Easiest way to make this? Maya 7

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Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Phil LeBeau on May 22, 2011 at 6:42:42 pm

I have Maya 7 and I am trying to make this logo in 3d. The PETRA would be separate letters and the cross or sword would be another element with the word classic embossed. I am trying to use a boolean for the word classic. Which I cant get to work, plus when I try and texture the cross, it looks ok on some sides but other sides it is smeared.

Wish I could just pay someone to make this but funds are limited

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Ben van Hamelen on May 22, 2011 at 7:58:15 pm

Alright, I suppose you're beginner-intermediate, so I'll write it down in steps:

1. I think the text and sword shouldn't be too difficult to create by just extruding a box over and over again in the desired shape.
2. If a difference boolean operation doesn't work to get the text into the sword (which happens), look into displacement/bump maps as a workaround (see #4). OR you could just let the text stand out, instead of having it move into the sword. So instead of cutting it out, just lay it on top. Makes your life easier.
3. The word is slightly bent, so once you got all the letters, group it and use a bend- or lattice-deformer to give it that subtle curve.
4. The stretching of the texture is caused by the fact that you haven't UV-mapped your model (this also affects any bump/displacement maps). Check youtube for some tutorials on UV-mapping. Shouldn't be too complicated, since the model is pretty simple.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you got any questions.

Regards,

Ben van H.

http://www.fireinthesole.com/

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Phil LeBeau on May 23, 2011 at 2:35:55 am

Thanks for the tips! I really appreciate it. I will work on this tonight.

Making the sword. Is it better to use poly or nurbs cube to start with.

the way i did this one was that I used a curve and traced it out. then I used the extrude and extruded the curve with faces. I did this because... I'm clueless :-)

Thanks again for your time!

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Phil LeBeau on May 23, 2011 at 4:07:47 am

Having trouble texturing simple box - Aggravating, I didnt think I was that dumb. Im just too impatient to read the manual i guess.

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Ben van Hamelen on May 23, 2011 at 9:53:34 am

I wouldn't use NURBS for the sword. It should be do-able with just polygon modeling. You could go for subdivision-modeling, but for now I'd stick with polygon modeling. Just make the top-surface first and then start extruding it down- and outwards. Add the tip of the blade by moving some vertices to the front and you should have a basic blade.

Regarding the texturing: that's also caused by improper UV-mapping. A cube has 6 faces and your UV-map editor only shows 4. The right face on the cube you showed is not flattened out yet. So if you project your texture straight onto the cube, that left side will look stretched out. So flatten those last bits out and you should have no more stretching.

For a more complete course on Maya basics, check out Digital Tutors' Introduction to Maya 2011 course. Answers all your questions and should enable you to do this and much more complicated things with greater ease. Covers everything you need to know.

http://www.fireinthesole.com/

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Phil LeBeau on May 23, 2011 at 1:08:15 pm

Thanks again - I will check it out

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Re: Easiest way to make this? Maya 7
by Matt Nielsen on Jul 1, 2011 at 5:39:24 am

I have to be honest here. I think it would be a great deal easier using NURBS then converting to poly. It will allow you to get the exact shape you require without having to use Booleans.

Basically you would do the outlines using curves and then place Maya text in the scene.

Use the Surface Loft and Planar tools to create the 3d shape then convert it to polys making sure that you are outputting to quads and you have a high enough resolution.

Once you have created the geometry and you have combined all the pieces together and merged the vertices, use either the UV Cut and Sew method to UV Map or select faces and project along the corresponding axes from the Polygon menu set.

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