Maya tutorials: polygon modeling (2) operation of the polygon mesh

---

For the explanation about polygon modeling, please refer to
Maya tutorials: polygon modeling (1) basic operation

---

what is polygon mesh
A polygon mesh is a unit of the polygon model selected in the object mode.
It is unrelated whether the faces are continuous or not.
(As for the NURBS object, the surface must be continuous unlike the polygon.)
Polygon mesh and polygonal object are the same meanings.





The above figure is the example of the polygon mesh.
A is a polygon mesh where faces are continuous and has no border edges.
B is a polygon mesh where faces are continuous and has border edges.
C is a polygon mesh where faces are not continuous and has border edges.
D is a polygon mesh where faces are not continuous and has no border edges.



In Maya, a group of continuous faces in a polygon mesh is called a Shell.

---

separate polygon mesh



Select a polygon mesh with two Shell or more as shown in the above figure.
Execute
Mesh > Separate
then,



you will see the Outliner like the above figure.
The two Shells are separated to two polygon meshes.

The transform1 is the history of the command.
If you delete the history with
Edit > Delete by Type > History
the transform1 will be deleted.

Or if you delete the transform1,
then the history will be deleted.

If you execute the Separate command to a polygon mesh which has only one Shell,
it becomes an error.

---

extract polygon mesh



Select the faces of a polygon mesh



Mesh > Extract
Select the
Separate extracted faces
option ON (default),
then the faces will be separated to another polygon mesh.

(If you select all of the faces of a Shell,
you get a same result of execution of the Separate command)

If you select the option OFF, you get faces of the same polygon mesh.



If
Edit mesh > Keep Faces Together
is ON, you get the extracted faces are continuous.

If it is OFF,you get the all faces are not continuous.



The above figure is an execution result of the Extract command.

The transform1 is the history of the command.
If you delete the history with
Edit > Delete by Type > History
the transform1 will be deleted.

Or if you delete the transform1,
then the history will be deleted.

---

combine polygon mesh

Select two or more polygon meshes
Mesh > Combine
they will be one polygon mesh.



The above figure is an execution result of the Combine command.

The transform1 and the transform2 are the history of the command.
If you delete the history with
Edit > Delete by Type > History
the transform1 and the transform2 will be deleted.

If you delete the transform1 and the transform2,
then the polygon mesh will be deleted.
You may delete the history first.


Japanese article
Maya tutorials: polygon modeling (4) operation of the polygon mesh