Maya hepl!

[playmesumch00ns]

What exactly are you trying to snap? I'm pretty sure you can snap an object to the grid. Else why not just enter 0 0 0 in the translate channels?

[-wT-]

1. How to start a character is propably something you will learn in time, like i.e. I've tried numerous times to start a real character from a box, but I've never gotten too far from it, but just recently I started from a single polygon which I split and mirrored, so basicully I started from a single polygon and worked out from there... and now I have a head and upper-body of my first real highpoly character somewhat ready :)
So, if people tell you to "box-model", it may not be the best way just for you, you have to learn the way you like to model. Just practice 'till you see what suits you

2. I had this very same problem just recently, and is very easy to fix, just double click the movetool's icon, and select "World" from there, somehow snapping only works when translating in word coordinates.

[killer]

in the simply maya tutorials section, there is a video that explains how to set up a basic character using a poly cube. The guy is very detail, also it helps.

good luck to ya.

the url for simply maya is

http://www.simplymaya.co,uk

you have to sign up for the vip, it doenst cost anything, unless if you want to get full access for thier videos, though I wouldnt reccommand getting ther full videos is because you can find tutorials that replace that.

full videos meaning, other parts that they didnt include in the vip secion (which is not to many).

however, that "Simple man-1" vid is a 3 parter (no dought the next 2 parts explain about detail, so simple).

anyways im done talking, good luck to ya.

[koinu]

Scorpio, Hey I usually begin modeling a half poly cube and grid snapping it to the origin. I build half a character then mirro the geometry over. The mirrored geometry will connect itself to the original. It all bdepends on the type of character you want, game model or movieish model. Try NURBS to start off with for the head then you can pull hulls around for the neck. Body is simple adjusting a sphere to what you are looking for!!! Don't attempt to patch model if you are new at Maya. If you can learn AWESOME......

[kamsvag]

Here's a page with some good tutorials. You might wanna look at them.
http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/tutorialsalias.asp

Cheers! :D

[Nemises]

dont forget, most people consider Character modelling and animating to be THE most difficult thing to do in the 3d realm (I'm no pro, but from my limited experience, I'd tottaly agree....).

Unfortunately like all other NewB's I tried to start out with Character modelling/animating first up, and it nearly scared me off! (Too hard!!) .... after that though, I spent a fair while modelling other things (buildings props etc..) and doing cool stuff with particles and dynamics and SFX (much more fun!) ....
Now I'm tackling Charactor's again, but its not so scarey after all! (still hard though :/ )

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.