Requirements
In this class exercise, we were asked to watch first 10 lessons of one of three online video tutorials in Pluralsight and write one sentence about what I learned in each lesson. I chose the topic "Advanced Character Modeling in Maya" in this exercise. Since I have learnt some polygonal modeling techniques from textbook and other materials, I only wrote down what seems new to me from the tutorial. A note may be appended after the sentence which addresses either some issue or something I thought worth mentioning. They are written down mostly for my future reference; you can skip them if time does not permit.
10 Sentences
Lesson 1 (Setting up our project)
I learnt how to set hotkey, to set background image for reference and to remove camera from the scene.
Note: I don't know how the instructor moved the image plane. Since he only changed Image Center X, Y and Z property, he should not be using the Translate manipulator to do that. I later found I can did that by selecting the Image Center X, Y and Z property and then dragging the middle mouse key. It seems that the instructor just input the value into the property editor.
Lesson 2 (Creating base mesh for the arms)
In this lesson, I learnt to scale the y-z plane by holding down the Ctrl key while moving the x square in the manipulator horizontally, and to snap-straighten the curve by pressing the key "j" while moving the x square in the scaling manipulator.
Note: I was curious how the arm reference picture behind the cylinder can be displayed. I could do this only by enabling the XRay but sometimes the reference picture behind the cylinder became blurred when I switched to vertices or edges mode. How did the instructor magically make it?
Lesson 3 (Modeling base mesh for the chest)
There is no new modeling technique in this lesson; the instructor just inserted edge loops wherever needed to mimic the reference picture as close as possible.
Lesson 4 (Creating base mesh for the legs)
I gained a deeper understanding in this lesson about the difference of "copy" and "instance" in Duplicate Special tool, as well as the hot key "x" that can snap to grid.
Lesson 5 (Modeling base mesh for the hands)
I learnt to hold Shift while invoking marking menu to merge two vertices and merge edges to center.
Note: When the instructor tried to extrude the edges of fingers towards the palm at 4:14 in the video, the merged vertices connecting fingers didn't move. I met with the same problem. Then the instructor fixed it immediately with a couple of mouse clicks. I have no idea what he was doing but the edges can successfully extrude after that. The help message at the bottom of the Maya GUI was also hidden. So what on earth did the instructor do?
Lesson 6 (Continuing to model the base mesh for the hands)
In addition to the hotkey "b" to toggle soft selection, I understood the meaning of "Camera Basesd Selection" which can prevent user from accidentally selecting vertices on the back of an object.
Lesson 7 (Refining the chest and arm mesh)
In this lesson, I learnt how to change selection type (from edges to vertices on it for example) in Ctrl-marking menu, i.e., long-press right mouse key while Ctrl key is held.
Note: This example shows the importance of making sure you have indeed selected what you want. Marquee selection is safer than selection by double-click when trying to merge vertices.
Lessen 8 (Refining the waist, leg and boot mesh)
Other than modeling techniques used in this lesson that I am familiar with already, what interested me in this lesson is the trick that Slide Edge tool can be used to mimic effects of Bevel when adding details on the boot, which is also what I learnt from this video.
Lesson 9 (Adding wrinkles and volume to hand)
In this lesson, I learnt how to cut a face using a plane.
Note: The Cut Face Tool used in the tutorial which is located in the Polygons Shelf is now no longer existent in Maya 2016. This function is replaced with the versatile Multi-Cut tool. To use it, just click and drag a line segment that represents the cutting plane across the face to be cut.
Lesson 10 (Finalizing body mesh)
What I learnt from this lesson is the trick the instructor introduced at 3:07 - 3:20 in the video to remove the slight dent by "rocking back and forth" the edge loop using Slide Edge tool.