Creating the Old House

table of contents

You're ready to start building the "Spooky World" project by creating the creature's house. At first, the house is made of simple NURBS objects, but it gets more complicated as you add detail. We're not going to exhaustively list and explain every possible Maya toolyou can get that in the Maya reference manual. However, we'll explain the primary tools and a few of the more arcane ones, in the process imparting a feel for Maya's working mode.

Normally, a rigid and flat object like a house might be best modeled with polygons. However, this spooky house will later warp and bend. And when it does, the fact that it is made of NURBS will ensure that it warps and bends smoothly.

To get started working with NURBS, you'll create the beginnings of an old house, using the Hotbox, hotkeys, and marking menus to navigate. You'll continue adding to the house in subsequent chapters, and by the time you finish this book, you'll have an elaborate scene file that renders to an impressive animation.

Starting a New Project

Unlike typical Windows programs that let you load and save files anywhere on your drive, Maya always points to the folders designated under the project folder. You can still load or save files anywhere , but it always points back to the project folders. Why folders rather than folder ? Because Maya creates a number of subfolders to manage all the files that can be created when generating a complex animation. Some of the folders include those for scene files, material texture images, rendered images, and so forth. Generally, when you are starting a new project, you create the project folder somewhere on your hard drive, and Maya then assists in creating all the subfolders .

  1. First, choose a spot on your hard drive to designate as your Maya 4.5 Fundamentals tutorial folder. Create and name a folder there using the standard file browser for your operating system. We named our folder book_project, and put it on the C drive of our Windows computer.

    trap

    Avoid the use of the space character in folder and filenames; instead, substitute underscore characters . Parts of Maya do not function well with file paths that include spaces!

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  2. To create a new project for your scene, activate the Hotbox and click File Project New.

  3. Enter the name of the project as OldHouse , and click the Use Defaults button.

  4. Check the location of your project to make sure it's the folder where you want to store the files. Click the Browse button to find the folder you created, and double-click it so that the icon appears as an open folder. Then click the Accept button. If you revisit the project folder in a file browser, you'll see all the subfolders that have been created.

  5. Next , set the measurement units for your project to work in nonmetric units (it's an old house, after all). To change the units that Maya works with, in the Hotbox, click Window Settings/Preferences Preferences.

  6. In the Categories list, select Settings. In the Working Units section, change the Linear setting from centimeter to inch.

  7. In case the grid has been adjusted, reset it to make sure we're at the same starting point. Click Hotbox Display Grid option box, and then reset the settings. Choose Edit Reset Settings in the dialog box, and then click the Apply and Close button at the bottom.

  8. Click the Save button at the bottom of the Preference dialog box to save the preferences and close the dialog box. If you want to start the tutorial from this point, load ch05tut03end.mb from the CD.

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trap

You might notice some problems when you try zooming in and out now that you have changed the units. Your viewport might look as though it's cut in half as you zoom farther away (see Figure 5.4). This is because the value for the perspective camera's Far Clip Plane is set too low. Make sure the Perspective panel is active. Then open the Attribute Editor for the perspective camera by choosing View Camera Attribute Editor in the Hotbox. Under the Camera Attributes section, change the Far Clip Plane value to a higher number, such as 10000 . That should give you plenty of far-field viewing distance before the camera cuts out. If near objects seem to disappear as you get closer to them, correct this the same way by adjusting the Near Clip Plane value to a smaller value.

Figure 5.4. The grid plane appears to cut off because the Far Clip Plane value for the perspective camera is not set high enough.

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Making the Roof

When making the roof, you'll use two NURBS primitives: a cube and a plane. When you create a cube from NURBS, it's composed of several NURBS planes placed together in a group, therefore creating a cube. If you were to click on the cube, only one side would be selected. You need to select the top of the hierarchythe parent object of all the cube's six sides. Bump your selection to the top of the group with the up arrow to select all the sides at once.

Tutorial: Creating the Shingles

Remember, before you start a tutorial, you can load the movie noted below the CD movie icon to watch us go through the steps before you try it.

  1. To make the roof, you start by using a NURBS cube. Rather than using the Create menu item in the Hotbox, begin by applying and getting used to your new marking menus. Access the NURBS Primitive Creation marking menu by pressing Ctrl+z and LMB-clicking and holding. Drag left to the Cube option box. In the NURBS Cube Options dialog box, change the Surface Degree to 1 Linear, and then click the Create button.

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  2. Open the Channel Box (hotkey: Shift+C ) so that you can modify the cube's settings. In the Name text box, enter RoofTile , set Scale X to 150 , set Scale Z to 12 , and set Rotate X to 6 . You now have a long flat board, slightly angled, to use as a roof shingle slat.

  3. Next you're going to duplicate the cube so that you have multiple copies of the RoofTile object; this will make laying the shingles for the roof faster and easier. In the Hotbox, choose Edit Duplicate option box to duplicate the shingle slat. In the Duplicate Options dialog box, reset the settings (Edit Reset Settings). If you have used Maya before to create duplicates, resetting the settings gets you back to the default mode so that you don't create duplicates with previously used settings.

  4. Change Translate Z to 8 (the rightmost column is Z), and then set Number of Copies to 15 . Leave all the other settings at their defaults, and click the Duplicate button. You should end up with 15 angled shingles, as shown in Figure 5.5.

    Figure 5.5. Duplicated cube objects to create a roof side made of shingle slats.

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  5. You now have rows of cubes overlapping each other. Zoom out to see everything (hotkey: a ). Now select all the cubes by LMB-dragging a rectangle around them. Press the up arrow to select the entire box hierarchy of each member of the group, and then group them together by clicking Edit Group option box. In the Group Options dialog box, change the Group Pivot radio button to Center, leaving the rest at their default settings, and click the Group button to create a group. (See Figure 5.6.) This gives you a single entity for all the roof slats, making it easy to rotate and move them. Having just created the group, it will remain selected. Next, change the group name from Group1 to Shingles in the Channel Box. It's good form to name everything you make in Maya; it's even better form to name things immediately, instead of putting it off!

    Figure 5.6. Set the Group Pivot to Center or it will be created at the 0,0,0 pointa bit confusing because new objects are also created at the origin.

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Tutorial: Finishing the Roof

If you'd like, you can load the scene file ch05tut04end.mb to start the tutorial at this point.

  1. To finish the roof, you need to give the shingles a surface to lay onthe roof slab. This helps prevent being able to see inside the house between the shingles. Create a new NURBS cube with the marking menu (Ctrl+z LMB-drag Cube). Rename the cube as RoofSlab .

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  2. You want the RoofSlab cube to fit under the Shingles group, but be a bit smaller so that the shingles stick out. This is most easily done by using all four views and interactively scaling and translating the cube along the X and Z axes. Tap the spacebar to go to Four View mode, and zoom all views to Frame All (hotkey: Shift+A ). Then, using the Move tool (hotkey: q ) and then the Scale tool (hotkey: r ), position the cube as shown in Figure 5.7. You can also use the Channel Box to enter these exact values: Translate Y to 2 , Translate Z to 58.5 , Scale X to 143 , and Scale Z to 129 . Ultimately, you want to position the RoofSlab cube right under the shingles, aligned with the first cube you created.

    Figure 5.7. Scaled and repositioned roof slab. The Perspective view is set to Wireframe mode (hotkey: 4 ) to see under the shingles.

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    tip

    The transform marking menus are helpful when you're zoomed in close and want to constrain a transformation tool to one axis. By pressing and holding the corresponding hotkey for a transform tool ( w for Translate, e for Rotate, r for Scale), and then LMB-clicking and holding, you open a marking menu that allows you to constrain the translation along any axis (see Figure 5.8). Select one, and then use the MMB to transform the object on that axis.

    Figure 5.8. The three marking menus for transformations.

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  3. Zoom out so that you can select the RoofSlab and the Shingles, and then LMB-drag a rectangle around everything. Now group them together for easy manipulation: Press the up arrow to select the entire cube object for each of the selected surfaces. In the Hotbox, choose Edit Group option box; in the Group Options dialog box, select the World radio button for the Group Under option. If you kept Group Under as Parent, you would lose the grouping for the shingles and slab. Name the group RoofSide in the Channel Box.

  4. Rotate the group by adjusting the Rotate X value in the Channel Box to 35 .

  5. You need to create the other side of the roof, which is done simply by duplicating RoofSide and scaling it with an opposite value. With RoofSide selected, open the Duplicate Options dialog box (Hotbox Edit Duplicate option box). Reset the settings with Edit Reset Settings. Set Translate Z to 109.3 , Scale Z to 1 , and Rotate X to 70 . Click the Duplicate button, and you now have the other side of the roof. Group both sides together by using Frame All (hotkey: Shift+a ), LMB-dragging a rectangle around all the parts, pressing the up arrow two times to select every cube in the scene, and then choosing Hotbox Edit Group. Name the new group Roof .

    note

    Remember: Try to get in the habit of resetting your option box settings, as in Step 5. In that step, the Duplicate Options settings had already been set when making the shingle slats earlier, so the number of copies, for example, was still set to 15. Resetting your settings put you back to a single-copy duplication mode.

  6. Next you'll move the center of the Roof group to the Maya origin point to ease the modeling work to come. Be sure the Move tool is active (hotkey: w ). In the Side view, press and hold x for Grid Snappingyou'll know snapping is enabled because the center of the Move tool changes from a square to a circle. Click on the center of the Move tool where the axes meet and drag to the origin, where the bold black lines of the grid intersect (see Figure 5.9). Snapping helps you put it right on the spot.

    Figure 5.9. Temporary grid snapping helps you place the finished roof object at the origin for easy additional modeling.

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  7. Now you'll tidy up the roof peak. In the Side view, zoom in to the top point of the roof by drawing a zoom box (hotkey: Ctrl+Alt+LMB-drag ), and then select the area you want to zoom to. After zooming in, you can see that the shingles on each side don't meet, and some of the cubes are going through each other, as shown in Figure 5.10. To fix that, you need to grab the vertices of the Shingles cubes and snap them to the grid until they intersect.

    Figure 5.10. A zoomed-in Side view reveals a sloppy roof peak.

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    trap

    If the viewport camera's Far Clipping Plane is set too low, in addition to the viewing troubles described previously, you can select only to a certain depth. If you are in the Side view and picking overlapping elements near and far, you won't be aware that your selections aren't getting the rear elements!

    It's a good practice to check your selections in other viewports before acting on them. Pop back to Four View mode and check out the Side and Perspective views to make sure your selections are what you think they are. Adjust the clipping plane for the side camera (Hotbox with mouse over Side view View Camera Attribute Editor, and increase the Far Clip Plane value).

  8. Select the top cube shingle object on each side of the roof (hotkey: Shift to pick additional selections), and then press the up arrow to get both RoofTile objects. Next, press F9 to switch to editing components of these NURBS objects. F9 activates CV Editing modethe endpoints of the NURBS objects. The CVs appear in purple. Drag a little box around the CV at the highest corner of one of the sides. This selects all the vertices that control that edge of the cube object, turning them blue. Check the Perspective view to make sure all four vertices are selected: two in front and two in back.

  9. With the Move tool activated (hotkey: w ), press and hold x for the temporary snap to grid. Now MMB-click on the blue CVs in the Side view, and snap to the first grid intersection up and to the right, as shown in Figure 5.11.

    Figure 5.11. Temporary snap helps move the upper edge of the RoofTiles to a center point.

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  10. Repeat Step 9 for the top tile on the other side of the roof: Drag a selection around the other CVs, press and hold x , and MMB-drag the selected CVs to the same center point.

  11. Now you want to snap the CVs under the top ones, just to make things tidy. Snap them exactly one grid unit below, as shown in Figure 5.12. Press F8 to get out of CV Editing mode so that you can select other objects.

    Figure 5.12. Snapping the bottom edge of the RoofTiles.

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  12. Repeat the entire process (Steps 811) for the RoofSlab objects. See Figure 5.13 for the final result. Press F8 to get out of Component mode.

    Figure 5.13. All the CVs are now vertically aligned.

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  13. Make sure the Channel Box is open (hotkey: Shift+C ), and in the Layer Editor, create a layer (Layers Create Layer). If the Channel Box isn't currently displaying the layers , click the rightmost button just above the Channels pull-down in the Channel Box to make both the Channel Box and Layer Editor visible. Double-click on the created layer named "layer1" to open its properties. Name the layer RoofL and assign the wireframe color . With the roof selected, right-click on the newly named layer RoofL in the Layer Editor, and choose Add Selected Objects to assign the Roof group to the layer. Click the V (for visibility) box to display and hide the roof to check that it was assigned properly.

  14. Save your scene now (Hotbox File Save Scene As), and name it ch05oldHouse.mb . Note that the Oldhouse\scenes folder is automatically chosen because you are saving a scene and Maya has been set to work on the project Oldhouse. Remember that you can turn on the Incremental Save feature (Hotbox File Save Scene option box, and select the Incremental Save check box) to help ensure that you have plenty of backups in case something corrupts your scene.

Adding to the House

If you want to start fresh at this point, you can load the saved file from the end of the last tutorial, ch05tut05end.mb.

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Tutorial: Creating the Walls and Foundation

You'll start by creating the walls for the house:

  1. If it's not already hidden, hide the RoofL layer. Create a NURBS square by using the NURBS Primitives marking menu (Ctrl+z LMB-drag south Square). Name this nurbsSquare1 as OuterWallcurve1 in the Channel Box. The square is made up of four curves that are grouped together to shape a square.

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  2. You'll adjust this square to form the bottom edge of the house foundation. Set the Scale X to 140 and the Scale Z to 200 . Set the Translate Y to 159 . This will make a rectangle that is slightly inside the edges of each side of the roof as seen from the Top view.

    tip

    When you are in Wireframe mode, it might be hard to see your selection if you have the display set to its lowest level of detail. Remember that you can always press keys 1 , 2 , or 3 to change the display detail. If you set the detail level higher, you can see more divisions on that surface, making it easier to see what you have selected in Wireframe mode.

  3. You'll duplicate the existing square to form the outlines of the wall's structure. Later, the curves can be lofted together to form the walls' surfaces. Select OuterWallcurve1, if necessary, by clicking one edge and using the up arrow to select the entire square. Then duplicate it to an object with the same transform with Hotbox Edit Duplicate (reset option box). Set the Translate Y to 111.

  4. With the OuterWallCurve2 rectangle still selected, perform a Duplicate again. Adjust the Translate Y to 107 and the Scale X and Scale Z values to 138 and 198 . With this rectangle, OuterWallCurve3, still selected, Duplicate again. Set the Scale X and Scale Z values to 136 and 196 . Duplicate one more time and set the Translate Y to 33 . This will give a total of five OuterWallCurve objects (see Figure 5.14).

    Figure 5.14. The first square has been duplicated four times to create the wall's wireframe outline.

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  5. With the wireframe you have created, you can now loft the curves from these squares together to form the surfaces. Start with OuterWallCurve5 (the top rectangle) and click on the long side of the square on the X side, selecting one of the rectangle's four curves. Check the name of the curveit should be leftnurbsSquare1. Shift+click on the edge of OuterWallcurve4 that's directly under the current curve selection. You'll need to zoom closer before picking, to avoid accidentally selecting OuterWallCurve3. Loft across the two curves by using the NURBS Surfaces marking menu (Ctrl+Alt+z LMB-click Loft option box). Reset the settings for the loft (Edit Reset Settings), and change Surface Degree to Linear. Click the Loft button. The first wall has been created, as shown in Figure 5.15. This is your first wall, so name it Wallside_1 . You can turn on the Shaded mode to see the surface (hotkey: 5 ).

    Figure 5.15. The first side of the wall has been created by using a loft.

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  6. Moving clockwise and using the same method as for Wallside_1, loft the next side from its two top curves. Just to be sure, verify that the top curve (first curve for lofting ) is named bottomnurbsSquare1. If not, select the curve on the opposite side of the square. Then select the curve below it and loft them together. Instead of using the Loft Options box, simply repeat the last action performed (hotkey: g ). Name the resulting loft Wallside_2 . Repeat the procedure two more times to finish the other sides of the wall, and name them in order as Wallside_3 and then Wallside_4 . By lofting in this manner, it ensures that all the surfaces created have identical parameters that can be textured easily.

    tip

    Remember: You can always press g to quickly reuse the last action performed. Also, the Hotbox has a list of recent commands (Hotbox Recent Commands). You can choose one in the list to repeat it.

  7. The outside wall of the house will be complete after you group the wall's four sides together (Edit Group). Make sure you don't accidentally select the curves. Name the group OuterWall to finish. Having a cube with the bottom and top cut out gives you the walls you need for the house.

  8. Create another layer in the Layer Editor, as in Step 13 of the previous tutorial. Name the new layer OuterWallsL . Select and assign the OuterWall group to this new layer; make sure you have the parent node for the walls selected (press the up arrow with a side selected). Hide the layer so that curve selection is easier.

    The next component to add to the outside is the foundation, which you'll create with the same method you used in the previous tutorial. However, the foundation is made up of the bottom four curves.

  9. Start by selecting the side curve, leftnurbsSquare1, from OuterWallcurve4. It's the same curve that was used to create Wallside_1 (the bottom, or second, curve used in the loft). Shift+click on the curve below it, leftnurbsSquare1, from OuterWallcurve3, and then Shift+click the curve below, leftnurbsSquare1, fromOuterWallcurve2, and finally Shift+click the curve below, leftnurbsSquare1, from OuterWallcurve1. See a pattern here? Each side curve has the same name as the previous one. The names define each of the four sides for a NURBS square. Because they are all the same name, you know you have selected a curve on the same side as a separate square. Loft the four curves together as before, and name the resulting surface FoundationSide_1 .

  10. Work your way around clockwise, lofting and then naming each side, until all the sides of the foundation are created. Group the foundation, name the group Foundation , and assign it to the OuterWallsL layer along with the five OuterWall curves. Save your scene.

  11. Display both layers in your scene. Notice that you need to fill the triangular gap between the roof and walls (see Figure 5.16).

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    Figure 5.16. The walls and foundation are now set up properly, except for the huge holes between the roof and the walls.

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note

With the construction history in Maya, you can modify the new surface by changing the source curves used to create that surface. They are still in the scene, and they are still linked to the surface that was created. Try this with different objects you create; it's easy to undo by pressing z . You could get some impressive results and open your mind to the variety of modeling and animation techniques with NURBS.


Tutorial: Filling the Gaps and Adding the Inner Wall

Don't forget you can load the scene file from the end of the previous tutorial (ch05tut06end.mb) to start fresh, and check out the movie file noted here to watch the tutorial in action.

  1. Select the first curve, leftnurbsSquare1, that was used to create Wallside_1. Temporarily hiding the OuterWallsL layer can make it easier to select the curve. Use the Channel Box to change Translate Y to 80 . Even though Wallside_1 was not selected, the curve caused a modification to it because of its construction history (the curve helped create Wallside_1).

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  2. With the wall penetrating the roof, you can intersect the surfaces and trim off the extra part of the wall that's sticking through the roof. Intersecting creates curves on a surface based on the surfaces that penetrate or cross through other surfaces. By intersecting Wallside_1 with the roof, you'll add curves that define exact points (on a curve) of surface penetration on the wall (see Figure 5.17). To do this, select Wallside_1, and Shift-click the bottom plane of RoofSlab on one side of the roof. Intersect the surfaces by using the NURBS Editing marking menu (Alt+z+LMB-click Intersect Surfaces option box). Reset the settings, and set the Create Curves option to First Surface. Click the Intersect button. Next, intersect the wall with RoofSlab on the other side of the roof.

    Figure 5.17. Notice that the top of the wall penetrates the roof.

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  3. Select Wallside_1, and use the Trim tool from the NURBS Editing marking menu (Alt+z+LMB-click Trim Tool). This tool allows you to "slice" off portions of a surface with curves drawn on it. When the Trim tool is focused on a surface, you'll see a white grid. Using this grid, click on the surface area you want to keep (see Figure 5.18). In this case, you want to click somewhere under the roof, and press Enter. The edges are gone and the wall now fits perfectly ! Now that you know how to fix the problem, repeat on the opposite side of the house. Select and delete the two raised curves.

    Figure 5.18. The Trim tool makes it easy to trim off excess surfaces.

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  4. Now you can add the inner walls, which is straightforward. Create a NURBS cube (Ctrl+z LMB-click left Cube), and name it InnerWalls . In the Channel Box, set Translate Y to 89 , Scale X to 132 , Scale Y to 112 , and Scale Z to 192.5 . The top of InnerWalls should line up with the corner where the outside walls meet the roof.

  5. Assign the InnerWalls cube to a new layer named InnerWallL . To do that, after creating the layer, select the group in the Outliner (hotkey: Shift+O ), and assign it by right-clicking on InnerWallL in the Layer Editor, and choosing Add Selected Objects (see Figure 5.19).

    Figure 5.19. Adding an object to a layer after selecting it in the Outliner.

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  6. Save your scene (Hotbox File Save Scene), and load the scene file (ch05tut07end.mb) from the CD if you want to compare your end result.

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Tutorial: Creating the Porch

Now you'll put a porch on the front of the house.

  1. Hide RoofL Layer because you don't need it right now, and it's taking up memory. Tap the spacebar to go to Four View mode, and then press the spacebar again with the mouse held over the Front view.

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  2. Check to make sure the grid is turned on (Hotbox Display Grid).

  3. Zoom to the house's lower-right corner, which is in the positive X direction. Zoom enough so that the squares on the grid are clear and easy to see.

  4. You're going to use the EP (edit point) Curve tool to create the boards on the porch. Activate the EP Curve tool from the CV Curve marking menu (Ctrl+c hold LMB-drag to EP Curve option box. In the Tool Settings window, change the Curve Degree to 1 Linear. Click the Close button to close the Tool Settings window.

  5. Each square on the grid represents an inch, and you want to create a porch about 6 feet wide. Using grid snapping (hotkey: x ), you'll click and place points to create a curve that represents the side view of boards laid across the ground. To do that, press the x key, and click at a point 2 inches above and 2 inches to the right of the inner walls' lower-right corner (16 inches above the foundation). Create the next point 4 inches (grid divisions) to the right. Now click down 2 units, to the right 1 unit, and then back up 2 units to create a groove 2 inches deep and 1 inch wide. Repeat to get 14 downward-pointing bumps, to create a shape like the one in Figure 5.20.

    Figure 5.20. A side view of the 14 boards, each 4 inches wide with a 1 inch gap between the boards.

    graphics/05fig20.gif

    tip

    If you happen to place a point incorrectly, you can press Backspace to delete the last placed point. Another option is to press the Insert key for repositioning , and move the point where you want it, without having to finish the curve first. Just press Insert again when you have positioned the point correctly. You can press x for grid snapping, as long as you press it before using the LMB to start moving the point.

    note

    Remember: When you are placing points and start to run off the screen, just move the screen as you normally would to view another area: Alt+MMB-drag.

  6. When you have finished placing the points, press Enter to finish the curve. The curve turns bright green. Name this curve porchProfile .

  7. When you create a curve that isn't at the origin, the pivot is still placed at the origin. To center the pivot in the object so that moving, scaling, and rotating are easier, click Hotbox Modify Center Pivot. If you switch to Move mode (hotkey: w ), the transform icon appears at the pivot point and you can observe its repositioning to the center of the green curve.

  8. Tap the spacebar to go to Four View mode, and then press the spacebar again with the mouse over the Top view to bring it to full screen.

  9. You need to move the curve almost to the edge of the house, but first zoom in so that you can see the grid.

  10. Switch to the Move tool (hotkey: w ), and translate downward along the Z axis, using the blue arrow to constrain movement. Move it to 6 inches from the edge of the outer wall. To set it manually, enter 94 for Translate Z in the Channel Box (see Figure 5.21).

    Figure 5.21. Positioning the porch profile curve to the right spot in the Top view.

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  11. Restore the view to Four View mode by tapping the spacebar.

  12. The curve you just created is the profile of the porch surface you'll be creating. To create the porch surface, you have several options, but for this tutorial, you'll perform an extrude. Open the Extrude Options dialog box by using the marking menu (Ctrl+Alt+z Extrude option box). Change the following options: Style to Distance, Direction to Specify, and the Direction Vector (the direction you want to extrude, along the side of the house) to Free. Set the extrusion vector in the three spaces below the radio buttons (use , , and 1 ), and set Surface Degree to Linear. Setting the 1 tells the surface to extrude in the Z direction. Do not extrude yet, however.

  13. You need to change one more option: the Extrude Length. The extrusion should end 6 inches from the other side of the OuterWall. There are a couple of methods you could use, but for this tutorial, you'll use the Distance tool (Create Measure Tools Distance Tool). From the Top view curve, snap (hotkey: c and LMB-drag along a curve) the first locator at the edge of porchProfile. Move the view so that you're zoomed into the opposite side of the house you need to measure to. Shift+LMB-drag at an estimated point. Move the cursor until it's 6 inches from the wall's edge (you have to do this visually, and you can snap to the grid with the x key as before). Now zoom out from the view, and the distance is shown to you188 (see Figure 5.22). After you have the distance, you no longer need the measurement. Click the number to select the distanceDimension, and press Backspace to delete it. Open the Outliner and check for any extra locators. Delete any you find.

    Figure 5.22. By using the Distance tool and placing the second locator visually, you can come up with a fairly accurate distance between the opposite walls.

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  14. Select porchProfile again and go back to the Extrude Options box. Using the Distance value, go back to the Extrude Options window and enter it as the Extrude Length. Click the Extrude button to create the surface. Name the extruded surface PorchFloor , and center its pivot (Hotbox Modify Center Pivot).

  15. In the Layer Editor, create a layer and name it PorchL . Assign porchProfile and PorchFloor to this layer.

  16. Save your scene file again (Hotbox File Save Scene). If you want to compare your scene to the book's tutorial, load ch05tut08end.mb from the CD.

If you want to see the construction so far, make all the layers visible and check it out. A few test renderings might be worthwhile to check how the geometry renders.

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Going Further

Start a new scene file and try to create some similar types of objects on your own. Explore the options of the Loft and Extrude tools, and see how they work on other types of curves you can draw.

In most of the tutorial's steps, we set the curvature to 1 (or linear) from 3 (cubic), thereby forcing flatness . See what happens when you draw lines in cubic mode. Try extracting and projecting curves onto other NURBS primitives, such as spheres.



Maya 4. 5 Fundamentals
Maya 4.5 Fundamentals
ISBN: 0735713278
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 201

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