Is there a way to make the edge loop tool cut only on the selected faces? This would save me the time of deleting the unneeded edges later on. I haven't seen this in any tutorial yet.
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01-07-2015
, 10:07 PM
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Is there a way to make the edge loop tool cut only on the selected faces? This would save me the time of deleting the unneeded edges later on. I haven't seen this in any tutorial yet.
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02-07-2015
, 01:54 PM
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06-07-2015
, 11:13 PM
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I've run into a few issues over the past few days but I managed to google my way out of all but one. First, a more in-depth workflow question.
I recently discovered the Modeling Toolkit which is a nice way to shortcut through some modeling stuff. I've noticed there is a 'custom shelf' option - I understand it can take stuff from your top shelf, but I'd actually like it to have a few tools from my Mesh Tools window such as Insert Edge Loop and Cut Faces. Is there a way to drag those in?
Another, more complicated thing I've been wondering. I often flip between different settings on tools for rapid editing and cutting. Some of my favorites are "cut with 8 edge loops equal distance) (which i later manipulate) and "bevel edge to 3 edges" (makes edge splitting very easy). But everytime I need to go back to the tool menu and change the settings back to vanilla. I understand there's a scripting language in maya called MEL, could I hotkey a tool to perform specific settings and then return to vanilla?
Thanks for your time!
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07-07-2015
, 12:58 AM
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You can also turn on echo all commands to see the "under the hood" stuff that is happening. That can get pretty overwhelming with many commands going on.
For the insert edge loop with custom parameters, I played around for a while and I think that this should give you the commands and values to play with for that:
Code:
SplitEdgeRingTool;
polySelectEditCtx -e
-image1 "polySplitEdgeRing.png"
-mode 1
-autoComplete 1
-divisions 2
-useEqualMultiplier 1
-fixQuads 1
-smoothingAngle 30
-splitType 1
-insertWithEdgeFlow 0
-adjustEdgeFlow 1
polySelectEditContext;
I should also add that you can attach hotkeys to custom commands, add commands to marking menus and really get your hands dirty when it comes to expanding Maya's usability. That kind of goes beyond the scope of a forum response, but I would humbly recommend checking out this little series I made for youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...MFeIkJc58OChNN (specifically the last two go over some MEL, creating shelf icons, and compiling them into marking menus).
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Last edited by stwert; 07-07-2015 at 01:01 AM.
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11-07-2015
, 10:55 PM
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Small update and a question
(Keyshot tests)
I've been trying to use bridged (or 'Lofted' at its called) curves for some of my details but a lot of the functions don't work on this path. Extrude and loft just do nothing without an error message so im not sure how it should work. Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance!
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11-07-2015
, 11:01 PM
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Unless your are doing a birail in which case you need a pair of rail curves and a profile to sweep along them.
What exactly are you trying to loft?
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
Last edited by ctbram; 11-07-2015 at 11:03 PM.
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12-07-2015
, 11:05 AM
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12-07-2015
, 12:00 PM
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12-07-2015
, 06:52 PM
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Loft;
1. create a series of cross section curves going from the front of the mud guard to the back
2. select each cross section curve in order from front to back
3. surface>loft (choose - quad, and control points)
Birail:
1. create two rail curves going from front to back. One on the outer side of the mud guard and one on the inner side
2. create a profile curve going between the two rail curves with the end points co-resident with the starting points of the rail curves
3. surface>birail - then pick the rail curves and the profile curve (once again choose quad, and control point)
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
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08-09-2015
, 05:32 PM
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Sod me, two months flew by and I have barely made any progress due to work and procrastination
. I've added some small details and did a lot of mesh fixing in the meanwhile. Now I'm learning UV mapping and moving up into texturing the halftrack. I have a few issues with my UV maps, to make things easier I decided to explain them in a small video. https://vimeo.com/138649831 Password: SIMPLYMAYA
Thanks in advance for all the help, I would have never gotten here without SimplyMaya! My only barriers remain my surprising urge to never finish anything and my general cluelessness
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Last edited by VinceDn; 08-09-2015 at 06:01 PM.
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09-09-2015
, 02:16 AM
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What you're seeing is most likely coming from the geometry. You almost always want to make sure that your models are made of either quads (4 edges) or tris (3 edges). ngons (more than 4 edges) can cause issues with normals, uv mapping, beveling and so on. So I would recommend going in and fixing up some of the geometry.
In regards to the texture area, you can work outside of the 0-1 texture space (the top right corner), but it's not very common. If you run out of space, simply scale down what you have, and put more stuff in there. You can bake that area into whatever texture size you wish, so it doesn't really matter how large each shell is.
Regarding your planar mapping tool, try opening up the option box and resetting it.
Tip: Try automatic mapping the entire object at once. Since your model is cube-like, automatic mapping will give you a good start.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
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09-09-2015
, 09:51 AM
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here's a keyshot test from last night.
The rear is mapped now, still some distortion around the '55' but I'm tweaking the maps as I go. I was wondering what size textures I should pick for this model? It's intended to be cinematic so it doesn't need to be optimized, I was thinking 4 2K textures (Rear Body, Front Body, Tracks and Wheels, Turret & Gadgets).
I tried importing the base into Mudbox to paint a quick normal (I'd like a grainy metallic effect) but it bugged out so I'll revisit this when I finish more UV-maps
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Last edited by VinceDn; 09-09-2015 at 09:54 AM.
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10-09-2015
, 01:13 PM
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Thanks to your help, she's starting to look the part!
I have two more questions concerning UV workflow, I put them in a quick image
I also came across videos of 'texturing softwares' like Mara, Substance Painter and this recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyJJAp17K-Y. I was wondering, how does this add up to traditional UV mapping and then importing into Photoshop? Is it a dying art? Will these software suites make UV mapping obsolete in the future?
Regards,
Vince
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10-09-2015
, 01:41 PM
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2) I tried playing around with pinning UVs, but move and sew still moves both parts (what?). You can hold v snap move to UVs, then do a merge UVs operation, but that is a bit tedious for large selections.
Edit: With respect to the 3D painting tools, my understanding is many of them still require good UV maps (or they can help you create them), so the main difference is painting in 3D instead of in 2D. That said, some programs (Mari, I think, and Mudbox) support PTEX which is per face texturing. This doesn't require UVs, it makes a little piece of texture for each individual face (no stretching, no seams magically), but that method has its own limitations.
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10-09-2015
, 10:01 PM
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Mostly grinding the UV's now, at this speed I hope to have this freaking halftrack done before christmas
Finished the front texture today, but for some reason it always shows up tiled in Keyshot. Preview in Maya is fine, I checked the texture setting in Keyshot and scale is 1, set to uv coordinates. I don't really understand, I imported the same way as I did with the rear
Stay patient and trust your journey
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