Rotate an edge but only move the affected vertices on a given axis?

# 1 16-11-2012 , 06:28 PM

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Rotate an edge but only move the affected vertices on a given axis?

Hi all,

I am trying to model the following simple structure:
user added image

I made this example by creating a new polygonal cylinder, rotating the right edges and repositioning the affected vertices afterwards, but doing it that way just doesnt feel right, it seems too unclean to me.

I would like the affected vertices to only move on a given axis when rotating the edge, so I dont need to reposition them after the rotate operation. I tried to illustrate what I mean in the following screenshot:
user added image

The edge I want to rotate is marked in red, the vertices that are supposed to only move on the y-axis are marked in green. The arrows indicate the desired movement.

Is this way of rotating possible with the rotate tool or something?

Last edited by Subsurf; 16-11-2012 at 06:32 PM.

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# 2 17-11-2012 , 01:36 PM

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What your describing isn't really a roatation its a translation with a linear fall off to your pivot. You just want to be able to describe this translation with a rotation.

There isn't something which maya will support though you could probably do it with a soft modification though it wouldn't give you a rotation handle.

If you use a soft modification deformer and place a locator at your pivot with a look at constraint toward the soft mod deformer you will be able to get an angle feedback of your translation.

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# 3 17-11-2012 , 02:04 PM

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If you use a soft modification deformer and place a locator at your pivot with a look at constraint toward the soft mod deformer you will be able to get an angle feedback of your translation.

Originally Posted by LauriePriest

I already thought about that. I just wasn't sure whether it was possible to keep the angles between the edges that I want to rotate at 180° so I dont unintentionally bend them.

Last edited by Subsurf; 17-11-2012 at 02:08 PM.

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# 4 17-11-2012 , 03:43 PM

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Though tedious you can do this with simple calcs. Using the angle required you can calculate each right traingle per vert and then move them up in the Y axis, I use the "Show CV' table in the attribute editor. I think this is what you mean? Maya. as Laurie has said doesnt have this function. I have tried many ways to get co planar or co linear points to work in Maya and the above method is the only one I have found thus far.

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# 5 17-11-2012 , 05:46 PM

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You could use the cut face tool then delete the edges that are not needed then just delete top faces select the top edge extrude then merge to centre just a case of snapping the center vert to the straight edge............dave

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# 6 17-11-2012 , 07:42 PM

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Unfortunately maya does not support falloffs as some other modeling apps do and the soft selection tool only selects spherical regions of action so we have to do this manually.

First we must accept that maya is not a cad program and so in most cases close enough is good enough.

I have made a fast video showing how to use manual brute force to get the linear falloff you are seeking.

Then I demonstrate the method Daverave suggested using the cut faces tool and a variation on that method that gives a bit more control.

howto manual linear falloff using the lattice deformer - YouTube

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Last edited by ctbram; 11-12-2012 at 10:16 PM.

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# 7 17-11-2012 , 07:58 PM

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Nice one Rick have not gone into the cut face tool option nice to see how they work....................dave

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# 8 17-11-2012 , 08:02 PM

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Thank you Dave.

As I thought about this I realize you could also do this with a boolean! Yes! I said the B-word. This method is actually quite efficient.

howto manual linear falloff using boolean difference - YouTube

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Last edited by ctbram; 11-12-2012 at 10:17 PM.

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# 9 18-11-2012 , 12:00 AM

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Thanks for the ideas ctbram and daverave, that looks very promising and big thanks for the instruction videos.

btw: I'm still pretty new to modeling techniques, so what is so bad about boolean operations?
**edit: Well, as I just discovered, boolean operations can create pretty messy meshes...

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Last edited by Subsurf; 18-11-2012 at 01:01 AM.

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# 10 18-11-2012 , 01:13 AM

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Nice one Rick Im with dave on the cut face option...I didnt know it was there. It was meant to be 65° too mate LOL 90-25=65...other than that nice tut and way better than a vert by vert solution like mine.

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# 11 18-11-2012 , 01:20 AM

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I notice you cannot snap the cut tool to verts but you can snap to the grid Rick? why would this be. I guess you could cheat and snap your model to the required position first then cut.

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# 12 18-11-2012 , 05:37 AM

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Sorry for the maths error. That is quite embarrassing considering I have a minor in Mathematics. lol

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# 13 18-11-2012 , 07:16 AM

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Hi Subsurf [and everyone else!]

I put together a quick video with another method using a Non-Linear Flare deformer that may help, you can find it at the following link;

Maya - Non-linear Flare - YouTube

Cheers!

Simon

PS - the quality is better [HD720] if you view it directly on Youtube!
PPS - forgot to mention in the video that when you're done, select the cylinder and go to Edit>Delete by Type>History to lock the shape in place and remove the deformer!

Last edited by priimate; 18-11-2012 at 07:40 AM.

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# 14 18-11-2012 , 09:21 AM

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Interesting priimate, it would be nice if Maya just had a simple snap to polyline wouldnt it?

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# 15 18-11-2012 , 11:08 AM

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Some good suggestions. As Rick said its not a cad program.

Personally I'd either cut the faces as daverave suggested or line up a polyplane and snap the verts accordingly. Maya is pretty lame at these type of 'edits'.

Keep it simple, usually thats the answer

Jay

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Rotate an edge but only move the affected vertices on a given axis?

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