Maya Questions thread

count23

Ok, since Foundation3D is up the creek right now with it's database, I"m gonna just start a new thread here and fire away any Maya questions I have as i go.

First up, what's the equivilant approach for stencilling objects? The ability to superimpose a specific shape onto the surface of another shape in LW was very handy for detailling an object once you get it's form settled. Maya doesn't natively do stencilling, what's an alternative approach that gives you exacting or fairly exacting results? (As opposed to just hacking away with split-polygon until you get a "Best guess" result)?

Failing that, when splitting polygons, is there a function or tool that lets you conform one polygon to the rotation/position of another? or a snap-to function that lets you line up edges with the edges of adjacent polygons on that axis?

Next question, how do you split a polygon into equal divisions? Say I've got a single face on an angle, i want an exact cut in the centre of it, not best guess but exacting for what i need it to do, how is this accomplished? (Especially if the polygon in question is already rotated and is not flush 90degrees with any axis).

count23

Well, the options mode on "Insert Edge Loop" seems to have resolve question 2, but question 1 remains...

Dmitri

An easier solution for question 2: go to Edit Mesh -> Add divisions.

As per question 1, I'm not sure what you're looking for. Could you possibly post some screen caps explaining the Lightwave feature?
Cheers!

count23

Ok, i'll try divisions, but does it let you pick equidistant division lines?

and here's a quick demo of stencil in action:

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/tutorials/modeling/stencil/index.html

It's similar to a boolean function really, basically it creates new faces on an existing face in the shape you want.

Dmitri

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking about the equidistant division lines- but by definition a subdivision is equidistant from both sides. Just check the tool out and test to see if it does what you want it to.

As per a stencil equivalent for Maya- no such option exists. You could do a workaround using two booleans. Alternatively, you could use NURBS and project a curve on a surface. In any case though, no easy tool exists in Maya that mimics the stencil function in Lightwave. In defense of Maya though, there are easier ways of doing things than using a stencil. Cheers!

count23

Dmitri? Would you enlighten me then please on what's easier then stencil in Maya? Filleting would do if there is such a feature in maya

Dmitri

How about you give me an example of what to make. Screen cap it / make it in Lightwave and I'll show you how I copy it in Maya. Plan?

count23

i'd have to re-install lightwave, haha.

But i'll give you an example anyway.

I have a round object, like an egg or a cylinder, I want to map a pattern onto the round object so i can extrude the mapped shape from the surface of the round object. that's the kind of thing I'd use stencil for.

count23

OK, got some new maya questions that popped up now... Namely the following:

How do I change which axis the grid is projected on, so i can have a reference for work i'm doing vertically rather then from top down?

2ndly, I've got some sort of bug with my maya copy right now, ever object I make or is already on the grid has offset pivots, about 30 degrees, making everything move weird, not to mention the camera spazzes out when i try to get to a default camera angle. I have no idea what's going on but a reinstalled copy of Maya didnt solve this problem either.

count23

ok.. new stupid question, cause those last two have been resolved.

Anyway, with tools like move and extrude, when you select tool settings you get the ability to specify things like offset and whatnot, but i can't seem to get these settings to actually be applied to the object the tool is supposed to be working on.

So I gues my question is, how do you specify fixed distances to move or extrude objects? (or specify coordinates that a cut/split poly tool acts on)

Dmitri

Hey, sorry for not demonstrating that earlier technique. Finals week...

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking in your latest question, but I'm attaching a screen cap. Using the "X,Y,Z" at the top of the screen cap you can move objects a set amount. You can adjust it to be a relative or absolute transform.

On the right of the screencap there's the channel editor. Grabbing the extrude function in the channel editor, you can input specific values for transforms, rotates, ect...

If neither of those answered your question, maybe you should attach some screen captures to illustrate your questions.

count23

That helps, I'm still used to all the tool functions and settings being apart of their own little menu/window like in Lightwave.

Anyway, last question. Image planes... Is there a way to make them partially transparent in the perspective view? Alpha Gain seems to be missing when I'm in that mode.

Secondly, I have a floorplan i want to import into Maya for some work on (on the top down view), is there a way i can link the measure tool so that it'll keep measuring between two pixels as i scale up the image plane to the right size i need it?

Does that make sense? If i put a distance tool between two parts of a floor on the image plane i have, is there a way so that it'll update the distance between the two points as i rescale the image or do i have to keep redrawing the distance tool as i scale up?

Dmitri

Question one is easy to solve, although a bit quirky of a fix. With your image plane selected:
1) Set your alpha level.
2) Toggle "Use Depth Map" on and then off.
In the below image I show you this and what the image plane looks like after it's been updated. Hopefully that works for you...


Question two is far harder to solve. You're going to need to create an expression that says "Set the image plane size to (VALUE) calculated from the distance between two points".

Let me run through a simple example that demonstrates to some degree what you're trying to do. Maybe you should glance over some other sources just so you get an idea about what expressions are (example LINK).

Here is the basic Scene Setup. We have an image plane and two locators attached to a distance measure.


Select your image plane. Then go to Window-> Animation Editors -> Expression Editor. The following box will pop up. Change the Object Filter to Dependency Nodes.


Scroll through the list of objects. Specifically, look for three things. The two locator shapes that the distance is drawn between (ex. locator1, locator2), and the name of your image plane (ex. imagePlane1). Select the object that's the name of your image plane. Next, you need to write the code that creates the actual expression. Here's what I'm using:

In short, I calculate the distance between the two locators (SquareRoot(x^2 + y^2 + z^2)). I then assign that distance * 1.333 to imagePlane1's attributes of width and height. This links the distance between the two locators to the width and height of the image plane. Once you've put in your code, click the create button.
(NOTE: if you ever need to find the expression again, an easy way of finding it is to change the select filter to "By Expression Name" in the Expression Editor).

Below are the results. When the distance changes the height and width of the image plane are also updated.



Hopefully this gives you an idea of how to create the effect you're looking for. In terms of your final problem, you may need to also create expressions for the image plane's Center X,Y,Z attributes. Also, besides just scaling the distance by a set value, you may want to add a value to the distance. That way if the locators are 0 units apart, the image plane will still be the size of that adding value.

Anyway... kind of complex, but very doable. Cheers!

EDIT: Aw... shoot. I did your problem backwards. I made it so when you change the two points, the image plane scales- instead of when the image plane scales the two points change. In all honestly though, the reverse is probably going to be easier.

Dansolo1

Stenicl Tool for Maya.

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/modeling/poly-tools/c/jhpolystencil

Just remember to make it quad or tri faced afterwards.

count23

thanks Dan, pretty old thread though. I've kinda sorta figured a bit of a way around it as it is, but i'm using a blueprint for building construction so i could just scale it up until the grid divisions matched the size i expected it to be. This'll come in handy when I do ship building.