Project 01 In Project One, you are going to learn the basics of object creation, along with the fundamentals of animation, shaders, and textures. This will give you the chance to explore the Maya workspace while building your scene. You will start by creating a room similar to the throne room from the Delgo movie. You will then fill it with simple models in order to learn how to create, move, and modify objects. Then, you will explore the rudiments of hierarchies and animation by creating a simple door.
Lesson 01 Primitives This lesson teaches you how to build and transform primitives in 3D space in order to create a rudimentary environment, in which you will set-up some animation shown in this book. You will explore the Maya user interface (UI) as you learn how to build and develop your scene.
Setting up Maya software The first step is to install the Autodesk® Maya® software. Once that is done, you should copy the Learning Maya support files to your Maya projects directory. The support files are found in the support_files directory on the DVD-ROM included with this book. In order to find your projects directory, you need to launch Maya software at least once so that it creates your user directory structure.
• Go to the File menu and select Project → Edit Current... Make sure that the project directories are set-up as shown below. This ensures that Maya software is looking into the proper sub-directories when it opens up scene files. L01_001_project.tif Lesson 01 | Primitives 47 Edit Project window • Click the Accept button when done. 3 Make a new scene • Select File → New Scene. This will create a new scene in the current directory when you save it.
2 Change menu sets There are five main menu sets in Maya software: Animation, Polygons, Surfaces, Dynamics, and Rendering. These menu sets are used to access related tool sets. • From the drop-down menu at the left edge of the Status Line (Toolbar), select Polygons. Project 01 As you change menu sets, the first six menu items and the Help menu item along the top of the viewport remain the same while the remaining menu items change to reflect the chosen menu set. L01_002_menusets.
4 Change the plane’s dimensions The plane is a procedural model. This means that it is broken down into parts called nodes. One node contains its positioning information, one contains its shape information, and another contains input information that defines the plane’s construction history using attributes such as width, height, and subdivisions. You can edit this Input node’s attributes in the Channel Box in order to edit the plane’s basic shape.
6 Create the sky You will now create another object to be used as a large sky dome. • Disable the interactive creation mode of models by selecting Create → NURBS Primitives → Interactive Creation. • Select Create → NURBS Primitives → Sphere 7 Modify the sphere • With the pSphere1 still selected, set the Scale X, Y, and Z in the Channel Box to 50. The sphere should now be as big as the ground plane.
Viewing the scene When you work in 3D space, it is important to see your work from different angles. The different view panels let you see your work from the front, top, side, and perspective views. You can also use the view tools to change the views in order to reposition how you see your scene. In some cases, a view change is like panning a camera around a room, while in other cases a view change might be like rotating an object around in your hand to see all the sides.
2 Four view panels By default, a single Perspective window is shown in the workspace. To see other views of the scene, you can change your panel layout. • At the top of the Perspective view panel, go to the Panels menu and select Saved Layouts → Four View. You can now see the environment using three Orthographic views—top, side, and front— that show you the models from a projected view. You can also see them in a Perspective view that is more like the everyday 3D world.
3 Edit the view in the side view Orthographic views use similar hotkeys, except that you cannot tumble by default in an Orthographic view. • In the side view, change your view using the following key combinations: Alt + MMB to track; Alt + LMB + MMB or Alt + RMB to dolly. • Keep working with the Orthographic views until they are set-up as shown: Lesson 01 | Primitives L01_009_newview.
Setting display options The view panels let you interactively view your scene. By default, this means viewing your scene as a wireframe model. To better evaluate the form of your objects, you can activate hardware shading. 1 Turn on hardware shading To help visualize your objects, you can use hardware shading to display a shaded view within any panel. • From the Perspective view’s Shading menu, select Smooth Shade All. Project 01 This setting affects all of the objects within the current view panel.
L01_011_inside.tif 1 Change the sky’s display To simplify your scene interaction, there is a way of seeing inside the sky dome even when the camera is outside of it. To do so, you will have to change the way the geometry is displayed. The following actions are somewhat more advanced than what you will undertake in this project, but they will allow you to see inside the environment more easily. • Select the skydome.
Create the room Now that you have established a proper sky dome and ground plane, you will create the actual throne room. In this example, you will build the room from primitives. 1 Create a polygonal cylinder Here, you will use the hotbox as an alternative method for accessing tools. Project 01 • Press and hold the spacebar anywhere over the interface to display the hotbox. 56 L01_013_hotbox.tif Hotbox access to menu items • In the hotbox, select Create → Polygon Primitives → Cylinder → o.
3 Scale the floor You can now use the Scale Tool to resize the floor in the scene. • Select the Scale Tool in the toolbox on the left of the interface, or press r. Lesson 01 | Primitives L01_014_manip.tif Toolbox Tip: Manipulator handle The transform manipulator has three handles that let you constrain your motion along the X, Y, and Z-axes. These are labeled using red for the X-axis, green for the Y-axis, and blue for the Z-axis. The Y-axis points up by default, which means that Maya is “Y-up.
L01_015_floor.tif The floor geometry Project 01 Tip: 58 Each cube at the end of the scale manipulator represents a different axis except for the central one which controls all three axes at the same time. You can also hold down Ctrl and click+drag on an axis to proportionally scale the two other axes. 4 Create the wall You will now use a NURBS cylinder to elevate the wall of the throne room. • Select Create → NURBS Primitives → Cylinder. • Rename the cylinder to wall.
5 Adjust NURBS smoothness The display of NURBS surfaces in a viewport can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing its smoothness. • Select the wall. • From the main Display menu, select NURBS. • Select any of the menu items between Hull, Rough, Medium, Fine, or Custom NURBS Smoothness. These settings will affect how selected NURBS objects are displayed in all view panels.
L01_017_column.tif Project 01 The column geometry 60 7 Repositioning the column When moving an object in an Orthographic view, the move manipulator is limited to work in two axes. You can move an object in these two axes at once by dragging on the center of the manipulator or constraining the motion along a single axis using the handles. • In the top view, click+drag on the square center of the move manipulator to move the column along both the X and Y-axes.
Background L01_018_background.tif The column placed in the background 8 Change the shape of the column At this time, the column is very round and could use some details. Now that you are familiar with transforming an object, you will learn how to modify the shape of an object. Lesson 01 | Primitives Foreground View axis • With the column selected, press the f hotkey to frame it in the view. • In the Status Line located at the top of the interface, click the Component Mode button.
• Select the Scale Tool, then hold down the Ctrl key, and click+drag on the Y-axis. Doing so will equally scale the vertices about the X and Z-axes. • Let go of the Ctrl key, then click+drag on the Y-axis to make the central geometry as follows: Project 01 L01_019_shape.tif Shaped column 62 • Click on the Object Mode button in the Status Line to exit the Component mode. L01_020_object.
L01_021_columns.tif Tip: If any pieces of geometry get in the way when you select and modify objects, you can temporarily hide them. To do so, select the geometry to hide, then select Display → Hide → Hide Selection. To show the last hidden objects, select Display → Show → Show Last Hidden. To show all hidden objects, select Display → Show → All. 10 Move the columns In order to make it easier to select or move all the columns at once, you will now group them.
11 Save your work • From the File menu, select Save Scene As... Project 01 • Enter the name 01-room_01.ma. L01_031_save.tif 64 Windows Save As dialog box • Click the Save button or press the Enter key. More details Now that you know how to place objects and interact with the Perspective view, you will add more details to the inner room by making a cathedral ceiling and adding decorative drapes coming down from it. 1 Create a roof The last thing missing to complete the room is a roof.
2 Delete a polygonal face If you move the Perspective camera inside the throne room, you will notice that the polygonal cone used to create the roof has a cap polygon covering its base. It would be nice to remove this face in order to get a cathedral ceiling. • Select the roof. • RMB on the roof to pop up its contextual radial menu, and select Face. Lesson 01 | Primitives L01_022_menu.tif Polygon context menu • Move the Perspective view to look at the ceiling from inside the room.
L01_023_ceiling.tif Project 01 The cathedral ceiling 3 Create a decorative drape Now that you are getting familiar with the Component mode, you will use this knowledge to create a decorative drape. • Select Create → NURBS Primitives → Plane. • Rename the plane to drape. • In the Channel Box, highlight the makeNurbPlane1 node and set Patches V to 4. 66 • Set the following for the drape object: Rotate X to 90; Scale X to 2; Scale Z to 20.
• From the side view, click+drag to select groups of CVs and tweak the shape of the drape as follows: Lesson 01 | Primitives L01_025_drape.tif The shape of the drape Tip: You might want to go into wireframe mode (hotkey 4), in order to select components more easily. • From the Perspective view, RMB on the drape and select Hull. Hulls define a continuous line of CVs. By selecting a hull, you can tweak the shape of several CVs at the same time.
Project 01 L01_026_dangling.tif 68 The final drape shape 6 Duplicate the drape The Duplicate Tool has options that allow you to duplicate multiple copies of the same object, separated by a fixed translation or rotation value. For example, if you make one drape, you can make many other copies separated by 45 degrees, all in one easy step. • With the drape selected, select Edit → Duplicate Special → o. • Set the Number of Copies to 7.
The duplicated drapes • Select Edit → Undo or press z to undo the action and try again if the drape was not duplicated as expected. • From the top view, make sure all the columns are properly placed behind each drape. 7 Save your work • From the File menu, select Save Scene As... • Enter the name 01-room_02.ma and click the Save button. Make sure you save this file since you will be continuing with it in the next lesson.
