Maya 101 - Fundamentals 05 - Textures and UVs

[@Somebody_Else_Entirely]

It would be awesome if you did a fundamentals for Maya going over problem geometry and how to fix it through the CleanUp tool.

[@mayatoolbelt]

The way I typically will use the CleanUp tool is to help me find the problem and then fix it manually. The tool itself, in my experience, doesn't usually fix it in the most optimal way. In the Cleanup Tool Options, at the very top, choose "Select Matching Polygons." This way the cleanup tool won't actually do the cleaning, but will highlight where the problems are so you can inspect it yourself.

[@AgentCobra]

my textures wont show up in uv editor unless i use the drop down and select them - if i click off the object i have to select them again - very annoying, any ideas?

[@mayatoolbelt]

You've actually reminded me of something fairly important that I should try to bring up in a future part in this series! Project management. For now though, check the file path that your texture is using in its File node (where you click the folder icon to browse your computer to find the texture you want to use) and make sure it's using the full file path and not just "\texturename.jpg". In other words, you want the full file path (c:\\Props\textures\texturename.jpg"). See if that helps. You may have to copy/paste it in. To circumvent this issue, try creating a "project" for your scene if you haven't already (if you have already, make sure to Set Project"). You can create a Project director by going to File > Project Window. Click "new", name your project, browse to where you want the project to be saved, and click Accept. You may need to re-save your scene into this new directory's Scenes folder and your textures into the "sourceimages" folder. I'll definitely address this in the next part!

[@AgentCobra]

@@mayatoolbelt turns out the stingray shader bugs out in the uv editor, phong works fine. - maya lt btw