Kombi Van

# 1 27-02-2012 , 12:06 PM

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I'm learning Maya and it's very slow. I gave myself a project to give me a goal, and I have now decided to post my progress to...
A. keep me motivated.
B. get advice when I need it.

I've been asking a lot of stupid questions in the modelling section and I thought it would be better to keep it all in one single thread. So stupid questions will all be in here from now on.

I have been learning up on deformers to get curvature and now that I sort of understand them better I can really see the potential, I think I'm developing an appreciation of what makes Maya good and why people like it.

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# 2 28-02-2012 , 10:21 AM

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I had to up-res the mesh a bit to give me more control, and there is a cut in the panel running up from the rear wheel hub that forced me to re-examine what I was doing.

While I was using the soft selection tool I found I couldn't work out how to get the kind of curve profile I needed.

Any advice on that?

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# 3 28-02-2012 , 12:30 PM

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Remember I'm new to this, just figuring out things like layers, deleting history and separating parts is all keeping my progress slow. But I am starting to get a little faster, I bought a little note book and jot down information as I go. It's my little Maya study journal, heh heh.

Also, in the past when I do a car I always start from the front fender and headlight area, and this time I didn't do that, so I don't have a face, I'm doing the back end first it seems. That must be my lack of confidence showing.

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# 4 28-02-2012 , 12:48 PM

The thin red line
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Not sure what you are trying to use the soft select on, I dont use it for this type of modelling............dave

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# 5 28-02-2012 , 03:19 PM

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Baby steps I'm afraid.

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# 6 28-02-2012 , 03:26 PM

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Not sure what you are trying to use the soft select on, I dont use it for this type of modelling............dave

Originally Posted by daverave

I was just trying it out to see what it did, and did end up using it, I can see how it could come in useful for some things but I'd probably try to find some other deformer in the future. If I could work out how to get the curve profiles how I want them it would be better but the UI is a bit funky. So many things to get used to in this program and I have yet to discover which tools work best for me so I'm trying anything.

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# 7 28-02-2012 , 03:59 PM

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I think if you click on the profile curve it will add points. Then you can pull out that convex shape you were wanting.

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# 8 29-02-2012 , 01:40 AM

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I'll give that a go. I've Just cleaned up a the back, sharpening corners and getting all the gaps between panels consistent.

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# 9 29-02-2012 , 08:46 AM

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I tried making curves in the soft selection curve UI but it is fairly limited, not quite the level of control I want, there might be an actual reason for this (not allowed to make some kind of curves) or it is just not very good. Or there is some hidden way to adjust control handles that is not obvious.

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# 10 29-02-2012 , 09:03 AM

The thin red line
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You can go to create,CV curves. Right click on it will allow you to manualy edit it or go to Surfaces edit curve for more options.............dave

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# 11 29-02-2012 , 09:31 AM

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I'm still talking about the UI for soft selection. You can see the curve I tried creating in there, it's not like I wanted, I was hoping for control handle like you have in Pshop.

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# 12 29-02-2012 , 09:51 AM

The thin red line
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What are you trying to do there might be a better tool..............dave

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# 13 29-02-2012 , 10:37 AM

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Oh, I not really trying to use it for anything now, I was just wondering if there was a way to get the curve I wanted in that UI, for future use perhaps.

But since your talking about better tools, if you want to bend something into a slight or specific curve, do you usually use a lattice deformer?

I've already been using some of the deformers and have a reasonable idea of how they work, but I haven't used the lattice deformer yet, is that something you would use a lot?

Also, perhaps there's another way, like drawing out a curve and somehow using that to influence geometry, I'm sure Maya would have a way to do that.

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# 14 29-02-2012 , 11:42 AM

The thin red line
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It realy depends on the geometry what I would use on it if I had some thing that needed a bend all through it I would use the bend deformer...........dave

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# 15 29-02-2012 , 02:00 PM

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I just tried out the lattice deform to curve the top half of the body, I would say it is okay as a deformer but the UI is problematic. When selecting lattice points you can also select object vertexes, it really should only allow you to pick lattice points, that's just bad design. Maybe there's a special procedure to safe guard against this but it's not obvious.

This thing isn't going to have any personality until I get some wheels and windows on it, at the moment it's not really speaking to me, I should've started with the front cabin. I might start working on that next.

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Kombi Van

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