Maya help - how to cut through edge?

dbz123 · May 2013

Hi guys,

I'm a 3D Max user and recently decided to learn Maya. Can't seem to find some answers anywhere so here's a rookie post.

I'm trying to connect two vertices together through an edge. In 3D Max, I would normal use the cut tool with ease to do this. Is there a method to achieve this for Maya? Thanks.

antweiler · May 2013

Just use the interactive split tool, or the (sometimes more relieable) split polygon tool.
Edit Mesh -> Interactive Split Tool, or (better) Shift + RMB click on the mesh, drag to the right and choose either Interactive or Split Polygon Tool

dbz123 · May 2013

You sir, is awesome! Thanks.

dbz123 · May 2013

Another rookie question. I must of hit a hot key which created this green wire setup in my scene.

What is it and how can i get rid of it?

passerby · May 2013

those are actually your orthographic cameras which are normally hidden.

Display > Hide > Cameras
will re-hide them for you.

you most likely hit the key for unHide all

dbz123 · May 2013

Thanks Passerby! Another question and can't seem to find this answer anywhere.

Does anyone know how to center the pivot point to each face I select on a mesh with scale and rotate? The move tool is fine. I tried a bunch of combo functions in the settings but nothing seems to work. I hope I'm making sense. Thanks.

chriszuko · May 2013

Try clicking reset tool at the top and then restart maya. Sometimes maya likes to get stuck after you move the pivot of the scale tool on selected faces of an object.

Another useful tool for situations like that is the Edit mesh/Transform Component Tool. That pretty much is the tool that happens after you extrude.

Hope that helps!

dbz123 · May 2013

The transform component tool is a nice alternate that works, but after reset, any face I select with the transform or rotate tool, the pivot still stays in the same place of the mesh. Is it suppose to be like that on default?

I just find it kinda strange because when i click a face with the move tool, pivot is centered on the face but switching to rotate or scale it moves elsewhere. In 3Ds Max, it works just fine.

passerby · May 2013

open the tools options, and at the top set Rotate Pivot to Defalt, or scale pivot depending on the tool in use.

dbz123 · May 2013

passerby wrote: »

open the tools options, and at the top set Rotate Pivot to Defalt, or scale pivot depending on the tool in use.

Omg, it finally worked. Very strange, as I was doing this earlier with different combo settings and the pivot happened to not move at all until a Reset or whatever I did. I'm guessing its some kind of bug. Thank you very much!

passerby · May 2013

ya both the tool options window, and the attribute editor got a few quirks, i generally ignore the tools window, and just use the tool marking menus, control+shift+rmb, w+lmb, e+lmb, and r+lmb, but not all options are there.

dbz123 · May 2013

Ah good to know. Maybe I'll try out 2014. I'm learning 2013 from scratch.

passerby · May 2013

the differences are minor, im still on 2012 since i haven't seen a reason to move to 2013 or 2014 yet.

but if your learning, just choose one and learn it, the important part isn't the 3d package, but is learning how to model

dbz123 · May 2013

Thanks for the tips. I might have tons of questions later on. Just making notes and trying to figure out all the modeling tools and shortcuts. I'm still using Max so switching back and forth can be a bit confusing for me.

passerby · May 2013

best to learn some markning menus, shift+rmb has a lot of modeling tools in it, and control+rmb has selection tools, and some tools for cutting.

ubeor · May 2013

Another useful trick:
hold "d" and "mmb", it allows you to move the pivot point of your current selection, if you press "v"(at the same time) you can snap the pivot to a vertex,or press "c" for a edge snap , you can rotate the pivot point by clicking the "on" simbol that appears while you holding de "d", also if you want to align the pivot point to a particular direction, por example, an edge or a vertex ,hold "w" and "lmb", in the marking menu choose "axis" and edge or vertex or face, I find this pretty useful for hard surface modeling, it let's you precisely align edges vertex and faces

dbz123 · May 2013

ubeor wrote: »

Another useful trick:
hold "d" and "mmb", it allows you to move the pivot point of your current selection, if you press "v"(at the same time) you can snap the pivot to a vertex,or press "c" for a edge snap , you can rotate the pivot point by clicking the "on" simbol that appears while you holding de "d", also if you want to align the pivot point to a particular direction, por example, an edge or a vertex ,hold "w" and "lmb", in the marking menu choose "axis" and edge or vertex or face, I find this pretty useful for hard surface modeling, it let's you precisely align edges vertex and faces

Very useful! Sometimes i find myself aligning a pivot to the vertex. Speaking of that. Is there any where on the interface where it will display vertex coordinates? Or is channel box the only place it displays? I wish it would display at the top where X: Y: Z: is.

That way, I can just copy and paste with speed to align things together.

Maya help - how to cut through edge?

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