Primitive objects

Primitive objects

Maya provides many types of primitive types and shapes such cubes, spheres, cylinders, and planes.

Primitive objects can be used as a starting point for a wide variety of shapes and forms. The most

common workflow when using primitive objects is:

· Set the construction options for the primitive when you initially create it so that it appears in the

Maya scene roughly in the size and shape that you require.

· Move, scale, and rotate the primitive object into its final position either by direct manipulation (the

move, scale, and rotate tools), or by entering numeric values through an editor.

· Duplicate the primitive objects to create multiple copies of the original or create different

variations from your original primitive object.

In this section, you construct the base for the temple using a polygonal cylinder primitive. The octagonal

shape is created by modifying the creation options for the cylinder tool before you create the object. If

you did not modify the cylinder options you would create a round cylinder.

To create a polygonal cylinder for the base

1. Select the Modeling menu set.

Note

Unless otherwise indicated, the directions in this lesson for making menu selections assume you've

already selected the Modeling menu set.

2. From the main menu, select Create > Polygon Primitives > Cylinder > .

An option window appears.

3. In the Polygon Cylinder Options window, select Edit > Reset settings and then set the following

options:

o Radius: 10

o Height: 1

o Subdivisions Around Axis: 8

o Subdivisions Along Height: 1

o Subdivisions on Caps: 1

o Axis: Y

4. In the Polygon Cylinder Options window, click Create.

Maya creates a cylinder primitive object that is octagonal in shape and positioned at the center of

the Maya workspace. This cylinder is 20 units wide by one unit high, and has eight faceted sides.

Note

You were instructed to reset the option settings as a precaution in case they had been set

differently. This is a good habit to practice when working with tool options to avoid getting a result

that was different from what you expected.