Architecturing in Maya

My first major project working in Maya was an architectural scene. I don't know about Maya yet, it frustrates me a lot. I'm sure part of it is just because of the transition from 3DS Max into Maya, but it seems like the program has a few shortcomings that make it frustrating regardless of where you come from. I don't mind relearning tools, remembering new names for things, or discovering new and interesting ways of completing tasks, but there are a lot of things that Maya just seems to be incapable of doing. While working on this, my biggest frustrations were the lack of modifiers. I know there are ways to work around it, but for a lot of these objects things like symmetry, bend, or twist would have been really helpful. We'll have to see if the program becomes more comfortable as I continue to use it. I'm working on a character model at the moment, and it seems to be going much better. So, maybe in the end it'll just turn out that Maya is more suited to organic modelling, and 3DS Max is more useful for more hard edged, man made things like architecture and furniture.

In need of fertilizer

Another small project I've been working on. I've been looking for a way to make grass. My first attempt involved modelling a few blades of grass, and then using the scatter tool to distribute them across a plane....Well, let's say there were two ways that could go. Either A) the scatter was so low it looked like someone dumped a barrel of weed killer on the ground, or B) you hover the cursor anywhere near the scatter iterations box and Max would immediately crash out of sheer terror.

This is the result I was able to get by using the hair and fur modifier...It still needs tweaking..I actually had it looking much nicer, but it wouldn't light, once I changed settings so it would be affected by light...it started looking a little sketchy...oh well, I'll just keep working on it I suppose.

Pretty in Pink

I've been working on this Tea Room on and off for quite a while now. The modelling was all done months and months ago, I did it all over one weekend because I wanted some brand new stuff for my fifth level review. I just recently opened the file back up and went in to texture it because I'm thinking of using it in a demo reel. unfortunately the file's gotten too unruly for my computer to handle anymore. I'm going to have to take it into school and use the render farm to get video...unless I want to melt my laptop by having it render for a few solid days.