Creates a polygon-based
geometric primitive at the origin or, depending on the primitive
options you have set, wherever you click your mouse in the scene
view (Interactive Creation). You
can then move, scale, rotate, and reshape the new object using the
standard tools and polygon menu items.
NoteWhen the Maya workspace
is set to High Quality Rendering mode, primitives created using
the Interactive Creation option do not appear shaded until the primitive
creation steps are complete.
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Sphere >
- Radius
-
Specifies the distance
from the center of the sphere in all directions. (For interactive
creation, appears as a single-click setting only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Cube >
- Width
-
Specifies the width of
the cube. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click setting
only.)
- Height
-
Specifies the height
of the cube. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click
setting only.)
- Depth
-
Specifies the depth of
the cube. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click setting
only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Cylinder >
- Radius
-
Specifies the distance
from the center of the cylinder. (For interactive creation, appears
as a single-click setting only.)
- Height
-
Specifies the height
of the cylinder. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click setting
only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Cone >
- Radius
-
Specifies the distance
from the base of the cone in all directions. (For interactive creation, appears
as a single-click setting only.)
- Height
-
Specifies the height
of the cone. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click
setting only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Plane >
- Width
-
Specifies the distance
along the x axis (by default). (For interactive creation, appears
as a single-click setting only.)
- Height
-
Specifies the measurement
along the y axis (by default). (For interactive creation, appears
as a single-click setting only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Torus >
- Radius
-
Specifies the distance
from the center of the torus in all directions. (For interactive
creation, appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Section Radius
-
Specifies the size of
the sections that make up a torus. Change this value to increase
or decrease the radius of these sections.
- Twist
-
The Twist option value
specifies the twist angle of the torus. Change this value to adjust
the distance around the torus in all directions.
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Prism >
A
prism is a polyhedron with two polygonal faces lying in parallel
planes and with the other faces parallelograms.
When creating a prism,
you can set the following options:
- Length
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the length of the prism (the distance between
the two polygonal faces). (For interactive creation, appears as
a single-click setting only.)
- Side Length
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the side length of the prism’s polygonal caps.
(For interactive creation, appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Number of Sides
-
Enter the number of sides
for the ends of the prism. The above example is a triangular prism (3
sides). The size and volume of the prism increases with the number
of sides if the edge length and length/height are kept constant.
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Pyramid >
A
pyramid is a polyhedron with a polygon base and triangles with a
common vertex for faces. Maya creates 3-, 4-, or 5-sided pyramids
with equilateral triangles.
When creating a pyramid,
you can set the following options:
- Side Length
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the side length of all faces. (For interactive
creation, appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Number of Sides in Base
-
Select the number of
sides for the base of the pyramid (3, 4, or 5).
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Pipe >
The options are very
similar to the options for the cylinder polygonal shape, with the
addition of Thickness (which specifies
the thickness of the wall).
- Radius
-
Specifies the distance
from the center of the pipe in all directions. (For interactive
creation, appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Height
-
Specifies the height
of the pipe. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click
setting only.)
- Thickness
-
Specifies the thickness
of the pipe walls.
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Helix >
A helix is a curve in
three dimensional space that lies on a cylinder, so that its angle
to a plane perpendicular to the axis is constant.
- Coils
-
Specifies the number
of coils.
- Height
-
Specifies the height
of the helix. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click
setting only.)
- Width
-
Specifies the width of
the helix. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click
setting only.)
- Radius
-
Specifies the radius
of the helix coils. (For interactive creation, appears as a single-click setting
only.)
- Direction
-
Specifies the direction
of the helix’s twist: clockwise or counterclockwise.
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Soccer Ball >
The soccer ball is a
truncated icosahedron: thirty-two faces, alternating hexagons and
pentagons.
For this shape, you can
set the following options:
- Radius
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the radius of the soccer ball. (For interactive creation,
appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Side Length
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the side length of the soccer ball. (For interactive creation,
appears as a single-click setting only.)
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Platonic Solids >
You
can create many different types of polygonal platonic solids. Platonic solids
are shapes where all sides are equal, all angles are the same, and
all faces are identical. These are:
- Tetrahedron:
four triangular faces
- Octahedron:
eight triangular faces
- Dodecahedron:
twelve pentagonal faces
- Icosahedron:
twenty triangular faces
(The cube—the
fifth platonic solid—has a separate listing in the primitives.)
You can switch between
these types by selecting Solid Type in
the Attribute Editor or in the
option box for Platonic Solids.
For these four shapes,
you can set the following options:
- Radius
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the radius of the platonic solid. (For interactive creation,
appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Side Length
-
Enter values or use the
slider to specify the side length of the platonic solid. (For interactive creation,
appears as a single-click setting only.)
- Platonic type
-
You can switch between
platonic solid types in the options for these shapes.
For more information,
see:
Common options for all
primitives
For more information,
see:
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Interactive Creation
You can position
and scale primitives as you create them using your mouse, without
having to use transformation tools. This option stays on until you turn
it off. For more information, see
Create polygon primitives.
Create > Polygon
Primitives > Exit on Completion
This option interacts
with Interactive Creation. When Exit
on Completion is turned on, you must select a primitive
type again in order to create another primitive. When this option
is turned off, you can interactively create multiple primitives
of the same type, until you select another tool.
Divisions
The
values you enter in these boxes change the primitive by adding or
taking away faces of the polygonal surfaces.
Almost all primitives
allow you to subdivide along the height axis. The exception is the
helix, which subdivides per coil instead.
Primitives with radial
symmetry allow you to subdivide around the axis. These include spheres,
cylinders, cones, tori, pipes, and helixes.
Primitives with caps
allow you to subdivide the caps. These include cylinder, cones,
pipes and helixes.
The plane allows subdivisions
along the width axis, and the cube allows subdivisions along both
the width and depth.
- Axis divisions
-
This option defines the
number of subdivisions there are around the axis. This option is
called Subdivisions Axis in the Channel
Box and the Attribute Editor.
Increase or decrease
this value to add or take away faces around the axis defined by
the Axis option.
- Height divisions
-
This option defines the
number of subdivisions there are along the axis defined by the Axis option. Height is
equivalent to the Y direction by default. This option is called Subdivisions Height in
the Channel Box and the Attribute Editor.
Increase or decrease this value to add or take away faces in the Axis direction.
- Depth / Width, Depth divisions
-
When Axis is
set to X or Y, depth is equivalent to the Z direction for polygonal
cubes. When Axis is set to Z, depth is
equivalent to the Y direction. This option is called Subdivisions
Depth in the Channel Box and
the Attribute Editor. Increase or
decrease this value to add or take away faces along the depth.
- Cap divisions
-
Caps are the tops, bottoms,
or sides of cones, cylinders, prisms, pyramids, pipes, and helixes. This
option defines the number of subdivisions around the origin of the
primitive caps. This option is called Subdivisions Cap in
the Channel Box and the Attribute
Editor. Increase or decrease this value to add or take
away faces around the caps.
- Round Cap
-
This option allows you
to create a round surface for the cap. Your Subdivisions
Cap value must be one or greater to see the round cap
effect. This option applies to the Cylinder, Cone, Pipe,
and Helix primitives.
Axis
This option does not
appear in Interactive Creation.
TipTo set the axis for
your primitive during interactive creation, you can use the orthogonal
views. Whichever view you create your primitive in—top,
front, or side—is the way your primitive’s axis will be
aligned (y, z, or x).
By default, a primitive
is created along the Y axis. You can change a primitive’s
default orientation before you create it by changing the Axis option.
You
cannot change the orientation for a new primitive from the Channel Box,
but you can enter values in the Axis boxes
in the Attribute Editor.
Create UVs
The following table lists
the common Create UVs attributes for each type of polygon primitive.
Shape |
Normalize |
Preserve Aspect Ratio |
Other Options |
Sphere
|
|
|
Yes
|
Cube
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Cylinder
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Cone
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Plane
|
|
Yes
|
|
Torus
|
|
|
|
Prism
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Pyramid
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Pipe
|
|
|
|
Helix
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Soccer
Ball
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Platonic
Solids
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
For details on Create
UVs attributes, see:
Preparing a primitive for
texture mapping
UV
texture coordinates are assigned for texture mapping by default.
If you do not plan to map textures on a polygonal primitive, you
can turn off the Create UVs option in the options
window.
Important note about UVs
If UVs are not present
on an object, you cannot see mapped textures. This can happen if
you inadvertently create a primitive object with the Create UVs option
turned off.
To correct the problem,
select the faces of the primitive and use any of the mapping items
in the Edit UVs menu.
You can then use the UV
Texture Editor to view the created UVs.
Select the object and use any of the UV creation or editing Create
UVs menu items.
Texture mapping options
for primitives with faces or caps
The options window for primitives
with faces or caps includes a Create UVs menu
where you can select how you want the texture map to cover the primitive
when you assign it. This Create UVs menu
is also available from the Attribute Editor.
Create UVs
(Default.)
This option assigns UV texture coordinates on the primitive for
texture mapping.
The various normalization
settings fit the UVs within the 0 to 1 texture space. Normalize Collectively
and Preserve Aspect Ratio is the default setting.
- Normalization Off
-
No normalization occurs
and the texture remains its true size.
- Normalize Collectively
-
This option maps the
texture over each face of the primitive and normalizes it so that
it covers the entire object.
- Normalize Each
face Separately
-
Only
available for Cubes, Soccer
Balls and Platonic Solids.
If you select this option,
Maya maps the texture to each face separately.
- Normalize Collectively and
Preserve Aspect Ratio
-
(Default.) Normalized
UVs maintain the original ratios of the UVs without stretching the
UVs to fill the 0 to 1 texture space. This option affects the appearance
of the texture map on the primitive.
UV options for primitive
spheres
The
options window for a polygonal sphere primitive includes a Create
UVs menu where you can select an item to specify how
you want the texture map to behave at the poles. This Create
UVs menu is also available from the Attribute
Editor.
- Pinched at poles
-
Creates a UV texture
map where the rings of triangles around the poles are treated as triangles
with a single common vertex (the pole).
- Sawtooth at poles
-
(Default.) Creates a
UV texture map where the rings of triangles around the poles are
treated as individual triangles, giving the edges of the UV map
a sawtooth look. Often, this looks better in the 3D view; however,
it also introduces texture borders, which may not always be desirable.
Adjust primitive after
creation
When Interactive
Creation is turned on for primitives, you can optionally modify
the subdivisions for a primitive using the following options. These options
exist only for primitives that possess subdivision attributes.
- Adjust subdivisions after create
-
Adds additional steps
to the Interactive Creation process
that let you adjust the subdivisions for the primitive when interactively
creating primitives. The number of additional steps is dependent
on the primitive type. The default setting is on when Interactive
Creation is turned on.
- Adjust cap subdivisions after
create
-
Adds additional steps
to the Interactive Creation process
that let you adjust the cap subdivisions on primitives that contain
caps (Cylinder, cone, pyramid, prism, helix, pipe). The default
setting is off. This option can only be used when the Adjust
subdivisions after create option is turned on.