Help - Options Window

[AFK_Matrix]

Hi,

 

Sorry for another thread but I have now downloaded the Maya Software and am going through the tutorials.

 

Now it is telling me to go to Create > Polygon Primitives > Cylinder and then it says an options window should pop up so that I can enter the parameters for my cylinder. But when I do this no window is coming up so i can't change the parameters, where is it?

[Trevor Tizard]

There is a little box to the right of the word cylinder in the drop down. If you use this it will let you input parameters.

[AFK_Matrix]

Thanks Trevor, knew it would be something simple.

[shaneis]

I assume, Kelly, that you're doing the starter tutorials that come with Maya? They are OK but they tend to go about basic functions in a long-winded manner. As an example, if you use the options window to create a primitive cylinder and make changes to the various parameters, those changes will stay as you set them. So, the next cylinder you create will have those same parameters unless you open the options window again and reset those options.

 

A better way to go about creating any primitives is...

 

a. Firstly, open the Create > Polygon Primitives > Cylinder > Options window and reset it. You won't have to use this window again...ever.

b. Now just create your cylinder by clicking the "Polygons" shelf and clicking the Cylinder button.

c. In the viewport, create your primitive.

d. While it is selected, go to the right of your screen and click on the name "polyCylinder1" - it's under the "INPUTS" section.

e. Enter the parameters here.

 

NB: There is another function available in the Channels boxes. Rather than using the keyboard to enter values, you can "scrub" with the mouse to adjust some of those values...

 

a. Create another cylinder.

b. In the channels section, select polyCylinder2, just the same as before.

c. Now, rather than selecting the numeric boxes, select the text (for example, in the attached screen grab, the "height" value is "5". Rather than clicking on "5" and entering a number, click on the word "Height".

d. Now, move your mouse into the viewport and click and hold your middle-mouse button (MMB).

e. Move the mouse to the left and right and the height value will change.

 

Once you are satisfied with the primitive you created, you can delete it's construction history. Deleting history is something that you will do a lot when modelling. So, lets set up a button in the "Custom" shelf for that...

 

a. Select the "Custom" shelf.

b. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys on your keyboard.

c. With your mouse, select Edit > Delete By Type > History and then release the CTRL and SHIFT keys.

d. A new button will appear on the Custom shelf.

e. Now, whenever you want to delete the history from an object, you just need to select the object and click this button.

f. If you want to remove a button from a shelf, MMB click and drag the button to the garbage bin icon, top right of the screen and release the MMB.

 

NB: If you ever mess up the shelves, want the default shelves back or want to back-up your custom shelves, go to C:/Documents_and_Settings/computerName/My_Docs/maya/8.5/prefs. To back up, copy the shelves folder. To reset to defaults, delete the shelves folder and restart Maya. It will rebuild the shelves folder for you.

 

It is a good idea to add the frequently used menu items to your shelves. Once you've had a bit of practice, you will soon see how to set up your shelves to suit your own workflow.

 

Have fun,

 

S.

[AFK_Matrix]

Hi Shane,

 

Wow thanks for the tips, there much appreciated. Well I am slowly getting there lol, finding the rotating and panning around on the perspective window a bit hard to get used to as keep forgetting to press the alt key:mad: But getting better at it lol.

 

Well I have been doing the tutorials that come with Maya and have hit a wall in trying to do a step in the Helmet tutorial. I have attached the Maya file so you can see my issue. Basically I am trying to bridge the gap between the front and back of the helmet. So I select all the border edges and hit the bridge key and it totally mucks it up?? Any help much appreciated!!

[shaneis]

Hi Shane,

 

Wow thanks for the tips, there much appreciated. Well I am slowly getting there lol, finding the rotating and panning around on the perspective window a bit hard to get used to as keep forgetting to press the alt key:mad: But getting better at it lol.

 

It's one of the big hurdles when moving to a new 3D app, viewport navigation. Haha, it feels like you're driving in reverse, upside down and on the wrong side of the road. I remember ZBrush's 2.5D viewport almost melted my brain. Give it a week or so and you'll be moving around the viewports without having to think about it and you'll be cursing the Windows key (annoyingly close to the Alt key). I've seen a couple of keyboards used by Maya people where they've removed the Windows key completely! Quick-tip: if ever the camera's rotation get's hard to handle, select the object you're modeling/ working on and press the "f" key on your keyboard. That will center the object in the window and also make it the camera's center of interest. Shift+f will apply it to all cameras (if you're in the 4 panels view (top, side, front, persp).

 

Well I have been doing the tutorials that come with Maya and have hit a wall in trying to do a step in the Helmet tutorial. I have attached the Maya file so you can see my issue. Basically I am trying to bridge the gap between the front and back of the helmet. So I select all the border edges and hit the bridge key and it totally mucks it up?? Any help much appreciated!!

 

Maybe you're selecting too many edges? In that tutorial you select the five (5) edges on each side and then make a zero-division bridge. have you "combined" the front and back parts of the mesh? Also, check that the normals are all OK. Select the mesh, then

 

Display > Polygons > Face Normals

 

If they're OK, then maybe you've got some strange geometry there. I'm not sure what you've done. I couldn't check your file - I unzipped it and found it as a *.mp file??? I had a look at the file in a text-editor, I don't know what 's happened to it but it's a broken file. Try saving the file out and posting it here again, it should be a *.mb file. Alternatively, you could export the mesh as an OBJ...

 

1. Window > Settings and Preferences > Plug-In manager

2. In the window that opens, scroll down to "objExport.mll" and check "Loaded" and "Auto load" then close that window.

3. Select the helmet mesh

4. Delete the history on the mesh

5. File > Export Selection

6. Give it a name, make sure it says (at bottom of export dialogue window) OBJexport.

7. Make note of where it's exporting to - should be in the Data sub-folder of your current project folder. Click Export, done.

Edited October 27, 2008 by shaneis

[AFK_Matrix]

Hi Shane,

 

Thanks for posting, I actually solved the problem by redoing the front part of the Helmet again and it worked fine, very weird. So I am now onto NURBS wooo!!!