Hey all,

So I'm working through 4.5 Fundamentals, and I'm modelling the pot-bellied creature in Chapter 7. I wasn't as careful as I should have been with the mirrored edge, so the other half doesn't line up very well. Also, at some point, something weird happened with the edges or verts... it's like they were all duplicated in place, so now there's two of every vert. I must have accidentally duplicated them, I guess.... but now it's really hard to work with the model, especially when lining up the edges.

Anyhow, I figure that's a lost cause. I tried the Merge Edges tool, but because of the alignment and duplication problems, it doesn't work at all. Again, mostly just a whine, I doubt there's any way to fix it at this point... or is there?

I've gone ahead and combined the two sides and smoothed them, though, so here's my real answerable question:

I use the marking menus that came with the book to do smoothing, but there's no "unsmooth" option. How do you switch back and forth between a smoothed and unsmoothed polygon?

Thanks!

Oh, and also, why is the surface in permanent X-Ray mode when you smooth a poly? Can I make it more solid somehow?

And! Speaking of X-Ray mode, is there a key for toggling it on and off instead of using the menu?

Thanks again1

In your history, you should have the polySmooth history item. Clicking on it brings up the options, and you can take the divisions to 0, which pretty much unsmooths it. If you've deleted the history, however, the smooth is permanent.

I do not know of a toggle for Xray mode. I'm not sure why your object would turn into Xray mode when you smooth it.

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-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

Originally posted by ayelar
Speaking of X-Ray mode, is there a key for toggling it on and off instead of using the menu?

Originally Posted by

Unfortunately, there is no built-in hotkey for it, nor can you assign that as a command. However, you can use a MEL script to toggle X-ray mode and assign that MEL script to a hotkey. Here is the script:

https://www.simplymaya.com/download_p...id=32&type=mel

Install that into your scripts directory, then create a hotkey that calls that script (toggleXray).

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Danny Ngan
Animator | Amaze Entertainment
my website | my blog | my job

I unzipped that file into the scripts map, but where do I find it in Maya to set a hotkey to it?

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Open up the Hotkey editor (Window > Settings/Preferences > Hotkeys. In the lower half of the window, click New to create a new command. Enter a name and description and pick a category. I recommend seleting the User category, so the command is easier to find later. Then, type the following in the command area:

Code:

toggleXray;

Click Accept and then assign a hotkey to it. Click Save, and you're done!

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Danny Ngan
Animator | Amaze Entertainment
my website | my blog | my job

I did that, but it doesn't work. The command line says: Error: Cannot find procedure "toggleXray".

Are you sure the mel script I unzipped has to be in the script folder and not in one of the subfolders where all the other mel scripts are?

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Odd. That should work unless you've renamed the script or changed your environment variables. I always put my mel scripts in my user scripts directory (My Documents\maya\scripts on Windows, /Users/danny/Library/Preferences/AliasWavefront/maya/scripts/ on OSX), never in the main application directories.

Make sure you've either restarted Maya or sourced the new script. Also, make sure the file is not in a subdirectory within the the scripts directory.

An alternate method is to copy and paste the main portion of the script (everything between the curly braces) into the hotkey command area instead of calling the script name. At that point, you don't even need the script installed in the scripts directory.

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Danny Ngan
Animator | Amaze Entertainment
my website | my blog | my job

I copy/pasted the script and now it works fine. thx

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Thanks, all! I'll give the hotkey script a shot next time I sit down for some Maya goodness.

Applying a material to the smoothed poly covered up it's transparency, so I'll just go with that.

Is there any way to lock the verts along the mirrored edge when you're building a character, so you can't screw up and make it unmergable later?