In This Chapter

table of contents

Polygonal modeling is usually employed for hard-edged surfaces that will not bend, or in situations where low polygon counts are important, such as modeling for games . However, in this chapter, we'll use polygon modeling with smoothing to learn about both polygon modeling and the similar methods of subdivision surfaces modeling. Of course, you can model any type of shape with any modeling system, but in this chapter, you'll see how to use polygons to create an organic surface ”the head of an ogre-like creature. NURBS used to be the preferred method for modeling characters because of its power with curves and the ability to set the detail level of the rendered model. However, because of NURBS' drawbacks ”the complications of matching isoparms and getting seams to close ”and with the improvements Maya developers added to the polygon toolset, polygon modeling is usually the preferred method for characters now. With Maya 4.5, you can convert easily between polygons, Sub-Ds, and NURBS patches. This allows you to model in one format and then convert to another if necessary, or to use the advantages of editing or rendering a model in another format.

Polygon modeling using the Smooth Proxy approach of this chapter is similar to sculpting with clay: You begin with a simple shape and then mold and pull it into more complex shapes . You can add divisions where needed for finer surface detail and leave broader surfaces simple for easy adjustment. Although this book does not address subdivision surface modeling, the technique is very similar to this Smooth Proxy approach.

Polygons are fast to edit and look good when created and modified correctly. In addition, they don't require any computation before rendering as NURBS do, so polygonal models are generally faster to render. To see how they work, you'll begin creating a detailed, complex character. Remember that every tutorial is demonstrated in movie form on the companion CD. Creating a character can be fun and exciting. Along the way, you'll learn about these important tasks and concepts:

  • Smooth Proxy You'll use a crude polygonal "cage" with Maya's Smooth Proxy feature.

  • Hypergraph Learn how to use this editor to see your scene element's interconnections graphically.

  • Image planes You can assign an image to the orthogonal cameras so that the image is fixed in space and can be seen in the 3D views. This method is ideal for working from sketches or blueprints.

  • Creating a character Begin with a sketch to build a detailed character from scratch.

  • MELscripts You'll get a quick look at using this powerful command and scripting language, which gives you more control over Maya.

  • Mirrored instance You'll use this feature to model only half the character, and the other symmetrical half will automatically reflect changes you make to the first half.

  • Polygon smoothing You'll use this feature to subdivide polygonal objects so that you get a smoother result.

  • Reference layers You can configure an object or group of objects so that they can be viewed in a shaded or textured mode, but cannot be selected. This method is useful for alignment procedures.

Key Terms

extrude To move a polygonal face so that its edges are surrounded with new polygonal faces, creating an area that extends outward; this method is used to build up parts of a model. You are effect-ively "growing" a face out of (or into) a surface.

polygon face/edge/vertex The three components that make up a polygon surface. A vertex is a single point in space defined by an X, Y, and Z coordinate. An edge is simply a line drawn between two vertices. When you have three edges defining an enclosed area, you can create a polygonal triangle. In Maya, a polygonal face can be made up of any number of triangles .

subdivide Splitting a polygon to create new faces for adding detail or for further editing.

Instance Duplicated objects may be set as instances, where changes to either object will be reflected in both.

selection mask Activated by RMB- clicking on an object, this option allows you to choose components of the object for selection. For polygons, you can edit edges, vertices, faces, and UVs.

Hotkeys to Memorize

Ctrl+x Create Polygon marking menu

Alt+x Edit Polygon marking menu

F9 Vertex Selection mode

Ctrl+q Lasso selection

` set fous on a cursor in the Command Line

Insert toggle Pivot Editing mode

Backspace delete objects or undo one step of a multistep process



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

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