blender's UI at all, and found it harder to get to grips with than Max and LW.
I should probably try Maya too though.
In regards to some of the earlier posts - I saw the connect tool mentioned in Max. What does it do?
Something I've been wondering about is the best way to weld/merge objects. IE say you make a human out of seperate cylinders for the body/limbs etc, what is the best way to just cut a hole out of the body and an arm, and merge them together?
You can also select the open edges and use the bridge tool. Or target weld one vert to another. Or select the two verts and weld with a high threshold.
6 of one half dozen of another I guess...
Unhid all ui elements no cigar so far....
Any ideas ??????
Creating a custom shelf in Maya is key to getting the most out of it. Take the time to find the tools you're always using and it makes working so much faster. Also gotta love the Smooth preview in Maya (3 key), such a quick way to visualize your subD.
I really like max's spline modeling and how you can just render a curve or path deform an object around it, wish maya had something like this. Such a useful way to make wiring or curvy detail. Its so annoying and time consuming in Maya to have to create a cylinder, place it in the right spot, and extrude a face along the curve. Path deform in maya is fucked too, such a mission to do a decent path deform (unless im doing something wrong).
I was going to learn max, but I dont want to dedicate my time to learning a program that seems to have tons of issues as well. I think im gonna give Modo a shot as I've heard some nice things and the UI seems very friendly.
Also to deform an object with a spline, create a lattice with as many divisions as you need, then go Animate>Motion Path>Attach.
Are you referring to Paint Effects>Curve Utilities>Attach Brush to Curves? Just tried that and it worked alright but I seem to be getting some issues like this:
Digging through the hundreds of options i found Sample Density (amount of segments to flow around curve), Tube Sections (number of sides) and Global Scale (size of circumference). Were those what you were also referring to?
the spine deform is nice, thanks
I'd consider myself very advanced in Maya. I've used it for particle effects, map generation, modeling, UVing, lighting, rendering.. etc etc. I originally started out in Max before I knew anything about CG. I am still comfortable editing other artist's files at work, navigating around max, and the principles of modeling in max as they are basically one in the same. I may have a work opportunity that is based almost completely on Max.
I've been watching 3dBuzz and other videos as far as the basic navigation stuff and simple modeling techniques but this is all very beginner and basic. I was curious if anyone had any links and or essential Max advice coming from a very strong background in Maya and self teaching myself Max. i.e essential plugin's to pickup.. what are the most commonly used tools, and maybe some general workflow ideas or videos demonstrating such.
TexTools goes a long way towards bringing Max's UV Tools to parity with Maya's.
Script Spot has a lot of good Max scripts. One script gives you a center pivot hotkey like in Maya, another allows you to set hard/soft edges like in Maya, although it isn't really reliable for keeping them perfectly when exporting to obj.
The biggest advice is to set hotkeys in Max to the same or similar functions in Maya. For example, Ctrl-Shift-Z is 'create edge loop' in Maya for me, so I set Connect in Max to the same hotkey. Even though they work differently, since I've already memorized to hit that key combo if I want to create an edge, my workflow doesn't change.
I think the biggest thing is to have someone who knows Max handy to ask questions, either a buddy in person over aim. That way you can ask a lot of questions for the first couple weeks, stuff like "how does max do this", because it's easy to get hung up on stuff that is easily answered by someone familiar with it.
Thanks Konrad. Fantastic advice.
That being said, Ive been using Max professionally for the better part of 7 years now which makes it the program Im best with. I cant put my finger on why I love LW so much, but it just flows for me unlike max, maya or xsi... I do have to admit tho that Max is entirely more versatile.
Im just waiting for Autodesk to gobble up the rest of the industry so we can have 3DS-MayaWave-odo: XSI 2015 sp2 or whatever they are gonna call it. I just made myself sad
I tried constraint to edge but I got result like above.. the left side is bigger than the right side.
In maya, I used slide edge tool and it's perpendicular.
I actually posted a thread about this recently and people suggested various things. http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=72210
Unfortunately it only work with a full loop.
Hope this helps!
I've made a loop selection. but Look at the pivot, Isn't it supposed to be aligned on center?
I've tried reseting pivot
But it's still there... So I tried exporting obj into maya, and it's working as expected.
Somebody help plz..
Anything wrong with my max setting?
Wow inset does a nice job as I expected, but if I wanna scale it, how do i do that since the pivot is still not in the center of the face.
edit:
Okay got it, is it inset and outline?
However it only works in polygon mode, what if I had edge loop selected, do I have to cap it first?
Also check out the bevel tool in Graphite Modeling Tools it works a little faster than the standard bevel.
Still not working