Introduction
In this lesson, we were introduced to 3D modelling objects using NURBs tools in Maya.
NURBs
NURBs stands for Non Uniform Rational B-Spline.
Instead of edges, vertices and faces NURBs are made up of Surface Patches, Isoparms and Control Vertices.
NURBs are created by drawing a shape using splines – lines that follow the outline of the shape – then using a set of tools to turn the 1 dimensional splines into the final 3D shape.
Revolve
Below are some renders of a wine glass I created using a spline and the revolve function.
I started by creating a spline in the shape of a wine glass. I saved an orthographic image and used the EP curve tool to draw around the outline of half of the glass, starting from the inside.
I then went to the surfaces menu and hit revolve, which gave me this:
Loft
The loft function is used in Maya to create 3d shapes between multiple splines.
Here is a simple shape I created using the loft tool.
I started by creating a spline in Front view, then duplicating and positioning it in Perspective view, before selecting both splines and going to the Surface menu and clicking the Loft function. From there, I converted my NURBs model into a polygon based model by going to the Modify menu at the top of the screen, then to the Convert option, and selecting the check box next to NURBs to Polygons. This brought up a menu where I changed the polygon type from Triangles to Quads, and the Tessellation method from General to Count. Then clicking apply gave me a shape that was made up of quadrilateral polygons. I then deleted my NURBs shape. Now, I went to the Display menu at the top of the screen and selected the Reverse option. This made the shape show a grey surface rather than the black surface it showed before.