Hi Bernard,
Im not from the area and probably not the most prestigous
presenter to be sought either. I´ll still take ten minutes to
share some tips&tricks that would have saved me some
time during the last week. Mostly geared towards modeling,
one tip for the GF 7900 GT (like my XFX 520) range of cards.
-The 7900 GT card will produce serious redraw errors up
to complete blackouts if you use the current (german) driver.
Picking the "maya" preset doesn´t help this. Go to nvidia.com,
look for the betadrivers of the new series 9.x.x. The controlpanel
is terrible (geared towards novice users) but the glitches disappear.
Modeling:
-Never use the KP/L to insert SRT values manually and hit enter.
Depending on your settings and the current manipulator mode,
you´ll end up with an object that is scaled the desired amount but
shifted to a remote location in your scene. Don´t ask me why.
-If you want to rotate something, get used to holding the [shift] key,
get´s you reliable rotation in (default>preferences) 15° steps.
-Get used to the advantages of using custom [Ref] planes. It may
sound tedious but is worth the second it takes to set it. After a while
you won´t want to live without it.
- Turn off raycast selection in shaded, makes your life easier when
selecting in broad strokes [U/Y]
- [M/J/L] are great. Get a complete new feeling of power when you
shift a little polybugger (edge/point) over a surface without changing
it´s shilhouette. Mergthings to the point is a snap.
-If you really want to p**s off the Maya guys, tell them about the +/-
keys, then show off with [shift]&[+] and [shift]+[-]. They´ll ask you
out.
-Never trust the [Extrude along Axis] direction, it may look straight,
but
basically, it´s useless, deactivate [Y] and move it yourself. Remember,
using the "Inset" only works for a closed surface. Cap those open edges
and *just then and only then* do a nice, uniform inset. You´ll still
be faster
than the Maya guys. Regarding the [Y] thing, soemeone here mentioned one
could edit the spdll to the own liking, I´ll look that up.
-If you duplicate something ALLWAYS freeze it while you still have it
selected. Otherwise, you´ll later easily hit the "freeze" on it´s
(mother) object
and *baddabing* endup without the (child/dupe) kids. Sound familiar?
-Save early. Save often. Don´t trust the export as "model" function, use
dotXSI or even *.obj to CORRECTLY export EVERYTHING in your
selection. You´ll really only notice when it´s (too) late.
Cheers
tim
