nurbs-insert isoparm

[dmcgrath]

It sounds like to me that you are only defining one iso to make the insert. What you are doing is making the dotted line appear and then telling Maya to add an isoparm between selections, that won't work. What you need to do is select two existing iso's to use that option. Or, if you do it the other way, just don't use that option in the dialog box.

[drj]

sorry, i didn't explain myself well enough...i've tried both ways. I have selected two and tried to add one in between and also drug the dotted line down and tried to add "at selection"...neither are working for some reason.
Neither is Rebuild surface though.
I did try to (with success) to create a nurbs cylinder and without any editing done try the above and it worked...its something about my edited nurbs cylinder that it doesn't like...i just don't know what.

[drj]

maybe a screen shot will help

[wrend]

your surface may well be bung. occasionally geometry just goes silly. try duplicating it, try exporting in and out (using both maya formats and iges).

[stunndman]

Originally posted by wrend
your surface may well be bung. occasionally geometry just goes silly. try duplicating it, try exporting in and out (using both maya formats and iges).

a sidenote - an easy way to export and import stuff is to use Dirk Bialluch's copy and paste scripts - they work like the normal copy and paste behaviour as we are used to it - pretty handy in such cases

http://www.lightstorm3d.com/tools/freetools/html/copyPaste.html

[drj]

is it possible that I have done something that makes this surface not a NURBS surface anymore? I started with a NURBS surface and having been tweaking hulls and CV's, but I'm still not able to insert an isoparm and have been trying other things also. I just tried to modify-convert-to subdiv and it told me to open the script editor for the error. The errors are as follows:

nurbsToSubdiv -rn false -mp true -ch off -aut on -maxPolyCount 1348 |group1|organic_head:nurbsCylinder1|organic_head:nurbsCylinderShape1;
// Warning: nurbsToSubdiv1 (Nurbs To Subdiv Node): invalid input NURBS surface. //
// Error: Command nurbsToSubdiv failed. Open Script Editor for details. //

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

[dmcgrath]

Okay, I can't tell what you have done here because the pic you supplied is pretty small. You could try what wrend has suggested but it seems like a lot of work for something that you haven't gotten too far into. My next suggestion would be for you to make the head as a whole cylinder first. Get the shape going where you want it to be. And then try splitting it down the middle.
Lets try one thing at a time. Maybe the way it's created is causing problems. Let me know if you still have problems.

[drj]

another related question:
I started rebuilding this nurbs head according to the Gnomon video-Organic Modeling again...just to see if I missed something. I believe I explained before that we start with a Nurbs cylinder with no caps and then move hulls and CV's around to make the basic shape of the head. Then it comes to a part where he wants to close the top of the cylinder (to represent the top of the head). He says he is creating a pole (?), which he says is bad, but that we will be removing it later. He does this by selecting the top Hull in the side view and then he does something to snap the points to 0, then goes to front view and does the same...i can't figure out how he is doing this. I just moved the points to 0 from the Channel box, but would love to know how he did it. I do know how how to snap a point to the grid, but i don't know how he is selecting the whole hull and snapping all the points to 0 at the same time. Any ideas?

[GrafOrlok]

nurbsToSubdiv -rn false -mp true -ch off -aut on -maxPolyCount 1348 |group1|organic_head:nurbsCylinder1|organic_head:n
urbsCylinderShape1;
// Warning: nurbsToSubdiv1 (Nurbs To Subdiv Node): invalid input NURBS surface. //
// Error: Command nurbsToSubdiv failed. Open Script Editor for details. //

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

If a surface has the name "nurbsToSubdiv" the obvious would be that you have converted it to a subdiv surface. In that case trying to manipulate it as a NURBS geometry will not work. RM click over the model and pick "polygon" down in the right corner and then edit it as a polygon instead.

[dmcgrath]

X is the hotkey to snap. You can select all the points on a hull and snap to the grid that way. That's most likely what he's doing.

As for where they are locating the pole, I think you should make the pole at the mouth region, and not the top of the head. Not to really knock their modeling style, but this is the way I was taught at the AAC.

Here is an attached pic.

[drj]

Orlok: the part in my message that refers to nurbstoSubdiv was pasted from the Script Editor after i tried convert it through the modify menu...do you think the error is saying that I couldn't do that because it was already a subD?

dmcgrath: thanks, I found that the move tool in 4.5 has options to not keep the vertices spacing and snap to grid worked great. As for building the pole at the head, i'm just following the tutorial and in it he says that for now he is putting a pole there at the top and that we will get rid of it soon. so I guess i'll see. Thanks for the advice.

[dmcgrath]

I hope you pull it off, drj. I for one have never built a really nice NURBs mdoel before. I seem to do better with polys, I can manage the quads and the continuity easier. But Im actually oging to give it a try. Lets keep this thread going and see how it works out for you. And maybe even be able to throw us some tips along the way.
:thumbsup:

[drj]

thanks DMC...I'll keep on it and we'll see how I do. I am a beginner at both and had been working on my poly head first. I made some serious mistakes on it because of moving vertices of the polygons around while in perspective view, but I do like the immediate hands on feedback to moving polys around. I'm just not good at the previsualization...i was trying to add too much detail too soon and paid for it later.
I had been reading an article that was about some 3d modeler whom in the article just swore by using NURBS for anything that was a bit more organic...i guess the head qualifies, but I guess there is an argument for both.

[wrend]

error sais surface is indeed bung.
not much trouble to do the mentioned steps (why you thinks its too much work dc? huh?), or rebuild-surface maybe, or 'cause you arent so far in, might as well just push it into shape again from a fresh piece...or see if the surface can be used as a blend target.

[dmcgrath]

I thought it might be too much work to export, and import again, and then start modeling again. Because it looked like he hadn't gotten far enough in to not just start over. Your way would definately be the way to try if he had a more detailed head shape, but it didn't look to complex yet. That's all. :beer:

[drj]

Well, I started from the beginning and everything is going fine. I inserted some isoparms at will. I'm posting the first step I finished tonight...still just the basic shape. The only thing I can think that screwed up my last attempt was when I closed the top by putting all the CV's at the same point...something happened when I did that I think...anyway here is step 1.

[wrend]

i think you'll find the triigers to scrummying up a piece of geometry are largely undefined - it just happens. g luck w the nurbsing!

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