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Trim or untrim a NURBS surface
Trimming
Stitching
Perform boolean operations on surfaces
Boolean
operations are actions that trim surfaces to create the appearance
of a union, intersection, or subtraction between two objects.
To
perform a boolean operation on a surface
- Choose
an action from the
Edit
NURBS > Booleans submenu.
- Union
trims the surfaces so they appear to be merged.
- Difference
trims the surfaces so that the volume of the second surface appears
to be subtracted from the first.
- Intersection
trims the surfaces so that only their shared volume remains.
- Click
the first surface and press . Then
click the second surface.
The order in which you click the surfaces only
matters for the Difference tool. Maya subtracts
the second surface you click from the first.
Maya groups the combined surfaces.
You can make the following adjustments after
creating the Boolean shape:
- To
change the Boolean operation, such as
changing Difference boolean to an Intersection
boolean, select the boolean node in the Channel Box and change
the Operation option.
- You
can select the node of one of the original objects in the outliner or hypergraph.
NoteThe only way to retrieve the original objects
after a Boolean operation is to use Undo.
Troubleshooting boolean operations
If you get a “not a valid NURBS shell” error
it means the boolean tool cannot create meaningful geometry from
the surfaces you clicked.
For example, in the following illustration,
the horizontal cylinder does not enclose a space that can be combined
with the vertical cylinder. If you move the horizontal cylinder
up, the boolean actions will work.