Low Polygon Modeling

Introduction to Polygons

Access PDF on theory of Maya polygons Y:\Courses\2017-2018\AC7001_VitaAU17\Resources\Polygons\PolyTheoryMaya.pdf

1. Polygon Anatomy:
Manipulatable (translate, rotate, scale) in 3d: Vertices, Edges, Faces.
Manipulatable in 2d: UVs.
Unmovable, but good for diagnostics: Face Normals, Vertex Normals. Accessible via Display/Polygons

Tri vs quad vs n-sided face. Planar, Nonplanar,Concave and Convex polys.

2.Tri and Quad excercise.
Tools: Mesh/Create Polygon, Mesh/Combine (Shell vs Object), Edit Mesh/Merge Vertices.

3.Stairs.mb excercise.

In Maya open file Y:\Courses\2017-2018\AC7001_VitaAU17\Resources\Polygons\01polygonbasics_stairs

Tools: Reverse Normals, Conform Normals, Delete Vertex, Merge Vertices.

6. Non-manifold - impossible to unfold flat. (t-shaped, bow-tie, reversed). Fix manually.

More Polygon Tools:

- Append Polygon
- Extrude (this operation can lead to the mistake below, if extrusion is made twice, without offsetting face in the first operation)

To diagnose go Windows/Settings/Preferences/Preferences/Selection/Select Faces with Center
To remedy: use Mesh/Cleanup/Delete Faces with Zero Geometry Area Interactive

- Multicut Tool(in older versions Split Polygon Tool)Combine/Separate
- Merge Vertices
- Merge Edges
- Snap to Grid, Point or Curve

Preparation and Diagnostics

-Display/Heads Up Display/Polycount
- Display/Polygons/Face Normals
- Backface Culling
- Display Edit mesh/Keep Faces Together

Resources:

Hammer.pdf tutorial Y:\Courses\2015-2016\AC7001_Berezina-Blackburn_AU_2015\Resources\Polygons

Virtual Modeling Channel: Modeling Fundamentals

Modeling cartoon pig
Modeling a giraffe