Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.
# 1 13-09-2007 , 09:43 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,055

Workflow questions

Hi,

I've got a question regarding workflow and deleting histories. I believe that you shouldn't delete after you paint weights, but what is the situation for blend shapes, cloth etc? Say you model, create blend shapes/hair/cloth, bind, paint weights - at what point does it become unsafe to delete your history?

Also, concerning smoothed meshes - should you just complete an animation unsmoothed, then smooth your mesh? Or smooth a copy, keep it aside, and then attach that mesh to the skeleton?

Thanks,

gubar.

# 2 13-09-2007 , 03:18 PM
Jay's Avatar
Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 6,287
Okay, these are valid points I will answer best I can.

Creating the model is fine, delete history as you go. But the minute you bind it and paint weights your history will sort of build up again becuase of the skin clusters being created to the joints etc. But then if you delete the history on the bound figure/model it will come out of the bind and all your skin clusters will be lost., and the character will be in the modelling state so to speak. the same goes for blend shapes, if you delete the history on a head once the targets are fed in you'll lose them. So some history is good some is bad.

Also worth pointing out is that if you are rendering a still image for example of a posed figure you may want to delete the history and delete the skeleton entirely to say sculpt a better model in the desired position for you render. It will also make the scene lighter for this type of exercise

Hope Im making sense
Jay

# 3 13-09-2007 , 03:50 PM
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,055
Thanks jay,

makes perfect sense. It's kind of what I thought, just wanted to get another opinion before I take my project any further. Basically, you can delete all your histories while you model (and texture I guess), but once you're past that stage the history becomes integral to the project.

Thanks,

gubar

# 4 13-09-2007 , 05:07 PM
Jr.Who
Guest
Posts: n/a
Yeah, you don’t want to delete your history after you do that. You can always delete a part of history you don’t need.
user added image

# 5 13-09-2007 , 05:25 PM
gster123's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Manchester Uk
Posts: 6,300
How do you delete "part" of the history?


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 6 13-09-2007 , 06:44 PM
Jr.Who
Guest
Posts: n/a

Originally posted by gster123
How do you delete "part" of the history?

Well, you select the part of the history you want to delete, copy the name (pic 1), go to the select box on the menu bar (to the right of the render stuff), paste the name in (pic 2), hit enter (which selects the history), then hit delete!

Cool, or what?

Attached Thumbnails
# 7 14-09-2007 , 06:03 AM
gster123's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Manchester Uk
Posts: 6,300
I must be missing something, that just deletes my model?

Oh well good job I keep an eye on my history.


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 8 14-09-2007 , 06:45 AM
Jr.Who
Guest
Posts: n/a

Originally posted by gster123
I must be missing something, that just deletes my model?

Oh well good job I keep an eye on my history.

What piece of history did you delete?

# 9 14-09-2007 , 07:43 AM
gster123's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Manchester Uk
Posts: 6,300
I mad ea cube, inserted 2 edge loops, then smoothed the cube, selected one of the edge loop splits and did what you said, bang deleted the whole thing


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 10 14-09-2007 , 08:04 PM
Jr.Who
Guest
Posts: n/a
That’s odd…… After you hit enter, does it select the edge loop history?

Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads