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Polygonal Modeling

Create polygon primitives interactively

Updated in Maya 8

You can position, scale, and adjust various attributes on primitives as you create them using the Interactive Creation feature. The Interactive Creation feature is turned on by default.

The Interactive primitive creation feature lets you create primitives in two ways:

The Exit on Completion option (turned on by default) automatically exits the primitive creation tool once you have created the primitive. If you want to create multiple primitives, turn off Create > Polygon Primitives > Exit on Completion.

Note
In pre-8.0 versions of Maya, primitives were created at the origin (0, 0, 0) by default. If you prefer to have primitives created at the origin with options set by Create > Polygon Primitives > Primitive Shape > , select Create > Polygon Primitives > Interactive Creation to turn off the Interactive Creation feature. For more information, see Create polygon primitives using the Create menu.

To create a polygon primitive interactively

The steps for creating a polygon primitive interactively consist of multiple click-drag operations in the scene view. The number of click-drag operations varies depending on the primitive type:

Note
Pressing Enter at any point during the interactive creation process immediately completes the primitive creation and skips any remaining attributes.
If you want to skip interactively setting an attribute during the interactive creation process, single-click with your mouse to move to the next step.

Before you start:

If you want to change the non-interactive attributes that a polygon primitive is created with, such as Radius, Divisions, or Texture Mapping UVs, select Create > Polygon Primitive > Primitive Shape > .

Primitive type
To create the primitive interactively

Sphere, Torus, Pyramid, Soccer Ball, Platonic Solids

  1. In the scene view, click-drag to create the primitive.

The initial click-drag specifies the location for the primitive as well as the radius or scale for these primitive types.

The Torus primitive has an additional click-drag step to specify the Section Radius attribute.

  1. In the scene view, click-drag to specify the subdivisions along the height and width of the primitive using the left mouse button.

The Soccer Ball and Platonic Solids primitives do not have a subdivisions step.

Cube, Cylinder, Cone, Prism

  1. In the scene view, click-drag to create the primitive.

The initial click-drag specifies the location for the primitive as well as the shape of the base of these primitive types.

  1. Click-drag to specify the height of the primitive.
  2. Click-drag to specify the subdivisions along the height, width, and depth of the primitive.

Note: The number of click-drag operations for the subdivisions varies depending on the primitive type.

Pipe, Helix

  1. In the scene view, click-drag to create the primitive.

The initial click-drag specifies the location for the primitive as well as the radius/width of the primitive.

  1. Click-drag to specify the height of the primitive.
  2. Click-drag to specify the following attributes for these primitive types:
    • Pipe - specifies the thickness of the pipe.
    • Helix - specifies the number of coils.

Note: The Helix primitive has an additional click-drag step after the number of coils to specify the Radius attribute.

  1. Click-drag to specify the subdivisions along the height, width, and depth of the primitive.

When the primitive creation steps are complete, the wireframe color for the primitive changes from a bright green to the green color for an actively selected object.

Tip
To set the axis for your primitive during interactive creation, you can use the orthogonal views. Whichever view you create your primitive in—top, front, or side—is the way your primitive’s axis will be aligned (y, z, or x).

Note
Primitives with caps (Pyramid, Cylinder, Cone, Pipe) have an additional attribute called Adjust cap subdivisions after create that is turned off by default. When you turn this feature on in the primitive’s tool options window, an additional step is added to the interactive creation process for those primitive types.

Holding down the Shift and Control keys during primitive creation has the following effect:

Modifier key
Effect

(None)

Grows plane and cube primitives from one corner. Grows all other primitives from their center.

Control

Grows plane and cube primitives from their center. (No effect on all other primitives.) When adjusting primitive attributes in subsequent interactive steps, pressing the Control key momentarily reduces the mouse speed.

Shift

Constrains all primitives to three-dimensional equilateral proportions and grows them from their base. When adjusting primitive attributes in subsequent interactive steps, pressing the Shift key momentarily increases the mouse speed.

Control + Shift

Constrains all primitives to three-dimensional equilateral proportions and grows them from their center.

To create a polygon primitive with a single click

  1. Select Create > Polygon Primitives > Interactive Creation. (Ensure that a check mark appears beside the Interactive Creation menu item)

If you want to change the settings that the polygon primitive is created with, such as Divisions or Texture Mapping, select Create > Polygon Primitive > Primitive Shape > .

There are specific single-click settings for primitive creation.

  1. Click in the scene view to create the primitive.

To create multiple polygon primitives interactively

Select Create > Polygon Primitives > Exit on Completion to turn off the feature. (Ensure that a check mark does not appear beside the Exit on Completion menu item.)

You can create multiple polygon primitives in succession without having to return to the Polygon Primitive menu or Shelf.

Useful interactive creation options

During interactive primitive creation, you can snap the polygon to existing objects in the scene. You have the following options (click the icon in the Status line or press the hotkey). Snap to:

These features let you snap to a projected point on the line or plane defined by any other object in your scene while you create the primitive. For example, you could create a cylinder to act as a telescope on the dome of an observatory.

Tip
Some grid snap operations may limit the interactive primitive creation in the perspective view. For example, if you turn on grid snap and interactively create the base of a cube, you will not be able to vertically drag to create the height component if the grid snap option is left on while working in the perspective view.
Instead, create the base of a cube in the perspective view, then switch to a front or side orthographic view to snap the height of the cube using the grid as a reference.

For more information, see Snap to the grid, a curve, points, or a view plane and Snap all creation tools to a surface or construction plane.

Related topics

 

 

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