Modelling

# 1 27-01-2006 , 07:17 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2006

Location: Earth

Posts: 4

hi there.
help needed desperately.
i'm suposed to model an original character and animate it for 60 seconds for an assignment.
I got an idea and a storyboard but finding it very difficult to actually model the thing!!
anybody got any tips for modelling a WORM?! i'm trying to think of basic shapes but at the moment it is just looking like no way near a worm.
have imported a pic of what i want it to look like so i can model it more easily but the bits aren't doing what i want them to!
oh, and
am new to this as you can tell.
any help and any steps that i haveto take would be much appreciated.
thanks.

:zzz:

"The more things are forbidden, the more popular they become"

Quote

# 2 28-01-2006 , 10:10 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Mar 2005

Location: London

Posts: 1,135

good to see u joined

use a sub divs sphere and extrude

Now at SMU doing BSc 3D Computer Animation so its hard to get on here
My wire render tut https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...threadid=20973

Quote

# 3 13-02-2006 , 04:13 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Posts: 61

use the subdivs tom create a basic shape of the worm.

After that keep the model in front of you.Use the subdivision vertices to create a realistic shape. do not worry if the shape is not too realistic.You can make it look original while texuring.

For the head, it consists of eyes,mouth,nose and antennas.

You create that from a polygon or nurbs.Polygon is best.

after that convert the subdiv into polygon and combine it.

Quote

# 4 18-02-2006 , 04:05 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

sounds easy enough but I'm new too (12 months).., how do you combine the two polygonal objects?? i've bust trying to get an over all picture of the Maya work flow and haven't yet come up against this in any of the tut books but have wanted to do it on my models??

How do I make the two poly objects one?

Does one always convert nurbs to polys before the final render or is it just a situation thing?

Quote

# 5 18-02-2006 , 09:47 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Posts: 61

Originally posted by mirek03
sounds easy enough but I'm new too (12 months).., how do you combine the two polygonal objects?? i've bust trying to get an over all picture of the Maya work flow and haven't yet come up against this in any of the tut books but have wanted to do it on my models??

How do I make the two poly objects one?

Does one always convert nurbs to polys before the final render or is it just a situation thing?

Originally Posted by

Don`t think too much for combining two polygonal objects.

In the modelling menu set under the POLYGONS there is a command or what ever u call that.It is `combine`. Select the two objects which you want to combine and then use that command and the two objects are combined.

If u want you can also parent one object to other using the outliner.In the outliner select the head or whatever u named it and move it under the body in the outliner.

Also u can try group.

For rendering in maya6 we don`t need to convert nurbs to poly`s or vice-versa.

Quote

# 6 18-02-2006 , 02:52 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

thanks for that. I was trying Mike's tut on texturing a door today. I made the door from polygonal cubes, looked fine but when I took a UV snap shot I got a bunch of squares?? I know I started with a cube but..?? What I did was made one plank of the door and just copied and moved them. Correct??
I then selected it..; auto textuing then snap shot and then..?? no planks bit a group of squares??
what have I done wrong

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 7 19-02-2006 , 05:26 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

Once you have made the door, you need to UV map it in the texture editor. This essentially involves laying out your model flat as if you were unwrapping it, but first you need maya to project your model. Go to edit polygons>texture>...and then choose a projection method. For the door, I might pick planar or automatic mapping. Once you are in the texture editor, back click to choose UVs and then start arranging the various parts. Once finished, take a UV snapshot which you can then open in Photoshop to paint. Sorry this is a bit vague - it's new to me too and I cannot check my computer at the moment - just do a search on this site and there should be plenty of threads explaining the basic technique.

Quote

# 8 20-02-2006 , 02:38 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

...??? It's new to you and your a senior member, now that gives me little hope user added image

..thanks mate, a couple of people have replied and with the data I have I'm getting there.

I did an auto-map but got squares. I'm wondering if I need to look under therm or something, scale them out of the way and see what's under them. I could try planar mapping. When you say 'lay out flat, do you mean literally flat on the grin, the X axis? I have just been projecting from the perspective view and I wouldn't have a clue what angle it was on. I did get a good textured Lambert onto it today via a reply I got about it. looked good even though the map was a bunch of squares. user added image

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 9 20-02-2006 , 01:22 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

Actually I am not sure why I am listed as a senior member - I have only been using this site since January and the only UV map I have made so far is for my jan/Feb contest entry, so I am not sure how much help I can offer.

But, if I understand you correctly, you have selected your model, automapped it and then opened up the UV texture editor. All of the little squares that i think that you are describing are the faces of your model . If you look at the top of the texture editor, you will see lots of different tools, such as move and sew. By back clicking on your UV map and selecting UVs or Edges or whatever, you should be able to rearrange all of these faces so that you can create a flat representation of your model. Sorry i cannot be more specific - I am at work again and can't check my computer. It's a slow process. There was a good tutorial on the web for UV mapping a stool that I tried to find again for you, but it seems to have been taken down.

I noticed that this thread seems to have veered away completely from the original question. You might want to try starting a new specific thread for your question and you should also post pictures to help us see what you mean.

EDIT: oops! Just saw your other thread, so please ignore my 'Start your own thread' comment.

Last edited by arran; 20-02-2006 at 01:49 PM.

Quote

# 10 20-02-2006 , 11:59 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

hey thanks mate, I did wonder what all the icons were for at the top of the UV editor. I knew they weren't there for decor. I've got a word file on the stuff you have written to me and it's getting quite large (you and I think one or two others, it's about UV mapping) so thanks a lot. I will paste this in to the file and then check out the tools you mentioned later today. Funnily enough I extruded a few poly faces to make a SPACESHIP (??) for a friend at uni that wrote a script and wants me to do the space stuff, etc in Maya; and mapped the ship quite well?? The thing is with that when i export it into photo shop the background is black and the UV map is there faintly in white. Is this normal?? user added image

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 11 10-03-2006 , 08:49 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005

Location: This Place

Posts: 220

.....yes......

although if everything is squares, and not other shapes, you may have other problems (sorta...). Pictures would help....

Quote

# 12 10-03-2006 , 09:26 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

hi, thanks for the reply. tea, it's sort of strange, I can usually map sort of OK but I haven't a clue what's happening here. I followed Mike's tut (texturing a door in photoshop) and his UV map looks like the planks of a door such as the one here. Nurbs by the way. if you can help with this problem it would be great. It's not catastrophic but there is something very fundamental happening here i do not understand.

Attached Thumbnails

Click image for larger version

Name: door.jpg
Views: 305
Size: 63.5 KB
ID: 27279

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 13 10-03-2006 , 07:10 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005

Location: This Place

Posts: 220

hmmm....
unfortunately I don't have much experience texturing nurbs, cause I work mostly in polys. But there's almost no way you should be getting that, in any case..... The resuly you have there seems more to be what you'd get if you automapped a poly cube; there doesn't appear to any extra faces....

Are you sure you're working in Nurbs? How did you make that, cause nurbs tend to try to smooth their edges..... Otherwise, I have no idea what's going on there....

Quote

# 14 11-03-2006 , 12:23 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

your correct, it's polys. I didn't think it would make a difference. Jay mentioned something about texturing in nurbs on a plane i'm attempting in WIP that sounded ominous, it went something like this; 'and texturing in nurbs, well,...'

do you think that is the problem, that it is polys and not nurbs, confusing considering what Jay has said too. Like i said there is something fundamental that I'm missing and I think when I know what it is I'll be better off.

I made it by scaling a poly cube and then duplicating the planks and moving them into position. Very simple stuff..., I followed all the right things, importing through the hypershade, ect, but I'm wondering now whether I assigned texture to the object as in , graph texture to selected object, or whatever it says in the attribute editor, I think i did? It's been a while but I think this is somehow important. Other UV maps have been fine.

i'll go through it again during the weekend.

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 15 11-03-2006 , 06:17 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005

Location: This Place

Posts: 220

well, it sorta makes a difference. but knowing how you made it was in some ways more important. The fact that it was made in polys and not nurbs has nothing to do with the results you've been getting.

You get your results because of the way you scaled the cube. The cube thinks it is, really, still a cube. There are two ways to fix this. First, you can select "Modify> Freeze transformations" (you really only need scale selected). Second, you can, boolean several elements together (so that all the planks, and most of the door, are one piece). After either one, though, you will need to automap them again. That should solve the problem.... I think.

Quote

Modelling

Posting Rules Forum Rules

Similar Threads

Topics

Free Courses

Full Courses

VFX News