How to Make an Object From an Image in Maya

Use Maya's modeling tools, including its "Box" command and editing mode, to make a 3-D object from a 2-D image. This project is a primer on 3-D modeling, a skill you can use to create virtual objects, characters and environments for animations, games and still images. 3-D modeling takes time, especially when you're creating objects composed of many parts. You can develop proficiency faster by making a habit of visualizing the simple forms that compose an object in an image.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Make a printout of the image you'd like to make a Maya object form. Draw on the printout the following shapes such that they appear to compose the complete object: box, sphere, cone, and cylinder. For example, if you printed an image of a house lamp with a lamp shade, you could trace a cone over the shade's image, and a cylinder to represent the lamp's body. For a house, you might trace a box over the house's main form, and very thin boxes to compose the roof. Keep the number of shapes small, and don't expect them to fit the object perfectly. You'll customize each shape to its specific form inside Maya.
   • 2
     Open Maya, then click the "Create" menu, which has commands that let you draw primitives. These forms are the 3-D equivalent of the basic shapes you traced your image with. Click the name of the primitive that forms the largest shape you drew on your printout. For example, if you traced over a house image, click the "Box" primitive to load the command for drawing the house's main form.
   • 3
     Click the mouse on the screen to begin drawing the primitive. Drag the mouse to grow the primitive to a shape that's close to the shape you traced on the printout, then click the mouse to finish the primitive.
   • 4
     Right-click the primitive, then click "Vertex" to enter the mode for moving the points, or vertices, of the primitive. Click a vertex to select it for moving, then drag the mouse to move the point. This action changes the shape of the primitive. For example, if you moved the four vertices at the top of the box primitive for the house such that they overlapped each other, you would form a pyramid. Move the primitive's other vertices as needed until the primitive looks like the corresponding shape you traced on the printout.
   • 5
     Click the toolbar icon shaped like three cones to exit vertex mode and run the "Move" tool. Drag the primitive to move it a short distance, then click the toolbar icon shaped like a sphere to run the "Rotate" tool. Drag the mouse to rotate the primitive. Click the toolbar's box icon to run the "Scale" tool, then drag to shrink or grow the primitive. These operations are the only ones needed to assemble a primitive with other primitives to form a complete object.
   • 6
     Use the "Create" menu's primitives and the vertex editing mode to create and shape the remaining forms you traced on the image's printout. Use the "Move," "Rotate," and "Scale" tools to assemble all primitives together to form the complete object depicted in the printout.