I have been experiencing an assembly problem while modeling with Maya

ClockHavoc42

For the last couple of weeks I have been using this tutorial ,which was originally intended for 3DS Max, to model a character for the first time ever. Things have been going well until I got to the assembly section where I was asked to connect the ear with the head (first page of that part). Whenever I connect the the two I can always see the separation between them as if they were welded badly. What I did was to extrude the surfaces from the head and ear, just like in the tutorial, then combine both the ear and head so that they will count as one object, and finally merge the vertices accordingly. For whatever reason this doesn't seem to work well with Maya. :shifty:

Thanks in advance.

Here is the tutorial: http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.php

And here are some pictures:
Edit: Ooops. I wrote preview wrong. :poly142:

Bal

Those are hard edges (or the vertices aren't welded).
Try selecting those edges and going to Normals > Soften Edge. If that doesn't work, make sure you've combined both objects and welded the vertices right.

ClockHavoc42

Well I tried to soften the edge, and yet it didn't work. I double checked to see and both objects are combined and all of the vertices are welded (by the way to weld I use Edit Mesh > Merge, in case there is another way to weld). I even tried to soften the edge a number of times and it didn't work. However, I have noticed something strange, when I try to select the Edge loop where the welding is with the Select Edge Loop Tool it doesn't work, however it does work when I use the Select Border Edge Tool, which leaves me a bit puzzled.

tharle

i've had an error in maya 2011 before where the verts at each end of the edge are welded but the edge itself isnt joined. shouldnt be possible i know but could be causing your problem. try viewing border edges in polygon display - should be easy to see if this is what you're getting.

if so you should be able to use edit mesh>merge border edges but its a bit tricky, otherwise just delete the faces and append i'm afraid.

Torch

Yep, your verts aren't welded it seems. Just grab one of the verts and move it to the side if you want to test it out.

ivars

You probably have the normals of the ear and the head facing different directions. Try turn on backface culling in the viewport. Then use Normals > Conform to flip all normals to the same direction, or select the faces and reverse.
After that you should be able to soften the normals.

ClockHavoc42

DKK & Tharle: My version of Maya is so old that it doesn't have that feature.
Ivars: Sweet giddy aunt May IT WORKED!!! WOOT!!! Thank you my good man! One question though, how do I deactivate the Backface Culling afterwards? It is kind of distracting...

ivars

If you activated it in the menu in the viewport it's just a toggle so you can uncheck it from the same place.

If you did it through the display menu it affects only selected objects, but again it's a toggle, so just klick it again.

ClockHavoc42

Thank you, Sir!