Model symmetry
Whenever you model an object, take advantage of any symmetry
that the form provides.
one half of the model and then later copy it across the model’s axis of
symmetry. Place the sketch along the symmetrical line, its center line
(YZ plane).
To delete the faces on the left half of the mesh
Snap to Grids lets you move selected components to the closest
grid line or grid intersection point.
Duplicating an existing object is a useful way to make an exact copy of it
without having to start over. When you duplicate an item the copy takes on
the characteristics of the original. Using the Duplicate Tool you can
additionally apply transformations to the copy move, rotate, scale.
Camera tools
In Maya, you view the scene through a set of virtual cameras. These cameras are either orthographic or perspective in nature. You can adjust how these cameras view the scene using the Camera Tools.
The three primary methods for manipulating the camera view are dolly, tumble, and track.
Polygonal Modeling
Polygon surfaces are a network of three-or-more sided flat surfaces called faces that get connected together to create a poly mesh.
Polygon meshes have vertices, faces, and edges.
The wireframe lines on the mesh represent the edges of each face. The regions
bounded by the edges are faces. Where the edges intersect each other is the
location of a point called a vertex.
When a polygon mesh is rendered, its edges can be set to appear hard or
smooth. As a result, polygons can easily represent both flat as well as curved
Using 2D reference images
You can use front, side, and top views from drawings, sketches, or photographs
to help visualize your 3D model in Maya, much like an architect or engineer
creates their designs from the plan and elevation views of a blueprint.
You can import 2D images into your orthographic camera views as image
planes. An image plane is a 2D object (plane) that places an image file in the
scene view. By default, an image plane only appears in the camera to which
the image plane is connected. Image planes are also used to create backgrounds
and environments when rendering.
To smooth and subdivide the cube primitive
With the cube still selected in the scene view, select Mesh > Smooth >
and set the following options in the window that appears:
Click the Smooth button The cube primitive is smoothed and is rounded at its corners. The cube
has also been subdivided into smaller faces.
The polygon faces are still four-sided even though their shape and position have been modified by the smooth operation.
Modeling a polygon mesh in shaded mode gives you a better sense of the 3D volume that the model occupies as well as how any
surface details appear.
You can control the shading of an object separately in each view.
cursor over any transformation tool icon you see the name of the tool appear
next to the mouse cursor. The tool’s name also appears in the Help Line at the bottom of the Maya
window. The Help Line has an additional purpose: it displays summary
instructions as you use tools that require several steps.
The Channel Box
The Channel Box is an editing panel that provides you access to an object’s
transformation information and much more. It provides information on three
distinct areas for any type of object: The transform node, shape node, and
input node. Nodes are where information about object types are kept track of within Maya.
Nodes are comprised of attributes.
Attributes refer to information related to
what the node is designed to accomplish. In this case, information about the
primitive cylinder’s Y axis rotation is referred to as the Rotate Y attribute. You
will learn more about nodes later in this tutorial.
When you moved and rotated the cylinder primitive using the Move Tool,
you were doing this by your own visual judgement. This will usually be
sufficient for many of your creative applications.
If you need to control the attribute of an object with more accuracy you can
do this by entering the precise values into the appropriate attribute field of
the Channel Box.
In the Channel Box, adjust the attribute values so they match the above
image by clicking in the field and entering the correct numerical values.
This accurately positions the base in your Maya scene.
Maya named the cylinder primitive when it was first created. Rename
the cylinder to something more meaningful to your project.
The workspace changes to a four-view layout. The perspective view is located in the top right corner and the other views show the object from the top, front and side. The layout shortcuts have other options that you
will learn later in this tutorial.
It’s now possible to see the base from the side view, but it would be easier
to determine the position of the base if the side view were enlarged to a
full view. To enlarge the side view, position the mouse cursor in the side view, and tap the spacebar of your keyboard.
The workspace changes to a single view layout with the side view in an
enlarged view. You can position your mouse cursor in any scene view and tap the
spacebar once to toggle the view. If the view is a full panel view, it will change
to a four panel view and vice versa.
The Toolbox: Transformation tools
You need to move the base slightly upwards in the Y direction so it is
positioned on the X, Z plane. To do this you use the Move transformation
tool located in the Toolbox.
The upper half of the Toolbox contains the tools for transforming objects
selection, move, rotate, scale within Maya. When you move your mouse
