Chapter 2- Primitive Modeling using MAYA | FREE tutorial , lesson & video training | Beginner

Chapter 2 - Primitive Modeling using MAYA (Beginner tutorials & video lessons)

	Author - Saju Asokan
	Last Updated: June 22 2009

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Key Topics

Introduction to Primitive Modeling

Deleting Object History in Maya

Lattice in Maya

Flaring / Tapering in Maya

Duplicating an object in Maya

Revolve Tool in Maya

Let's scale down the vase and align it with the rest of the scene in this page. We will also discuss pivot points, mesh combining and naming objects in Maya.

Shifting the Pivot point in Maya:

If you select the vessel surface and select the Move Tool, you will notice that you can't find the Move tool's axes anywhere near the vase object. Instead you will find it at the center of the Grid plane in Maya. The reason is that the pivot point of the vase surface has been created by the Revolve tool at the center of the grid plane. We will need to move the pivot point to the base of the vase object, to make transformations easier.

In order to see why we need to move the pivot point to the object's base, try the following in Maya. With the vase selected, click on the Rotate or Scale Tool. (If the axis manipulator for the tool didn't appear, switch to the four-view pane. You can see the manipulator available in any one of the views). Try rotating or scaling the vase. Now you will see that the transformation happens not with respect to the object's center but with respect to the center of the grid plane in Maya.. which is obviously a bad idea.

Before having been able to pull the pivot up, you need to switch to the Pivot mode. Only after switching to pivot mode, you can move the pivot using the Move tool in Maya. Otherwise it will be the object that get's moved. With the vase selected, and the Move Tool active, press the 'Insert' key from the keyboard. This will change the manipulator icon of the Move Tool as shown in the figure. The square dot at the center indicates that now the Pivot mode in Maya is active.

Now move the Pivot up such that it rests at the base of the vase object as shown in the image.

Once you have placed the pivot properly, you need to move out of the Pivot mode, by pressing the 'Insert' key again.

Now you need to scale down the vase a little in Maya so that it's size is proportional to the size of the table. (Note that if the manipulator for the scale tool is not visible in any particular panel, you can switch to the four-view panel to locate the panel in which it is available)

Move the vase slightly to a corner of the table as shown in the figure.

Using 'Mesh Combine' to combine the table parts in Maya

One thing that remains un-assembled in the scene is the table. It's different parts needs to be combined into a single mesh for easy manipulation in Maya. Holding down the shift key, select the table-top and all the four legs of the table as shown in the figure.

Choose the 'Polygons' menu set, so that you have access to polygon related menu items in Maya. With the table parts selected, choose Mesh > Combine from the menu. This will combine the table parts into a single polygonal mesh in Maya.

Let's give names to all the objects in the scene before we wind up this chapter. Select the table's polygonal mesh and in the Channel box, at the top region, change it's name from 'polySurface1' to 'Table' and press Enter. Similarly change the name of the table sheet object to 'Table_Sheet' and that of the vase surface as 'Vase'.

Save the scene as 'chap-02-save-table-vase-scene.mb' if you haven't done that already. You can download the completed scene here for your reference.

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Excellent job dear friend. I really appreciate your patience and admire the hard work you have put in learning so far. We will explore more of Maya in the coming chapters.

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	C05: Primitive Modeling basics
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