Snapping Vertices?

# 1 31-03-2012 , 03:02 PM

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I've wasted the whole afternoon trying to figure out where i'm going wrong with the first tutorial on building a room.

Really annoyed with myself because I can't figure this out. It involves inserting edge loops to make the corner and snapping the vertices to other vertices.

I have managed it, but can repeatedly get it right, I keep ending up with different (wrong) outcomes like this...

user added image

What are the correct key/mouse buttons.

I seem to have tried all option, of clicking, holding and dragging I can think of.

I'm using 2009 if it makes a difference.

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# 2 31-03-2012 , 03:10 PM

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default key combos for snapping have not changed between versions and they are...

you press and hold a key and then middle mouse gesture over the thing you are snapping too...

press and hold the following keys to select the target of the snap

c-key for curves
v-key for verts
x-key for the grid

so to snap a set of verts to a curve you'd

1. select the verts
2. then press and hold the c-key and the move manipulator will change to a circle at the center to indicate snapping is on
3. while still holding the c-key move the cursor to the curve you wish to snap too and then press the middle mouse button and this is VERY IMPORTANT gesture or stroke the cursor over the curve

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 31-03-2012 at 03:13 PM.

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# 3 31-03-2012 , 03:12 PM

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there TWO other things that always bite people in the butt when learning

1. go to the attributes for the move tool be sure "keep component spacing" is unchecked
2. you MUST be in WORLD MODE for snapping to work predictably

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 4 31-03-2012 , 03:53 PM

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Thanks Ctbram

I've followed your advice but those black faces are still staying behind at odd times.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's caused by lack of graphics capabilities on this laptop.

I'll be able to retry the my technique on my desktop on Monday.

Phil

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# 5 31-03-2012 , 04:11 PM

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the black faces are more likely surfaces that are non-manifold and were created by snapping verts in a way that flipped geometry. I'd really need to see an image of what you started with to compare where you are ending up to have a better idea of the problem.

I mean it really looks like you have created interior faces

Do me a favor and grab a screen shot before you try to snap anything and then describe what you are trying to snap too because it's hard to visualize what went wrong just seeing the final result.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 31-03-2012 at 06:00 PM.

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# 6 31-03-2012 , 06:25 PM

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These are the steps I have taken

1. I create a polygon cube 150x15x150 like the tutorial

2. Insert two edge loops using the edge loop tool

3. Select the top right corner vertices by dragging over them in the top down view
4. hold V and middle click to drag to the vertices on the left.

This normally works as planned

5. the black faces usually appear when I attempt to drag the vertices down to complete the corner cut out of the room.

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# 7 31-03-2012 , 06:54 PM

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ah okay what you are doing will work and it will also initially create the affect you are seeing. The reason is that until you merge the vertices at the top and bottom you are collapsing the top and bottom faces to zero surface area. This can create the strange black faces to occur.

To help demonstrate look at the attached image and you can see just before I snap the verts that there is a face on the top. That face does not go away when you snap the verts and creates an L shaped face with no area and it causes the display artifact you see.

There are many ways to do what you are doing. If you merge the verts after snapping them that odd black face will go away.

Another way would be to select the merge vertex tool and then you can snap the verts (without needing to use the v-snapping) and they will also merge.

Or you could extrude the sides of a cube.

There are lots of ways to do the same thing in maya.

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"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 31-03-2012 at 06:56 PM.

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# 8 31-03-2012 , 07:02 PM

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I've been able to get better results ...

1. by selecting the vertices in the top down view
2. hitting the 'w' key for the move tool
3. dragging the vertices in the perspective view.

Here I have it working better in perspective view

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# 9 31-03-2012 , 07:09 PM

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Yes, I haven't merged the vertices yet

The video 'Interior Design - Modeling a room part 1' merges the vertices after the move, but I was seeing the black faces on my work and thinking I must be doing something wrong.

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# 10 31-03-2012 , 07:18 PM

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I've repeated the scene and moved the vertices in the top panel.

The black faces did appear again, but like you say, as soon as I merged the vertices, the black faces disappeared.

Thanks for helping me with this.

So I've spent all afternoon trying to fix a problem that didn't need fixing.

I've been pulling my hair all day. Not a terribly good start to Maya is it ha ha

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# 11 01-04-2012 , 12:47 AM

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For 3 wrong above I would wager you have somehow selected all four verts (2 on top and 2 on the bottom) and then moved all four. To avoid this kind of confusion I would recommend using the "merge vertex tool". With it you will avoid having to merge the verts at the end and you get positive feed abck as each vert is merged.

Don't fret about making mistakes it is how you learn the quirks of the application. Learning what causes the kind of behavior you were seeing is a valuable thing. I am playing with several modeling packages and even though I have modeled stuff for a long time I still get wrapped around the axle especially going between packages.

The key is to learn from this and keep pressing forward. I guarantee this will not be the first "scratch your head for hours" Maya moment. We all have em. The options are figure it and learn, do it another way and don't worry about it, or give up. If people picked option three, there would not be a Maya modeler on the planet (lol).

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 01-04-2012 at 12:53 AM.

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# 12 01-04-2012 , 08:21 AM

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you will have w ee bit of trouble Phil...adding and deleting for rooms in Maya...it is not the best application for creating rooms....it can be achieved..however Sketchup is much better for this. As ctbram said Maya has many ways of doing things we just need to persevere and try harder...you will be fine

cheers bullet

bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 13 01-04-2012 , 08:21 AM

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For 3 wrong above I would wager you have somehow selected all four verts (2 on top and 2 on the bottom) and then moved all four. To avoid this kind of confusion I would recommend using the "merge vertex tool".

Originally Posted by ctbram

After seeing '3 wrong' and reading your tip, I can understand how the vertices and the snapping tool work.

It's been very annoying but, like you say, educational.

Thanks

Phil

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# 14 01-04-2012 , 08:41 AM

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..adding and deleting for rooms in Maya...it is not the best application for creating rooms....it can be achieved..however Sketchup is much better for this.

Originally Posted by bullet1968

Thanks Bullet - I don't think I'll be using Maya for much room building.

One of decisions I'll have to make is, 'what to use Maya for?'

I trying to improve my chances of finding work in the local graphic design studios. I figure some basic 3D package skills would be a good addition to my portfolio.

But there does appear to be different ways to model for different outcomes.

e.g 3D characters for mobile games 'seem' to need a different approach to high quality rendering for photo quality adverts.

I'll focus on building some good all round general basic modelling skills first.

Phil

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