You
can sculpt subdivision surfaces using the Sculpt Geometry Tool.
One advantage of sculpting
with subdivision surface models is that it is possible to add finer
levels of detail to regions of the mesh that require it by refining
those areas of the model. The increased level of detail provides
the Sculpt Geometry Tool with more
information to sculpt finer detail on the model.
To sculpt a subdivision surface
model using the Sculpt Geometry Tool
- Select the subdivision surface or the
vertices on the subdivision surface in the region you want to sculpt.
- From the Surfaces menu
set, select
Subdiv Surfaces > Sculpt Geometry Tool > .
The Sculpt
Geometry Tool Settings editor appears and the Maya cursor changes
to a brush icon to indicate it is in sculpting mode. You use the options
located under Sculpt Parameters to control
how your brushing actions on the surface either push, pull, or smooth
the vertices on the subdivision surface mesh.
- In the Sculpt Parameters section,
under Operation, click Push or Pull.
- Do any of the following:
- Brush across the surface to push or pull
vertices.
- Press b and drag left or right while
pressing the left mouse button to change the brush radius.
- Press m and drag left or right while
pressing the left mouse button to change the maximum displacement
setting for the Sculpt Geometry Tool.
- If Push is selected,
depressing changes
the current operation to Pull.
- If Pull is selected,
depressing changes
the current operation to Push.
- In both cases, depressing changes
the current operation to Smooth.
- If you need to add additional detail
to the surface when you sculpt the surface see
To refine a subdivision surface
while sculpting below.
To
refine a subdivision surface while sculpting
- If vertices are selected on the subdivision
surface when working in the Sculpt Geometry Tool you
can do one of the following:
The above two methods
add vertices to the subdivision surface in the localized area where
the vertices were selected.
- If vertices are not currently
selected on the subdivision surface you must do the following to
refine the subdivision surface:
- Press the right mouse button and select
vertex from the marking menu that appears to display vertices for
the subdivision surface.
- Choose the Select Tool from
the Toolbox. (Hotkey: q)
- Select the desired vertices on the subdivision
surface.
- Select
Subdiv Surfaces > Refine Selected Components from
within the Surfaces menu set or right-click
the subdivision surface to display the context sensitive marking
menu and choose Refine Selected from the menu.
- Return to sculpting mode again by selecting
the Sculpt Geometry Tool icon in
the Toolbox. (Hotkey: y)
Subdivision surface sculpting
tips
The following tips will help
your subdivision surface sculpting work:
- When sculpting a subdivision surface
either the surface or vertices must be selected prior to opening
the Sculpt Geometry Tool. Otherwise
the Sculpt Geometry Tool does not
work.
- It is important to keep track of which
display/selection mode you are currently working. For example, if
the paintbrush cursor does not display on the surface when you want
to sculpt it means that:
- the subdivision surface is not selected
when sculpting in object mode or that vertex components are not
selected when sculpting in component mode
- the current subdivision surface level
you're working at does not contain vertices that can be sculpted.
To sculpt finer details at that level you will need to refine the
surface. Refining the surface subdivides it into smaller regions
that can be sculpted to add finer detail
- Refining a subdivision surface adds vertices
in the selected regions of the surface and also changes the current
subdivision level to one level finer as part of the Refine operation.
- You can sculpt at finer and coarser levels
of the surface by selecting either Display Finer or Display
Coarser from the marking menu.
- You can easily keep track of what subdivision
surface level you're working at by selecting
Display > Heads Up Display > Subdiv
Details. This alphanumeric display provides information
about the currently selected subdivision surface in the upper left
corner of the scene view.
NoteWhen you sculpt at
different subdivision levels on a subdivision surface the sculpt
brush cursor may appear and disappear on the surface mesh while sculpting
at a particular subdivision level. When the sculpt brush cursor
disappears it indicates there are no details in that particular
region of the mesh to sculpt.