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Template display

Lesson 4: Components and attributes

The Attribute Editor

 

Learning Resources > Tutorials > Getting Started with Maya > Maya Basics > Lesson 4: Components and attributes > 

Components

All objects in Maya have a transform and a shape node. Geometric shapes, like the primitives in this tutorial, have smaller parts called components. A few examples of components in Maya are control vertices, faces, and hulls. Components allow you to work with objects at a finer level and allow you to edit them in creative ways.

In order to change the shape of the entablature beyond the basic scale transformations, you need to modify its component information.

To select components of the entablature

1. In the side view, dolly in for a closer view of Entablature.
2. Set the Selection Mode to Component mode.
3. Right-click the wireframe of Entablature and select Control Vertex from the pop-up menu.

   

   The menu that pops up is a marking menu for quickly selecting operations relevant to the object where you right-click the mouse. In this case, the choices pertain to the display of the entablature’s components.

   A set of small blue squares appear on Entablature called control vertices. Control Vertices (CVs) describe the shape of an object based on their position in space. If you move any combination of these vertices, you change the shape of the object.

4. Drag a selection box around the top row of vertices so they become selected.
5. Using the Move Tool, move the vertices up vertically as shown below to change the shape of Entablature.

   

6. To cancel the display of the CVs, right-click the wireframe of Entablature once again and select Object Mode from the pop-up menu.

The roof for the temple rests on top of the entablature. The roof for the temple is created using one half of a sphere primitive.

To create a roof for the temple

1. Select Create > NURBS Primitives > Sphere > .
2. In the NURBS Sphere Options window, select Edit > Reset Settings and then set the following options:
   • Start Sweep Angle: 0
   • End Sweep Angle: 180
   • Radius: 8.75
   • Number of Sections: 8
   • Number of Spans: 4

   In the NURBS Sphere Options window, click Create.

3. Rename the half-sphere templeRoof.

The roof needs to be rotated -90 degrees about the X axis and positioned on top of the entablature.

To rotate and position the roof on the entablature

1. In side view, rotate the roof so that the dome part is pointing up.
2. Move the roof so it is positioned close to the top edge of Entablature.
3. Scale the roof along its Z axis (blue manipulator handle) so that the sphere becomes slightly squashed in appearance.

   

Now that the roof is complete, you can untemplate the templated objects.

To untemplate objects

1. On the Status Line, choose the Select by Hierarchy and Combinations button.
2. On the Status Line, choose the Select by hierarchy: template button.

   

   Select by hierarchy: template ensures that only templated objects will be affected by a selection.

3. In the scene view, drag a selection box around all the objects in the scene so that the templated objects are selected simultaneously.
4. From the main menu, select Display > Object Display > Untemplate.
5. On the Status Line, choose the Select by hierarchy: root button.