[help] polygon subdivisions

# 1 03-10-2008 , 10:56 PM

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okay I screwed myself by somehow changing settings in Maya 2008 - it used to be I would create a polygon sphere, for example, with 20 divisions width and height. Then I would adjust the divisions in the attribute editor accordingly, if the shape called for more or less divisions. But now the tab that let me add divisions is gone, and I don't know what I did to make it dissappear. How can I open this tab up to manually add divisions again?

I know when creating polygons there's an option to add divisions, but without the ability to tweak divisions once the polygon's made it's a pain...

I checked the "adjust subdivisions" tab under "after creation settings" when creating a new polygon, but this doesn't seem to change anything, even after quitting out and restarting. Sure sounds right though...

image attached for where tab used to be... thanks for any input.

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# 2 04-10-2008 , 02:08 AM

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think you've switched off construction history by the looks of it.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 3 04-10-2008 , 11:11 AM

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Ahhhh thank you that was it. Sure enough there was a red X over construction history in the status bar.

Man, one wrong click in Maya can screw everything up...

This article was helpful if anyone else has the same problem -

https://www.peachpit.com/articles/art...83770&seqNum=7

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# 4 04-10-2008 , 11:42 AM

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This should be made sticky, it must have been asked about 5 times in the last week......

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 5 04-10-2008 , 01:01 PM

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The challenge with getting help in programs like Maya is knowing what question to ask. All you really need is a keyword - in this case "construction history" - and you can find an answer. But without knowing how to articulate the question (knowing what keyword to search for) all we can do is describe the problem and hope someone knows what we're asking.

Making stickies for common problems is a great idea, but knowing what your problem is is the challenge...

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# 6 04-10-2008 , 01:50 PM

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Originally posted by elephantinc
This should be made sticky, it must have been asked about 5 times in the last week......

Originally Posted by

Isn't that what FAQ is all about?
Benny

When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

My latest snake game
(Requires DirectX9 SDK and Framework)

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# 7 04-10-2008 , 11:52 PM

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Originally posted by BennyK
Isn't that what FAQ is all about?
Benny

Originally Posted by

Yeah,

Unfortuantly I dont think it would help really, not pointing fingers but new users post before looking, think its just human nature.

Just go with the flow.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 8 05-10-2008 , 01:45 AM

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Originally posted by gster123
Yeah,

Unfortuantly I dont think it would help really, not pointing fingers but new users post before looking, think its just human nature.

Just go with the flow.

Originally Posted by

I disagree. I looked in FAQs before I even signed up to ask my first question.
Though I have to say It would help a lot to have more organized FAQ (also applies for the Tips&Tricks in Maya Chat)
so you don't have to do all that useless reading in between.

Originally posted by Jay in Resource Lounge> ***PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING***
Also if you do answer a post, try and add a link as you go it will then save on wasting the threads with 'thank you's' all the time, your 'resource' is your 'thank you'

Originally Posted by

I think this should apply to both FAQs and Tips&Tricks and anything else of this sort.
It would help at the moment to erase all the comments' posts...

When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

My latest snake game
(Requires DirectX9 SDK and Framework)

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# 9 05-10-2008 , 03:20 AM

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Originally posted by BennyK
I disagree. I looked in FAQs before I even signed up to ask my first question.

Originally Posted by

I think the number of posts asking simple questions, like why boolians don work, etc etc shows that a lot of people dont read it.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 10 05-10-2008 , 04:53 AM

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Originally posted by gster123
I think the number of posts asking simple questions, like why boolians don work, etc etc shows that a lot of people dont read it.

Originally Posted by

Without having the FAQ I imagine we would be having even more of those.
Besides, it's not just FAQ that can save unnecessary posts. A simple search in this forum can be quite useful (let alone Google).
Now that I think of it this forum should almost be abandoned user added image

Benny

When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

My latest snake game
(Requires DirectX9 SDK and Framework)

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# 11 05-10-2008 , 10:06 PM

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benny, you have to remember, not everyone is as patient as the people who actually take the time to go search for the answer

they want the answer "now", and starting a new thread to ask the question is likely to raise the response rate (no offence to anyone who does this)

on a forum i have i made a thread called FAQ, and the views it got was absolutely zilch...

i renamed it to something else and the views just shot up.

you're right about what you said about not having the faq and thus seeing more faq type posts.

astrocalder has a point though, where he said you have to know the specific name before you can find what's happening.
unless you've seen or heard of construction history before (which everyone should know from reading the in built tutorials... i'm guessing a few people dont read those because it involves reading :p)you wont know whats happening or how to fix the problem

that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

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# 12 06-10-2008 , 01:06 AM

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Yeah I checked a Maya reference book I have and searched google, but not until I had a keyword did I really find what I was looking for. Because "polygon divisions Maya 2008" is too vague a search term to find anything.

Upon looking through the FAQ (after the fact) I noticed someone had the same problem, but called it history, while I was looking for subdivisions (not realizing it's part of the history) -

Q : My history dose not show up, after i have done a mesh tool modification? (or like you cant switch back to 0 in the polysmoothnode

A: This can be modified by typing in the command line the following info.

constructionHistory -tgl on;

This toggles the history construction back on.

Originally Posted by

So if I had read the FAQ I still wouldn't have known the answer to my question was right there.
Sometimes it really helps to ask someone... not because of laziness, but because someone more skilled than you can probably understand what you're asking, better than a search engine or manual. It's because of forums like this, where people are willing to help each other out, that I've been able to learn anything at all really. I try to repay the favor by answering questions too... only thing is I don't know most of the answers...

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# 13 06-10-2008 , 02:26 PM

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In an ideal world before asking we would all check the FAQ to see if the question has been answered
but in an ideal world pacifism and Communism would work so......

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 14 06-10-2008 , 08:13 PM

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Originally posted by elephantinc
In an ideal world before asking we would all check the FAQ to see if the question has been answered

Originally Posted by

as was said before, unless you know what you're looking for or the correct terminology you wont find the answers

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# 15 06-10-2008 , 08:44 PM

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I agree,
no harm is done, end discussoin, thread is far too long for its worth?

No need to have a go at the poor fellow, doesnt need to defend himself.

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