A subdivision question...

[iC4]

you could convert your model in an early stage into a subdiv object, and then use the cage to model while hiding the smoothed model

or you can use polysmooth (polygons/smooth), this will always work (thats what lightwave does, only smoothing the model or?)

maya don't have radiosity, but there are some plugins/scripts to fake that. check www.highend3d.com for such scripts. or use mentalray for maya4.5

i would suggest to export the model as .obj in lightwave

but you have to load the obj plugin in maya before you can import it as obj (plugin manager)

[RichSuchy]

when you try to subdivide it you will get an error message in the MEL script window... open it up and follow the instructions there.

I would have told you the answer specifically but... "teach a man to fish"...


Rich

Originally posted by Elliotjnewman
Hi everyone, I have been a Lightwave user for a few years now and I use this programs subpatch tool to model with, basically what you do is model low res with polys and then hit tab to turn on and off the sub patch mode which smoothes off the mesh.

In maya I was guessing I could do the same thing, or something similar, so I started modelling with polys, and then kept changing to SubD mode to check what my model looked like. This was working out ok untill I came to the point where maya wouldnt convert my mesh to SubD's because my poly count was over 1000. Is there anyway to get around this? can I extend this limit of 1000?

Also I was wondering what the quickest way to check a low res poly model in SubD mode is? Basically I have been converting to SubD's to check the model and then I would undo back to the original poly model - is there a faster way of doing this?

Thanks if anyone can help, Ell.

P.S. Also does maya have radiousity?
and does anyone know what file type I need to save a model in Lightwave so I can import it to Maya?

[vg1]

If you have Maya 4.5 you can now model in Proxy Smooth mode. This mode is similar in a way like modeling in Sub-D mode (with cage) but you actually stay in poly mode. Your smooth poly will be inside your proxy cage and can be deleted when done with model.

Cheers:airguitar

[ki oku]

klick on box next to "Polygons to Subdivs" , there you can set a higher Polygon Maximum....

[Elliotjnewman]

Ok guys, thanks a bunch!

I have seen the smooth proxy actually so yeah I will give that a go!

I've only been using Maya for a week now and I am finding some of its features really cool, I seem to be able to work really fast in this program!

I think it needs a radiousity renderer though...

thanks. Ell.

[-wT-]

Originally posted by Elliotjnewman
...I think it needs a radiousity renderer though...


Well you're luck is changing, go ahead and get your free spanking new 1.5 version of Mental Ray for Maya, and feel the power of Final Gathering! :buttrock:

And do a search for "Mental Ray" in this Maya forum to find some older MR topics, good info and pictures about how to setup nice radiosity/"skylight" setups :thumbsup:

[Lunatique]

Elliotjnewman- How would you compare your experience in LW with what you have tried in Maya?

[Elliotjnewman]

I would say that Lightwave has better modelling tools than Maya, and I prefer its surface editor over the hypershade in Maya.
I do think however that Maya has better animation tools than Lightwave. It's a very difficult question to answer, there are lots of things in both packages which I think could be incorperated into both, if Maya and Lightwave where 'moulded' together as one package then it would kick ass! Its very handy having both programs.

p.s. I have only been a maya user for about a week so far so its still early days!

L.

[yon dabuda]

i have a bit of experience with both maya and lw.
i wouldn't say lw's modeler is better in general,
but for sub-d and polygons, the tools and workflow is at their best. opperations that would take 2,3 or 4 steps in maya could take 1 or 2 in lw. endomorphs, weightmaps, layers, the way they're implemented makes modeler the best at it.

but then there are things that lw modeler cant do, like nurbs, n-sided poly sub-d surfaces, and there isnt the same precision in lw as there is in maya.

hypershade is very powerful but like lw to maya, you can do everything in less steps with surface editor.

animation... hrm... its kinda like the reverse of the above.
for a lot of things that take 1 or 2 steps in maya, it would take a few extra in lightwave.
then nothing beats maya cloth and all the crazy dynamics.

maya is like batman; has the tools to do anything.
lightwave is like superman; cant do everything but can do some great things like no one else.

[Elliotjnewman]

yon dabuda - yeah I totally agree with that.

[Isrithe]

Hmmm. I really like lightwave, but I do believe that Maya is superior to LW. I still use LW from time to time to animate and texture, but I also do the same in Maya. I hate Cinema though. Dont know why, I just ****ing hate it!

[RichSuchy]

After getting used to Maya. I find I dont use lightwave at all now. I might not get geometry down as fast as I used to but Its more precise and needs less editing for completion. I'm having similar results with XSI. In the end It takes about the same time for me to model something but the geometry is just layed out nicer.

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