Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Your First Objects
We've laid the groundwork for our project. You have your directories set up, and
you're itching to start animating. Well, there's one more thing we need—something to
animate! In this chapter, you're going to learn the basics of modeling in the 3D virtual
space. Any modeling software can be used. The principles will be the same, but the
buttons may be located in slightly different areas. The bonus is, once you know how
to model, it doesn't matter what software you use; the process is the exact same. For
this chapter, we're going to use Maya 2012. Again, this is not a topic on 3D modeling;
however, to truly understand 3D animation, a good foundation in modeling is a must.
This chapter is a high-level overview of the principals and techniques on 3D modeling,
not specific to a single 3D modeling software.
Primitive modeling
Primitive modeling is exactly what it sounds like. We're going to use primitive
shapes (sphere, box, pyramid, torus, and cylinder) to make a more complex object.
Let's start with a cylinder to create the body of our salt shaker. In the following
screenshot, you'll see that we're in the middle of creating our cylinder. You'll also
notice that it looks more like an octagon than a round cylinder. That's what we're
going for. You can create a hexagon, a perfectly round cylinder, and so on,
by changing one parameter.
