Maya Experts, Your Personal Maya Guide: mt0002 - Creating an arm chair in Maya 2014

In this tutorial, you will create an arm chair using the polygon modeling techniques using Maya 2014, as shown in Figure t2-1.

Figure t2-1 The model of an arm chair

Step -1

Start a new scene in Maya 2014.

Step -2

Choose Create > Polygon Primitives > Cylinder > Option Box from the menubar; the Tool Settings (Polygon Cylinder Tool) window is displayed in the viewport, enter 10, 2 and 1 in the Axis divisions, Height divisions and Cap divisions edit boxes, respectively, as shown in Figure t2-2.

Figure t2-2 The Tool Settings (Polygon

Cylinder Tool) window

Step -3

Click on the viewport; pCylinder1 is displayed in it, as shown in Figure t2-3.

Figure t2-3 The cylinder displayed in the viewport

Step - 4

Choose Shading > Smooth Shade All from the Panel menu or press 5; pCylinder1 is displayed in the shaded mode.

Step - 5

Rename pCylinder1 as base in the Channel Box / Layer Editor.

Step - 6

Hover the cursor on the persp viewport and then press SPACEBAR; the four viewports are displayed. Next, maximize the front viewport.

Step - 7

Select base. Next, choose Scale Tool from the tool box or press R.

Step - 8

Uniformly scale down the base, as shown in Figure t2-4.

Figure t2-4 Base scaled down

Step - 9

Hover the cursor on the front viewport and then press SPACEBAR; the four viewports are displayed. Maximize the persp viewport.

Step - 10

In the persp viewport, press and hold the right mouse button on base; a marking menu is displayed. Next, choose Face from the marking menu.

Step - 11

Now, select the top faces of base using the SHIFT key, as shown in Figure t2-5. Next, choose Edit Mesh > Extrude from the menubar.

Figure t2-5 Top faces of the base selected

Step - 12

Invoke Scale Tool and scale down the selected faces uniformly, as shown in Figure t2-6.

Figure t2-6 The top faces of the base
scaled down uniformly

Step - 13

Press G key to invoke the Extrude command again. Next, invoke the Scale Tool by pressing R key and then scale down the selected faces uniformly, as shown in Figure t2-7.

Figure t2-7 The selected faces of the base
scaled down uniformly

Step - 14

Choose Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop Tool from the menubar. Next, click on top region of the base; an edge is inserted, refer Figure t2-8. Press W to deactivate the Insert Edge Loop Tool.

Figure t2-8 An edge inserted at the
top of the base

Step - 15

Press and hold the right mouse button; a marking menu is displayed. Next, choose Face from the marking menu. Select the faces of base using SHIFT, as shown in Figure t2-9.

Figure t2-9 Faces of the base selected

Step - 16

Next, move the seleced faces upward, as shown in Figure t2-10.

Figure t2-10 Selected faces moved upward

Step - 17

Deselect the outer selected faces using SHIFT and then move upward, as shown in Figure t2-11.

Figure t2-11 Outer faces moved upward

Step - 18

Hover the cursor on the persp viewport. Press SPACEBAR; the four viewports are displayed. Maximize the front viewport.

Step - 19

Press 5 to switch to the shaded mode. Choose Edit Mesh > Extrude from the menubar. Next, invoke Move Tool and then move the extruded faces upward, as shown in Figure t2-12.

Figure t2-12 Extruded faces moved upward

Step -20

Press and hold the right mouse button on base; a marking menu is displayed. Next, choose Object Mode and then select the base.

Step - 21

Make sure base is selected in the front viewport. Choose Mesh > Smooth > Option Box from the menubar; the Smooth Options dialog box is displayed. In this dialog box, make sure the Division levels slider is set to 2. Now, choose the Smooth button; the geometry of base is smoothened, as shown in Figure t2-13.

Figure t2-13 The smooth base displayed

Step - 22

Press and hold the right mouse button on the base; a marking menu is displayed. Next, choose vertex from the marking menu and then select the vertices, as shown in Figure t2-14.

Figure t2-14 Vertices selected

Step - 23

Next, invoke the Scale Tool by pressing R key and scale the selected faces uniformly, as shown in Figure t2-15.

Figure t2-15 Selected vertices scaled uniformly

Step - 24

Now, scale the selected vertices downward, as shown in Figure t2-16. Switch to the object mode.

Figure t2-16 Selected vertices scaled downward

Step - 25

Hover the cursor on the front viewport. Press SPACEBAR; the four viewports are displayed. Maximize the persp viewport. Next, choose Create > Polygon Primitives > Cube > Option Box from the menubar; the Tool Settings (Polygon Cube Tool) window is displayed in the viewport, enter 5, 2 and 3 in the Width divisions, Height divisions and Depth divisions edit boxes, respectively, as shown in Figure t2-17. Next, enter 1,0.5 and 0.5 in the Width, Height and Depth edit boxes, respectively, refer to Figure t2-17.

Figure t2-17 The Tool Settings (Polygon

Cylinder Tool) window

Step - 26

Click on the persp viewport; pCube1 is displayed in the viewport, as shown in Figure t2-18.

Figure t2-18 The cube displayed in the viewport

Step - 27

Rename pCube1 as seat in the Channel Box / Layer Editor.

Step - 28

Maximize the front viewport. Scale the seat along the X and Y axis, as shown in Figure t2-19.

Figure t2-19 The scaled seat

Step - 29

Press and hold the right mouse button on it; a marking menu is displayed. Choose vertex from the marking menu. Now, select the vertices, as shown in Figure t2-20.

Figure t2-20 Vertices to be selected

Step - 30

Choose the Move Tool. Now, adjust the selected vertices, as shown in Figure t2-21.

Figure t2-21 Selected vertices adjusted

Step - 31

Similarly, adjust other vertices to create the basic shape of seat, as shown in Figure t2-22

Figure t2-22 Other vertices adjusted

Step - 32

Maximize the top viewport and then select the vertices as shown in Figure t2-23a. Choose Scale Tool and then scale the selected vertices along the Z-axis, as shown in Figure t2-23b.

Figure t2-23a The vertices to be selected

Figure t2-23b The selected vertices scaled

Step - 33

Similarly, scale other vertices, as shown in Figure t2-24.

Figure t2-24 Other selected vertices scaled down

Step - 34

Select the vertices, as shown in Figure t2-25a. Next, scale the selected vertices along the X-axis, as shown in Figure t2-25b.

Figure t2-25a Vertices to be selected

Figure t2-25b New selected vertices scaled left

Step - 35

Maximize front viewport. Choose the Move Tool. Now, select the vertices, as shown in Figure t2-26a and then adjust the selected vertices, as shown in Figure t2-26b.

Figure t2-26a Vertices to be selected

Figure t2-26b Selected vertices adjusted

Step - 36

Press and hold the right mouse button on it; a marking menu is displayed. Next, choose Object Mode from the marking menu and then select seat.

Step - 37

Choose Mesh > Smooth from the menubar; the mesh of seat is smoothened.

Figure t2-27 shows the seat after smoothing.

Figure t2-27 The smooth seat displayed

Step - 38

Next, press CTRL + D; a duplicate copy of the seat is created with the name seat1 in the viewport.

Step - 39

Choose Rotate Tool from the Tool Box or press E. Now, enter 90 in the Rotate X edit box in the Channel Box/Layer Editor; seat1 is rotated 90 degrees about the X-axis.

Step - 40

Next, choose the Move Tool and then align seat1 in all viewports, as shown in Figure t2-28.

Figure t2-28 Copied object aligned in all viewports

Step - 41
Maximize the persp viewport. Press and hold the SHIFT key and select seat. Next, press CTRL + D; a duplicate copy of the selected objects are created in the viewport, as shown in Figure t2-29.

Figure t2-29 Duplicate copy created

Step - 42
Next, invoke the Scale Tool by pressing R key and scale down uniformly, as shown in Figure t2-30.

Figure t2-30 Copied object scaled down uniformly

Step - 43
Invoke Move Tool by pressing W key. Next, maximise the front viewport. Press and hold the SHIFT key and select seat and seat1. Now, align the selected parts, as shown in figure t2-31.