Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Putting the Tools to Use: Making a Simple Hand
Starting with a simple polygonal cube, you'll create a basic human hand.
Either create a new project called Poly_Hand or copy the entire project from the CD
and use that. Follow these steps:
1. Create a polygonal cube. Open the Attribute Editor and, in the polyCube1 tab, set
Subdivisions Width to
4
, Subdivisions Height to
1
, and Subdivisions Depth to
3
. If
you don't have that tab in the Attribute Editor, click Undo, turn on History, and re-
create the cube.
2. Scale the cube to
X
= 1,
Y
= 0.25, and
Z
= 1.3, so that it looks as shown in Figure 4.16.
Figure 4.16
The poly cube in
position to make
the hand
3. Enter Component mode (F8), and turn on the Faces filter ( ) in the Status line.
(For more on selection filters, see Chapter 3, “The Maya 2011 Interface.”) You can also
right-click the object and choose Face from the marking menu, although it may be
easier to use the icons for a little while until you're more accustomed to the interface.
4. Select the front face that is in the corner closest to you by clicking its little blue han-
dle box. You'll extrude the face to make the first part of the index finger. Before you
extrude, though, rotate the face a bit in the
Y
-axis, away from the rest of the hand, to
angle the extrusion toward where the thumb would be.
5. Choose Edit Mesh
➔
Extrude, and use the
Z
-axis translate handle to pull out the face
to a distance of 0.4 in the Local Translate
Z
attribute in the Channel Box. This is
