Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
NURBS is a type of surface in Maya that lets you adjust its detail level at any time to become
more or less defined as needed. The display detail keys (1, 2, 3) adjust the level of NURBS
detail shown in the panels only.
Figure 3.12
NURBS display
smoothness
When you have a polygonal object
selected, you may also press 1, 2, or 3
for levels of detail on the smoothness
of the polygonal mesh. In this case,
the level of detail is a preview of what
the polygon object will look like after
you apply a smoothing function on it.
It isn't a display of the level of detail of
the current object, but again just a pre-
view of what it would look like when
you smooth it. Polygonal modeling
and smoothing objects are covered in
Chapter 4.
Wireframe and Shaded Modes
When you're working in the windows,
you can view your 3D objects as either
wireframe models (as in Figure 3.12)
or as solid, hardware-rendered models
called
Shaded mode
(see Figure 3.13).
Wireframe mode is the fastest because
it makes fewer processing demands on
your computer. However, Shaded mode
can be pretty quick too, depending on
your graphics card and your system
processor.
Within Shaded mode, you can select
varying degrees of shading detail. You
can cycle through the levels of detail by
pressing 4, 5, 6, and 7. Wireframe mode
is 4, Shaded mode is 5, Texture Shaded mode is 6, and Lighted mode is 7.
Pressing 4 or 5 toggles between Wireframe and Shaded mode in any of the Modeling
windows. Texture Shaded mode (6) displays the image textures that have been applied to
the object as long as Hardware Texturing is already enabled. (In the view panel, choose
Shading
➔
Hardware Texturing, and make sure it's checked on.) Lighted mode (7) is a
