Week 2 - Autodesk Maya - Booleans, NURBs Surfaces, and Revolve

 Week 2 - Introduction to Booleans, NURBs Surfaces and Revolve 

What have I learned so far?

I have learned how to use and transform NURBs into polygons to create an initial shape for my model. I have also learned how to correctly use a Boolean Operation to combine objects into shapes that would be otherwise difficult to create. 

1) Boolean - this is a tool that allows you to combine 2 or more separate objects in different ways, such as Boolean Addition, Boolean Subtraction, and Boolean Intersection. This will allow you to make a completely new and complex shape out of 2 or more objects.

2) NURBs - this stands for Non-uniform Rational B-spline, and this is a geometry type. You can use it to draw 3D curves/surfaces and then transform it into polygons.

3) Revolve - you can use this tool to convert curves previously drawn with NURBs to surfaces. It uses to the selected curve and practically extrudes the edge all the way around until it connects to itself.

I used the tools listed to create a lamp, I have attached a snip of this below:

I think I did a good job on this because it closely resembles the reference lamp I used. The main body of the lamp was initially a curve drawn using the NURBs tool, which was then transformed into a surface and converted into a polygon. That's how I got the shape of the neck on the body of the lamp.
I could have improved my work by using Boolean Intersect and combining the stem of the lamp to the body of the lamp, and turning this into one object.

I could have also sub-divided the lampshade more and smoothed it so that it was perfectly round, rather than bumpy, as the reference image was also perfectly smooth.