Maya Rendering Guides

Adjusting an Existing Axe Model

In this exercise, we will take an existing NURBS model of an axe modeled in earlier versions of this book and fine-tune the back end of the axe head. In the existing model, the back end of the axe head is blunt, as you can see in Figure 6.7. You will need to sharpen the blunt end with a nonlinear deformer. Open the AxeHead_v01.ma file in the Scenes folder of the Axe project on the CD, and follow these steps.

1. You will need to select the top group of the axe head's back end. Open the Outliner and select axeHead_Back (Figure 6.8).
2. Click F2 to switch to the Animation menu.
3. Create a Flare deformer by choosing Create Deformers * Create Nonlinear * Flare. The Flare deformer appears as a cylindrical object (Figure 6.9).
4. Rotate the deformer 90 degrees in the Z-axis as shown in Figure 6.10.

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Figure 6.8 Select the back of the axe head.

Figure 6.9 Figure 6.10

The Flare deformer appears as a cylinder. Rotate the deformer 90 degrees Z.

Figure 6.9 Figure 6.10

The Flare deformer appears as a cylinder. Rotate the deformer 90 degrees Z.

Figure 6.11 Sharpen the axe's back edge.

5. Open the Attribute Editor (Ctrl+A), click the flare1 tab to access the Flare controls, and enter the following values: Attribute Value

Start Flare Z 0.020 High Bound 0.50

These values will taper in the end of that part of the axe head, as shown in Figure 6.11. This is a much easier way of sharpening that blunt end than adjusting the individual CVs of the NURBS surfaces.

Figure 6.11 Sharpen the axe's back edge.

Deformers use history to distort the geometry to which they're attached. You can animate any of the attributes that control the deformer shapes, but in this case you're using this deformer as a means to adjust a model. Once you get the desired shape, as shown in Figure 6.12, you can discard the deformer. But simply selecting and deleting the deformer will reset the geometry to its original blunt shape. You'll need to pick the axeHead_Back geometry group (not the deformer) and delete its history by choosing Edit * Delete by Type * History.

Figure 6.12 Another view of the back of the axe head with the Flare deformer

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