[REQUEST] Maya workflow tutorials

lloyd

Hello polycount, does anybody know any game art workflow tutorials for maya

like the ones at 3d motive and eat 3d?

at the moment they only have them for max, and i'm trying to move from max to maya


tuts tips. all welcome


-lloyd

Grimm_Wrecking

Previous Post's

Since there seems to be such a demand for a maya deal lately, maybe I'll record my next project and edit out the boring-est bits. But I'm sure there's someone around with a better workflow than myself in maya.

lloyd

Something I'm having problems with is in max you'd make your hp geo and have an edit poly on it when you add the edge loops.

then when you want to make the lp. you just copy the geo and remove the edit poly that holds the edge loop information. now you're left with a lowpoly piece.


does Maya have anything like this? it just seems like i have to make geo, add edges for smoothing, then go back and remove all them edges 1 by 1 lots of time.

throttlekitty

Not that I'm aware of. I had no idea edit poly worked like that.

lloyd

well if you have an editable poly mesh and then add an 'edit poly' to it in the modifier stack, all the edits you make to it then are stored in that 'edit poly' then if you delete it. you revert back to how it was before, same as when you turn it off.


if you can't do something like this in maya, wtf?
i'm sure it has some history per-object where you could keep track of things like this?

BeatKitano

No. Also Fud druckers

Grimm_Wrecking

Maya is lacking the stack. History while it does store actions that you can turn on and off and adjust later on, eventually gets so dense you need to clear it in order to regain viewport performance.

Pretty much you're stuck stripping it manually, building a low, or duplicating it in mid poly stage - storing that on a layer and then adjusting that.

Also altering stuff in history a hundred edits back, eh, well maya gets tempermental at times...

lloyd

I see people on other forums talking about some alternative, network?

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=913751

https://www.creativecrash.com/forums/wish-list/topics/modifier-stack


but i don't know maya at all, where can i find out about shape nodes / networks

throttlekitty

from the cgsociety thread

I usually insert shape nodes at selected points in the flow in order to get a 'stack like' setup. Then I can go to selected points in the flow and make changes that propagate down the DG to the final shape.

Not as convenient as the max stack though but I find it quite ok. If you put the shapes under their own transform they are easily selected and you can also put the different stages side by side to see how your changes propagate through to the final result.

This sounds interesting and more like what you're talking about. Nested shapes.

You can view the models inputs/outputs in the channel box for editing, or in Window>Hypergraph with connections (I forget the actual wording offhand).

pior

Something I'm having problems with is in max you'd make your hp geo and have an edit poly on it when you add the edge loops.

then when you want to make the lp. you just copy the geo and remove the edit poly that holds the edge loop information. now you're left with a lowpoly piece.

Yeah sure. Except you will most likely never, ever manage to work like that efficiently - it is just way to limiting.
Here is your workflow, for any asset :

> Start from a well established 2d concept ;
> Make a rough blockout model of the whole asset. It can be low or highpoly, clean or rough, it doesn't matter. But it should have all the main silhouette and form information of the concept, in order for you to adress issues early on.
> Work on your highpoly from there. You can either use parts of the blockout to start a subdivision cage from, and/or send some stuff to Zbrush/Mudbox for sculpting, and/or send stuff to a retopo program to build meshes on the surface of this blockout.
> Once the highpoly is done, work on your lowpoly. For simple mechanical shapes, you might be able to remove loops or mesh smoothing modifiers to get something close to a low. Sometimes you will be able to use stuff from your blockout as a starting point ; some stuff you'll have to make from scratch. And you'll have to retopo a lot of things, so I would suggest you to get familiar with Topogun or similar as early as possible.

Done!

In a way it sounds complicated, but it is also waaaaay more simple and fast than hoping to store all loops in a modifier and magically remove them to get a lowpoly mesh

Good luck!

lloyd

hmmm sometimes its not just for for storing loops, I might add an edit poly to try things out with a mesh, removing parts, adding bits etc then if it doesn't work out I can revert back.


them times when you add support edges to a lowpoly to help with the normal bake but once you've baked you want to remove.


i know i'm new to maya so thats why I'm asking this. but right now it seems maya has lots of menus and takes ages to do stuff. they have scripts you can download but they don't put with the app!

pior

them times when you add support edges to a lowpoly to help with the normal bake but once you've baked you want to remove.

I really wouldn't recommend that either...

lloyd

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81154

pior

I know I know. But the fact that it might work in order to fix a cylinder does not mean it is a viable production technique. I'll let Earthquake explain this one further if needed. Hes actually saying NOT to remove them you know.

throttlekitty

lloyd wrote: »

hmmm sometimes its not just for for storing loops, I might add an edit poly to try things out with a mesh, removing parts, adding bits etc then if it doesn't work out I can revert back.

For this sort of thing I usually just make a duplicate.

i know i'm new to maya so thats why I'm asking this. but right now it seems maya has lots of menus and takes ages to do stuff. they have scripts you can download but they don't put with the app!

Most all of what you need for modeling is in shift+right click or ctrl+right click context marking menus. Shift has actions for doing something with/to your selection, and ctrl for altering the selection itself. Once you get used to using them, it becomes muscle memory to do actions. Bevel? Shift-drag right, done.

lloyd

pior wrote: »

I know I know. But the fact that it might work in order to fix a cylinder does not mean it is a viable production technique. I'll let Earthquake explain this one further if needed. Hes actually saying NOT to remove them you know.

Yeah, I was giving general examples of stuff I'd do if I could have non-destructive modelling in maya. but your replays are sounding like 'don't do it like that, its wrong' to each thing. As we all know from 3d, there's more than one way to do something, just because your workflow doesn't incorporate this doesn't mean its wrong, its just different. that's why I'm wanting help migrating over how I work.

I know its not the end of the world. its just a speed thing. I'm not the only one who uses edit polys inside of max this way.


throttlekitty
Yeah i'm coming round to this RMB stuff, it seems like everythings spread out all over in maya. the side panels for tool settings / attribute editor and channel box / layer editor seem to take up far to much space. shift + RMB down = extrude

bugo

Here's my tip: If you are moving to Maya, don't think about Max workflow, it won't work. Maya is different, try learning the Maya way, not trying to convince yourself using Max way inside Maya. It's the hard truth. Many people that converted to Maya had to do the same. As for your mesh, the best method is: "BACKUP"
Duplicate your low, hide it, and then work on your high.

pior

As you wish - but I still think that pointing out a technique giving bad results and screwing up a pipeline (aka, adding/removing "support geometry" after a bake) is something worth doing. It's all about avoiding the spreading of bad habits, especially on a public forum like here!