Degree is a mathematical property of a curve or of a surface that controls how many CVs per span are available for modeling. The degree is always represented mathematically as a positive whole number. Degree can be thought of as the curve or surface’s degree of freedom to bend. A degree 1 curve connects its edit points with straight lines in a polygonal fashion. A degree 2 curve can have one bend between edit points, and so on.
Maya has the ability to create curves with a degree of 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7. The default degree in Maya is 3, which has four CVs for the first curve span. A curve degree of 3 is sufficient for almost any modeling task. You may want to use degree 5 or 7 curves if you are producing 3D surfaces for subsequent export to a CAD application for industrial design purposes.
Surfaces can have different degrees across their width and length. For example, a surface could be degree 3 along its width, and degree 5 along its length.
The degree of your curves can affect data transfer to other software packages. Some other packages cannot accept curves with degree higher than 3.
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
