To create and modify a sphere for the salt shaker's cap|Modifying a primitive object

Duplicating curves
In the next steps, you'll create several copies of the previously created circles (also called curves) to
form the skeletal contours of the salt shaker's surface.

To duplicate curves for the lofted surface
1. Right-click the outer curve and choose Select from the marking menu.
2. Select Edit > Duplicate > . In the options window, select Edit > Reset Settings, enter the
following values, then click Duplicate:

o Translate: 0 3 0
o Scale: 0.93 1 0.93
o Number of Copies: 4
This creates four copies of the original curve, each translated three units above the last, and
each scaled smaller than the last.

 Select the inner circle and then move it to 0, 13, 0 by entering these translate values in the
Channel Box. Increase its Scale attributes to 1.33, 1.33, 1.33.
.
4. Use Edit > Duplicate > with the following options:
o Translate: 0 2 0
o Scale: 1.05 1 1.05
o Number of Copies: 3
This creates three copies of the circle, each translated two units above the last, and each bigger
than the last.

Lofting a surface
You've created a total of nine curves. In the next steps, you loft these curves into a surface that
matches the contours of their perimeters. Above the midpoint of the surface, the shape will change from
a flower-shaped perimeter to a circular perimeter.

To loft a surface for the salt shaker's body
1. Shift-select all circles, one at a time.
The order of selection is important when shift-selecting for a loft operation. You must start with
the bottom flower-shaped circle and end with the top circular-shaped circle. Alternatively, you
can drag a selection box around the circles. The surface to be lofted will be based on the
selection order of the curves.
2. Select Surfaces > Loft.
This creates the salt shaker's body.
3. Name the surface shakerBody.
4. Press 5 to display the view with smooth shading.

Note
Many of the surface creation tools also have the option of creating polygon or subdivision surface
versions of a surface with the same input curves. You do this by setting the appropriate Output
Geometry option for that particular surface tool.




Modifying a primitive object

To create a simple cap for the salt shaker, you'll create a sphere, alter its shape, and position it above
the body.

To create and modify a sphere for the salt shaker's cap
1. Select Create > NURBS Primitives > Sphere > . In the options window, select Edit > Reset
Settings, and click the Create button. Maya puts the sphere at the origin, its display currently
obstructed by the salt shaker body.
2. Name the sphere Cap.
3. Move the cap to the top of the body

.
4. Scale the cap size so that its diameter fits snugly at the top of the body.
5. Adjust the cap's position as desired.
6. In a side view, make sure that the cap is displayed as a wireframe.
7. Right-click on the Cap and choose Control Vertex from the marking menu.
8. Select the top row of CVs and drag them down until the top of the cap is flattened:

Check that the bottom half of the cap isn't poking through the visible surface of the body. You
can scale the bottom CVs inward to avoid this problem.