Maya Newbie Questions
polycounter lvl 18
Hi everyone,
I was practicing in Maya over the weekend, and came across several obstacles that I needed some help with:
1. As an exercise, I was modeling Hello Kitty with SubDs. I started with a SubD Sphere, did a non-uniform scale to elongate the head, then refined some vertices to pull out the ears. As I refined it more and more to define the ears, it became more and more difficult to maintain control of the ears due to too many vertices. Is there a way to manually control how many vertices to add when refining?
2. How do I split a SubD object into 2 halves, so I can mirror and attach them later on? I can delete individual vertices, edges, and faces in a polygon object, but not so with a SubD object.
3. When I mirror an SubD object, it is mirrored about its local coordinate system. Is there a way to change this, to mirror about another coordinate system? FYI, I tried changing the local coordinate system, but for some reason, Maya changes the global coordinate system in response to changes in the local coordinate system.
4. Is it better to just model in polygons, then convert the model into SubD later on?
5. When I use the 4-pane viewports, one is top, one is right, one is front, and one is perspective. I can reduce the perspective distortion by increasing the focal length, but it really is not ideal. I can change the perspective view to an orthogonal view, but then I cannot rotate it. Is there a way to change it to a rotatable orthogonal view with absolutely zero perspective distortion?
6. With 2 or more viewport panes, when I select an object in one viewport, it is highlighted in all viewports. Can I set the options such that it is highlighted in only one viewport, and not highlighted in the other viewports? When an object is highlighted, lines show up on its surface, making it difficult to discern surface discontinuities, which is why I want it to remain un-highlighted (no lines, no vertices, etc) in some viewports as I push and pull vertices in another viewport.
7. I can assign colors to polygon objects (without using texture maps), making a sphere red, a cylinder blue, etc. How can I do this with SubD objects, if Maya allows it at all?
8. When I applied a texture map to a SubD object, and subsequently tried to paint on it, I found the tools to be very lacking. Is it possible to use multiple layers, change their transparency, copy and paste pixels, etc. just like in Photoshop?
My apologies if there are blatantly obvious solutions to these newbie questions, and thank you if anyone can help me out with some of these questions.
- BR
I was practicing in Maya over the weekend, and came across several obstacles that I needed some help with:
1. As an exercise, I was modeling Hello Kitty with SubDs. I started with a SubD Sphere, did a non-uniform scale to elongate the head, then refined some vertices to pull out the ears. As I refined it more and more to define the ears, it became more and more difficult to maintain control of the ears due to too many vertices. Is there a way to manually control how many vertices to add when refining?
2. How do I split a SubD object into 2 halves, so I can mirror and attach them later on? I can delete individual vertices, edges, and faces in a polygon object, but not so with a SubD object.
3. When I mirror an SubD object, it is mirrored about its local coordinate system. Is there a way to change this, to mirror about another coordinate system? FYI, I tried changing the local coordinate system, but for some reason, Maya changes the global coordinate system in response to changes in the local coordinate system.
4. Is it better to just model in polygons, then convert the model into SubD later on?
5. When I use the 4-pane viewports, one is top, one is right, one is front, and one is perspective. I can reduce the perspective distortion by increasing the focal length, but it really is not ideal. I can change the perspective view to an orthogonal view, but then I cannot rotate it. Is there a way to change it to a rotatable orthogonal view with absolutely zero perspective distortion?
6. With 2 or more viewport panes, when I select an object in one viewport, it is highlighted in all viewports. Can I set the options such that it is highlighted in only one viewport, and not highlighted in the other viewports? When an object is highlighted, lines show up on its surface, making it difficult to discern surface discontinuities, which is why I want it to remain un-highlighted (no lines, no vertices, etc) in some viewports as I push and pull vertices in another viewport.
7. I can assign colors to polygon objects (without using texture maps), making a sphere red, a cylinder blue, etc. How can I do this with SubD objects, if Maya allows it at all?
8. When I applied a texture map to a SubD object, and subsequently tried to paint on it, I found the tools to be very lacking. Is it possible to use multiple layers, change their transparency, copy and paste pixels, etc. just like in Photoshop?
My apologies if there are blatantly obvious solutions to these newbie questions, and thank you if anyone can help me out with some of these questions.
- BR
Replies
4. for high quality renders, there's Mental Ray Appoximation Editor that can convert the models into subd for you when you render. Check out this tutorial.
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/rendering_lighting/mental_ray/Mental-Ray-Approximation-Editor-336.html
7. I never know you can assign color to polygons. How do you do that? I know Max can.
8. You're going to need other texture painting package. Bodypaint, zbrush, etc.
I found out a couple of solutions, described below, tested in Maya 2008. If anyone knows the solution to #6 (highlight an object in one view, while the object remains un-highlighted in the other views in a Four-View layout), please let me know.
How to Completely Remove Perspective Distortion in a Rotatable (Rolling) View
1. Create a cube in the persp view in the default wireframe mode, and notice the perspective distortion
2. View > Camera Settings > uncheck Perspective
3. View > Camera Tools > Tumble Tool Settings (click on the box next to Tumble Tool)
4. Uncheck Orthographic views: [] Locked
5. Uncheck [] Stepped (try it both ways, but I prefer unstepped)
6. The previous perspective distortion is now removed from the cube
Notes:
If you use the Four View layout versus the default Single Perspective View layout, you can now accidentally rotate the top, front, and side views. If that happens, just click on the Home button of the ViewCube. The ViewCube is the navigational cube in the top right corner of the active view, and the Home button appears in the top left corner of the ViewCube. Do NOT click the Home button in the persp view, or you will have to repeat Step 2 again.
How to Assign Different Colors to Different Objects Without Texture Maps
Works with Polygon, Nurbs, and SubD objects
1. Create Sphere
2. Right click on Sphere > Assign New Material > Lambert > lambert2 > Common Material Attributes
3. Click on the gray patch next to Color
4. In popup window, choose color to assign to Sphere
5. Create Cylinder
6. Right click on Cylinder > Assign New Material > Lambert > lambert3 > Common Material Attributes
7. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 to assign a different color to Cylinder
Notes:
You can assign different colors to individual faces (or surface patches) of Polygon, Nurbs, or SubD objects. You can choose different types of material (Lambert is default, Blinn is extra shiny, etc.)